NTFS Projects

Six Month Report (January) Template

Contexts

The Six Month January report focuses on procedural issue and forms part of the audit process for NTFS projects. It is also a mechanism for alerting us to any significant changes in project plans.

Please complete the sections below. If you have any queries regarding the completion of the forms please contact the NTFS project strand Project Officer at or 01904 717500

Progress Report Project Information

Project lead institution

/ Professor Sue Thompson

Project title

/ The Forgotten Year? Tackling the Sophomore Slump

Lead contact name

/ Sue Thompson
Sue Thompson

Reporting period

/ August –December 2012
1. Activities and progress
With reference to your project plan summarise your achievements during the last reporting period and whether the anticipated objectives, activities or deliverables have been completed.
If there has been any variance from your planned activities please say what the variance is and what its causes were? If applicable, what is being done to get back on track? Will the project plan need to be revised? (Please list as headings or bullet points)
The focus of the project during the reporting period has been on:
  • Research informed interventions and small projects based in different Schools/Faculties
  • An exploration ofthe psychological dimensions of the second year underperformance at local (programme) and institutional level
  • Development of a conceptual understanding (conceptual model) of the phenomenon, based on the project findings to date
Key activities andoutputs to date:
‘Mini-projects’ and research informed interventions
  • Tackling the Sophomore Slump in the School of Law through a tripartite approach: enhanced induction, enhanced support and student involvement in curriculum redesign - ongoing
  • Exploring assessment in the context of undergraduate second year experience’ (School of Natural Sciences and Psychology) -ongoing
  • Exploring student representation/non-academic engagement in the second year –completed
  • Developing a Criminal Justice Community area on Blackboard to support student transition from level 4 to level 5 (summer intervention completed, community building ongoing)
  • Design of a research module to initiate student-led research interests in second year (School Art and Design) - ongoing
Exploration of psychological factors and their impact on second years’ engagement and academic performance
  • The longitudinal study of individual student experiences of university continues (2nd year data collection and analysis arebeing undertaken) - ongoing
  • Cross-level study of procrastination behaviour and study goal-orientation in geography (data analysis completed, results are being written up) - completed
  • Research project ‘A longitudinal studyof the relationship between personality variables and academic performance in the second year’ (School of Business and Law) is completed; (summary of the findingsis on the project web- site ) -completed
  • Institution wide research project investigating contribution of individual differences to the dip inthe second year performance (using sample of six large programmes representing consistently slumping and non-slumping programmes in various subject areas). Data collection finished, data is being inputted-ongoing
Institutional data analysis
  • Mirror (of the NSS) survey data: longitudinal comparative analysis of open comments (2011 and 2012) undertaken to analyse changes in second year students’ perceptions and satisfaction - completed
  • Pre-enrolment survey data and 1st year institutional survey: gained access to these institutional datasets (analysis started) to better understand match/mismatch between students’ expectations and actual experience of the university and how it might impact on second year engagement and performance-ongoing
Dissemination/sharing practice activities
  • Half a day project event with Faculty project holders (discussing projects’ progress, outcomes and strategies for dissemination)
  • Meeting with project’s ‘critical friends’Bradford University: sharing project findings; discussing transferability of the outcomes and resources that could be of use to other HE institutions (including use of institutional data for enhancement purposes)
  • 2 presentations at the HEIR Conference, Liverpool(July 2012):From data to practical knowledge: integrating institutional datasets for curriculum enhancementandDo cross-sectional student assessment data make a reasonable proxy for longitudinal data?
  • 2 presentations at the EAIR Conference, Stavanger (September 2012): Waving or drowning? Surfacing the causes of student disengagement in the second year and Great excavations: unearthing institutional datasets to strengthen and inform university practice
  • Presentation at the SRHE Conference (Newport, December 2012): Keeping the students satisfied: a longitudinal, comparative institutional analysis of a survey free-text comments
  • The outline of the book on the second year experience is completed and thefirst chapter is drafted – due to be submitted to the publisher (SRHE) for feedback
Project evaluation
  • Self-evaluation report produced and discussed at the project team meeting: final year’s priorities and implementation strategies are identified

2. Future Activities

What activities, objectives or deliverables you expect to achieve during the next reporting period? (Please list as headings or bullet points)
The final six months of the project’sactivities will be focused on drawing together what has been learnt, ensuring project deliverables and associated internal and external dissemination and writing the final project report.
  • Project session at the LJMU Teaching and Learning Festival (18thJanuary 2013)
  • Half a day in-house project seminar event with external/regional presence (April 2013)
  • LJMU Teaching and Learning Conference 19th and 20th June 2013 (celebration of project outcomes)
  • To update/further develop the project website as part of the final reporting and dissemination strategy
  • Visits or exchanges with other universities to continue discussion and maintain dialogue
  • Further national/international dissemination (HEIR, EAIR, HEA annual conference)
  • Piloting belonging survey with specific programmes. Particular emphasis on 2nd year students (September 2013)
  • Evaluation of mini-project curriculum interventions ( March-May 2013)
  • Student engagement and training (course reps training in collaboration with Liverpool SU) (February-April 2013)
  • Producing resources (for example; second year induction pack, second year curriculum design guidance, personal tutoring in the middle years)
  • Case studies on curriculum interventions and second year assessment approaches (website)
  • Book (if proposal accepted)
  • Research papers submissions to Quality in Higher Education currently in review

3. Any other comments

The project has been creatingstrong foundations for further research in an important area of student experience that was previously neglected in the UK.
Project research has demonstrated that the issue of underperformance and disengagement in the 2nd year cannot be separated from the whole university life cycle, with roots in pre university achievements and dispositions, influenced by the first year experience and often having implications for the last year. This means that the project’s reach extends beyond the middle year experience to the whole student life cycle.

I understand that the information provided may be made publicly available on the Academy's website and other publications.

Name

/

Date

/ 9th January 2013

NTFS Projects End of Year Report Template Page 1 of 4