Chapman, FB

Sherwin, S

English

Leeds Beckett Repository

ALT JOURNAL NUMBER 4: SUMMER 200816IntroductionThe authors have worked with first-year studentscollectively for 22 years on the BSc (Hons) Nursing;for the last five years they have implemented arange of initiatives aimed at supporting Year 1undergraduates to improve the first-yearexperience and reduce attrition. The driver forthese initiatives was the change in the profile ofapplicants in response to Government strategies towiden participation in higher education(Department for Education and Skills, 2003; TheDisability Discrimination Act, 1995). This has led toan increased diversity within the student populationwith a significant proportion of students from ‘non-typical’ backgrounds (Macdonald and Stratta, 2001);for example, students from families wheremembers have historically not entered highereducation.It was noted that while widening participationresulted in a more representative cross-section ofsociety joining the first year of the nursing course,which led to a rich mix of experiences supportive tothe curriculum, students were also arriving with avariety of experiences of education. Specifically, theacademic quality of the first essay submitted by thestudents did not conform to usual academicstandards and there was an increase in the numberof essays failing to meet the criteria for a pass.Failing the first assignment can be demoralising forstudents and may lead to a loss in confidence intheir academic ability which will be exacerbated iffeedback is not handled sensitively andconstructively (Brookhart, 2008).  The feedbackgiven to students contained detailed informationabout academic writing in higher education. Duringdiscussions students said that they felt they lackedpreparation for this type of writing, particularly inrelation to referencing and avoiding plagiarism. Inresponse to this expressed need, the nursingacademic team developed, implemented andevaluated two interventions which comprised twokey elements: a distance learning pack and theimplementation of a personal tutor system.The interventionsAll students who accepted a place on the nursingcourse were sent a distance learning pack inadvance of their arrival that consisted of thefollowing:• a self-evaluation learning booklet on essaywriting, grammar and punctuation, study skillsand the Harvard system of referencing• two published articles from nursing journals, oneof which was more academically challenging thanthe other, about nursing students’ experiences ofpractice placements• details of an assessment which consisted of aformative essay (500 words) to compare andcontrast the two published articles in the pack• an information booklet that provided guidance onall of the above, contact details for the courseadministrator so that students could seeksupport, and submission details.Students were given the first week of the course tocomplete this distance learning pack. On the firstday of the second week students were enrolled atLeeds Met and during this process submitted theirdistance learning packs. These were distributed toeach student’s personal tutor for marking.A personal tutor system was implemented to focusexclusively on the personal and professionaldevelopment of students. Academic staff were giveneight hours per student for each student they wereallocated as personal tutor, up to a maximum of sixstudents per academic. Guidance booklets wereprovided for both staff and students outlining thepurpose of the personal tutors, expectations of bothstudents and staff, the frequency of meetings andhow these should be arranged, and supportsystems available for students within Leeds Metand externally.Students met their personal tutors on their first dayat the University and worked in small groups thatfocused on ‘ice breakers’ and on completing anenjoyable task. During the following six weeks afurther meeting was arranged for each student tomeet his or her personal tutor individually toreceive feedback on the distance learning pack.“Catch them before they fall”Frances Chapman and Sue Sherwin36257 New ALT Journal:Layout 1  19/8/08  16:28  Page 16ALT JOURNAL NUMBER 4: SUMMER 2008 17Additional meetings were offered within eachsemester of the first year; such meetings relied onthe students seeking a meeting with their personaltutors.There were two elements to the first meeting: onewas to provide feedback to students on theirdistance learning pack; the other was to providepastoral support. In feedback on their essaysstudents were allocated a mark commensuratewith Level 1, using a marking template consistentwith higher education. They were also given verbalfeedback on their essays and on the completion ofthe learning pack generally. All students who failedto achieve a minimum mark of 40% were advised toundertake an online assessment of learning needscalled QuickScan(http://www.sgul.ac.uk/students/students-with-disabilities/no-name.cfm) that is available on allthe Leeds Met library computers. Quickscan is anonline package that assesses learning needs andwill advise a student to seek further help orassessment as necessary; learning support needsare also identified. Students were also advised onreferencing skills, where to find guidance onHarvard referencing, and how to access an onlineLeeds Met study skills package.Pastoral support typically focused onhomesickness, settling into accommodation,finance, expectations of the course, andrelationships with peers. Personal tutors guidedstudents to appropriate support both internal andexternal to Leeds Met.  EvaluationEvaluation of the interventions was carried outthrough staff group discussion, feedback from thestudent course representatives, and feedback fromindividual students through dialogue with theirpersonal tutors. A number of issues were raised inrelation to both the distance learning resources andthe personal tutor system, which included:• the complexity of one of the published articles,which was considered to be incompatible withLevel 1 work• the lack of resources to inform students abouthow to avoid plagiarism• the consequences of receiving a poor mark for thefirst formative assessment had a negative impacton students• a number of consistent themes arising out ofpersonal tutor feedback, for example language,flow, use of first person, bullet pointing, use ofevidence• inaccessibility of online resources owing tostudents not being enrolled until the second weekof the course• students not taking up the opportunity forsubsequent meetings with personal tutors eventhough these would been beneficial for some• students stating that they would value having apersonal tutor throughout the course• some students reported that they would havepreferred a personal tutor from within the nursinggroup rather than somebody from otherprofessional groups.DiscussionIn response to the evaluation of the interventions,changes were made to the distance learning packand the personal tutor system to align more withLeeds Met’s Assessment, Learning and Teachingobjectives (2005-2008). The distance learning packretains the self-evaluation materials; the twoarticles have been replaced with informationregarding plagiarism and how to avoid it (Stinson,2003), and the 500-word essay now requiresstudents to write about plagiarism and to referencethis correctly. In addition the pack now containsdetailed information on making the most of studentfeedback (Race, 2007). Included in this is astructured feedback form developed from thethemes that arose from the personal tutorfeedback, which is designed to help students avoidcommon errors and directs the personal tutor tofeedback commensurate with Level 1 writing. Students are now enrolled prior to receiving thedistance learning packs so that they can accessfurther materials online to support their work onthe first formative essay. This essay is no longer36257 New ALT Journal:Layout 1  19/8/08  16:28  Page 17ALT JOURNAL NUMBER 4: SUMMER 200818allocated a mark; instead personal tutors feedbackthe strengths of the work to students and discusstheir learning needs to develop their potential. Anystudent who may benefit from additional support isencouraged to complete QuickScan, possiblyfollowed up with a more formal assessment toidentify specific needs.All students are allocated a personal tutor from thenursing group and a more structured approach istaken to meetings which are now timetabled withineach semester. Careful consideration was given tothis approach and it was acknowledged thatproviding personal tutor support across three yearsmay potentially exceed staffing resources. Toaccommodate this within existing resources, thepersonal tutor role has been merged with anexisting ‘practice support tutor’ role; practicesupport tutors meet weekly with students. In spite of the focus on plagiarism and referencingfor this first essay, some Year 1 students still findthese academic skills a challenge (Macdonald &Carroll, 2006). To try and address this need theauthors have introduced further learning support inthe form of timetabled sessions early in Year 1 thatare designed to be both informative and fun.Students are given information in a variety offormats; they self-assess their learning during thesession through the use of entertaining activities,and incentives to participate are given throughoutthe session (Race and Pickford, 2007). Although this approach has not as yet had astatistically significant impact on attrition rates, exitinterviews indicate that students are satisfied withthe levels of support they are provided with andsometimes commend the course on this despitetheir decision to leave. The authors continue toevaluate this work through discussion withcolleagues and students, and more objectivemeasures are being developed via attrition rates,student marks, and the early identification ofstudent learning needs and thus theimplementation of timely support such as proof-readers and support for English as a writtenlanguage.  ReferencesBrookhart, S.M. (2008) Feedback that Fits.Educational Leadership 65(4), 54-59.Department for Education and Skills (2003)Widening participation in higher education. Available at:http://publications.teachernet.gov.uk/eOrderingDownload/6820-DfES-WideningParticipation2.pdf[Accessed July 2008].Department for Education and Skills (2003) TheFuture of Higher Education. Available at:http://dfes.gov.uk/hegateway/strategy/hestrategy/pdfs/DfES-HigherEducation.pdf [Accessed July2008].Leeds Metropolitan University (2005) Assessment,Learning and Teaching Strategy 2005-2008. Availableat:http://www.leedsmet.ac.uk/the_news/change/documents/Version32AssesmentTeachingLearningStrategy1.pdf [Accessed June 2008].Macdonald, C. and Stratta, E. (2001) From Access toWidening Participation: responses to the changingpopulation in Higher Education in the UK. Journal ofFurther and Higher Education 25(2), 249–258.Macdonald, R. & Carroll, J. (2006) Plagiarism – acomplex issue requiring a holistic institutionalapproach. Assessment and Evaluation in HigherEducation 31(2), 233-245.Office of Public Sector Information (1995) TheDisability Discrimination Act. London: The StationeryOffice.Race, P. and Pickford, R. (2007) Making teachingwork: Teaching smarter in post-compulsoryeducation. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.Race, P. (2007) Feedback. Leeds: Leeds Metropolitan University. Available athttp://www.leedsmet.ac.uk/ALTre-source/Feedback_-_longer_version.doc [AccessedFebruary 2008]. 36257 New ALT Journal:Layout 1  19/8/08  16:28  Page 18ALT JOURNAL NUMBER 4: SUMMER 2008 19Stinson, M. (2003) The Little Book of Plagiarism: whatit is and how to avoid it. Leeds: Leeds Metropolitan University. Available at:http://skillsforlearning.leedsmet.ac.uk/local/documents/resources/lbop.pdf [Accessed June 2008].Frances ChapmanTeacher Fellow, Principal LecturerSue SherwinPrincipal Lecturer Faculty Lead for Service User and CarerInvolvement Faculty of Health46 years old and sitting my first exam in 25years! How had I got myself into this situation?When I applied for this degree course I’d notconsidered that I might find myself in a situationmore scary than childbirth! Modern educationwas all about course work and portfoliodevelopment, wasn’t it? I could manage that.This method of assessment had beenintroduced specifically for people like me,hadn’t it? People who struggle to perform inexam conditions due to nerves. The fear factoras I entered the room stimulated an adrenalinrush. My heart rate tripled, my bladder becameover-active and my mind went blank. I wanted torun away.Paper handed out, clock ticking ominously inthe background, I recalled the familiar feelingsof terror from my school days. Now I was facedwith a choice: flee the room or pull myselftogether! Time for a mental pep talk and deepbreaths. This is just another challenge as Idevelop professionally on the journey to becomea Specialist Community Public Health Nurse,Occupational Health. I can do it. The sense of achievement as I complete the exam paper is immense. I‘d overcome fear and met the challenge!Sharon Smith2nd year BSc Specialist Community PublicHealth Nursing““36257 New ALT Journal:Layout 1  19/8/08  16:28  Page 19

Assessment, Learning and Teaching Strategy 2005-2008. Available at: http://www.leedsmet.ac.uk/the_news/change/doc uments/Version32AssesmentTeachingLearningStr ategy1.pdf [Accessed

Education and Skills

Feedback that Fits.

Feedback. Leeds: Leeds Metropolitan University. Available at http://www.leedsmet.ac.uk/ALTresource/Feedback_-_longer_version.doc [Accessed

From Access to Widening Participation: responses to the changing population in

Making teaching work: Teaching smarter in post-compulsory education. Thousand Oaks,

Office of Public Sector Information

Plagiarism – a complex issue requiring a holistic institutional approach.

Catch them before they fall

Catch them before they fall

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