1. Good2CU: Nurturing belonging, identity and
studentship amongst new students
Dr Vic Boyd
School for Work Based Education
Glasgow Caledonian University

2. Good2CU Background and context. Driving principles. Design principles.
Content.
Implementation.
Where do we go from here?

3. Background and context
GCU long-standing tradition of transition support.
GCU Enhancement Theme Scholar project (funded through the Student Transition Enhancement Theme).
Brief to ‘develop a research led mini MOOC to enhance support for the pre-induction transition of GCU students into Trimester A ’.
Aligned with Digital Strategy priority of working towards being a digitally enabled university.

4. Driving principles Making the implicit explicit.
Creating a sense of belonging.
Developing confidence and autonomy.
Facilitating peer networks.
Socialisation and interaction.
Reflection on digital identity and conduct.

5. Design principles
an activity-based approach to promote student engagement, develop autonomy and reinforce learning.
contextually appropriate, media-rich, engaging, informative content.
facilitation of peer engagement to support student confidence and autonomy.
opportunity to engage with core university systems (such as CourseSites as a facsimile of GCU Learn) to build digital capabilities for use throughout their programme.

6. Content

7. Implementation Ran for 2 weeks early September.
Advertised via student records, social media, Students’ Association and GCU Welcome App.
Good engagement with quizzes, activities and discussion boards.
BUT…
Disappointing uptake.

8. Where do we go from here?
Initial evaluation really positive and can see that students anecdotally developed confidence and made connections.
Is web based most usable access route for students?
How do we improve awareness/ integration with other pre-induction initiatives?
What areas might we need to address culturally as an institution?

9. Good2CU: Nurturing belonging, identity and
studentship amongst new students
Dr Vic Boyd
School for Work Based Education
Glasgow Caledonian University