Been There Done That: Peer group interventions for student retention Sue Will : Brighton Business School 2 nd May 2013 University of Aberdeen Symposium: A focus on good practice

Presentation Overview Background to the module & development process Final Year Managing & Developing People Module – 239 students in First Year DAES (Developing Academic & Employability Skills) Module – 311 students in Research Methodology – data analysis Findings & Results Future Implications & Research Progression

Background to the Module Final year undergraduates at the Brighton Business School (BBS) work with a first year DAES seminar group. Students numbers involved in the project are large Small groups of final year students give a presentation to the first years in semester one – 42 groups in 2012/13 In the same groups they also design and run a development centre for the first year students in semester two. First year students are given written feedback on their performance

Summary of the Module: Developments for 2012/13 Self-formation of groups 5-7: 239 final years and 311 first years participate in the process Groups will attend an allocated first year Developing Academic and Employability Skills (DAES) seminar and “present” the concept of development (Nov). First assignment: Critically Analysis of the Contributing Factors for effectively managing and developing people based upon personal experiences Groups design and run a development centre for first year students to attend. This will take place in Term 2. Focused feedback to the first year students on their development centre performance. Assessed by both individual and group written work. Placement office books the DC and allocate first year students each DC development centre.

Module Learning Outcomes : Final Year To provide an opportunity for students to critically engage with Development Centre activity involving the management of themselves and others. To provide an opportunity for students to engage in a cycle of action and reflection thus developing their level of knowledge and capability to manage people. To develop student capacity to understand and apply scholarly concepts thus enabling them to interpret and evaluate their own actions and interactions with others. To enable students to take responsibility for their personal and professional development Continue development of the capacity for continuous and reflective learning and career development

Employability Agenda Skills development should be embedded in academic programmes, rather than an add-on, to give students the best chance of shaping their future’ Andrews, M. The Guardian, Higher Education Curriculum blog: Jan 22 nd 2013 “The Higher Education Achievement Report (HEAR) is designed to encourage a more sophisticated approach to recording student achievement, which acknowledges fully the range of opportunities that higher education institutions in the UK offer to their students ”. Higher Education Academy,

Graduate Competencies required by BBS Work Placement Employers 2006 & 2012

Background to the Research Development of an employability skills set for students. Supporting student retention in the first year. Fewer students opting for a work placement year. Final year module designed to apply theory to practice. Substantiate anecdotal evidence of benefits to both first and final year students. Open Days publicity material attracting students to Brighton Business School.

Open Day Publicity

Research Methodology Action research approach based upon the final year Managing and Developing People module and the first year DAES module within the Brighton Business School. Both quantitative & qualitative data were collected. Questionnaire to final & first year students – evaluation form. Interview with the Work Placement Office Qualitative data obtained from online journals from selected final year students. Module leader / Research observation

Positive comments : The first year students visited the Placements office It provided an opportunity for staff to say what they do Staff were able to promote the value of attending a Development Centre More enquiries have been received about Internships & Placement Year Negative comments: Students not sure what they were booking in for! Students booking in late – some on the day or even after the event! Unable to read their hand writing on the forms Students not checking their Uni for booking information Feedback from the Placements Office

Group Exercise

Assessment Centre Attendance for 2012 From a cohort of 251 final year students and 363 first year students: 72% attended an Assessment Centre Event 28% did not attend Reasons for non attendance included: Working on a Saturday Sickness No details from mentor Late notice of date for A/C event

Development Centre Attendance for 2013 From a cohort of 239 final year students (42 groups) & 311 first year students: 74% turned up at their Development Centre event 4% booked but did not turn up on the day 15% information not available (6 groups did not take a register!) 7% no record of booking in for the Development Centre event

First Years Co-operation Ratings given by the final year students on the willingness and co- operation of the first year students taking part in their Development Centre event.

First Year Ratings of Development Activity

Learning Journal Entries 2013 The final year students were required to make ten posts to their on-line journal at designated periods from October 2012 to April Each entry was worth 0.5% to a maximum of 5% for this section of the work. Students could write as much or as little as they wanted.

Final Year Journal Perspectives By reflecting back on our first year, and trying to think of things we would have liked to know in first year, and were able to provide the first years with advice and guidance. I only wish there were some final years to tell us what we told them, when we were in first year. For example, we explained the value of a year abroad/ in industry, something I didn't feel was stressed very well to us. The first year students we were presenting to seemed interested; they asked questions, and actively partook in the two activities we had for them. The first years seemed to be quite timid and clueless as to how to go about certain things such as organising placements, choosing electives and how to focus their research, and it was nice to be able to answer their questions.

Final Year Journal Perspectives As we understand and empathise with the students with the difficulty of the transitions they face when coming to university, it was important to make them understand that we felt empathy without communicating a condescending tone as this would create a barrier to communication and therefore the students might disregard our information…. Overall, I felt that the presentation was successful as all of the students were engaging in questions about university life and placement opportunities which is what we had wanted when preparing. I feel we could have made our points about university life clearer and explain why we felt they were important points to understand rather than just saying them.

Final Year Journal Perspectives We delivered a successful presentation which included the following topics: - Our experience of being first year students - Our placement and placement hunting experience - Information about development centers - Information on our development day and the importance of taking part - An activity to keep the students stimulated - Question and Answers session - Information on our Facebook group page set up specifically for

Relevance of Development Centre Relevance of running a development centre as seen by the final year students

Research Progression 2013 Conduct final questionnaire with first & final year students (end of March 2013) Evaluate the process with Placement staff (April 2013) Complete analysis of learning journal entries for 2013 (May 2013) Evaluate the implications for taught model (June 2013) LinkedIn group page for final year students (May 2013) Write and submit journal article (summer 2013)

Supporting Theory Andrews, M (2013) Higher Education Curriculum Blog, The Guardian [on line] university-curriculum-design accessed 22 Jan university-curriculum-design Attwood, R. (2010) We can work it out. The Times Higher Education [online] Bourner, T. (2009) Higher Learning: developing student’s powers of learning in higher education, Higher Education Review, Vol. 41 No 3 pp.5-28 The Higher Education Academy, Higher Education Achievement Report [on line] [accessed 22 Jan 2013] The Higher Education Academy, (2012) Compendium of effective practice in higher education retention and success. [online] retention/What_Works_Compendium_Effective_Practice.pdf [accessed ] retention/What_Works_Compendium_Effective_Practice.pdf The Open University, (2010) Higher Education and Society: a research report. The Centre for Higher Education Research and Information (CHERI) Tomlinson, M. (2008) The degree is not enough: students' perceptions of the role of higher education credentials for graduate work and employability. British Journal of Sociology of Education, Vol 29, No 1, pp49-61