Selective Planning of the First Year Experience in Higher Education: A Sweden-Australia Comparative Study of Support

Michael Christie; Sorrel Penn-Edwards; Sharn Donnison; Ruth Greenaway

doi:10.5430/ijhe.v7n2p128

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Selective Planning of the First Year Experience in Higher Education: A Sweden-Australia Comparative Study of Support

Journal article

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Selective Planning of the First Year Experience in Higher Education: A Sweden-Australia Comparative Study of Support

Michael Christie, Sorrel Penn-Edwards, Sharn Donnison and Ruth Greenaway

International Journal of Higher Education, Vol.7(2), pp.128-137

2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5430/ijhe.v7n2p128

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Abstract

first year experience

action research

communities of practice

Literature on the support of the First Year Experience (FYE) in institutions of Higher Education provides a range of modelled approaches. However, we argue that institutions still need to selectively plan which approach/es and attendant strategies are best suited to their particular contexts and institutional policy and practice frameworks and how their FYE is to be presented for their particular student cohort. This paper compares different ways of supporting students in their first year in two contrasting universities. The first case study focuses on a first year course at Stockholm University (SU), Sweden, a large, metropolitan, single campus institution, while the second investigates a strategy for supporting first year students using a community of practice at a satellite campus of the University of the Sunshine Coast (USC), a small regional university in South-East Queensland, Australia. The research contrasts a formal, first generation support approach versus a fourth generation support approach which seeks to involve a wider range of stakeholders in supporting first year students. The research findings draw conclusions about how effective the interventions were for the students and provide clear illustrations that selective planning in considering the institution's strategic priorities and human, physical, and resource contexts was instrumental in providing a distinctive experience which complemented the institute and the student cohort.

Details

Title: Selective Planning of the First Year Experience in Higher Education: A Sweden-Australia Comparative Study of Support
Authors: Michael Christie (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Science, Health, Education and Engineering
Sorrel Penn-Edwards (Author) - Griffith University
Sharn Donnison (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Science, Health, Education and Engineering
Ruth Greenaway (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast
Publication details: International Journal of Higher Education, Vol.7(2), pp.128-137
Publisher: Sciedu Press
Date published: 2018
DOI: 10.5430/ijhe.v7n2p128
ISSN: 1927-6044
Organisation Unit: Centre for Support and Advancement of Learning and Teaching; School of Education - Legacy; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99450755602621
Output Type: Journal article

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