Ludolph Botha hlb@sun.ac.za Stellenbosch University South Africa

1. Reflecting on the First Year of Implementation of an Institution-wide First-Year Academy Initiative – Highlights and Challenges Ludolph Botha hlb@sun.ac.za Stellenbosch University South Africa

2. Stellenbosch University: Central Campus

3. Stellenbosch University - Quick Facts • Research-based University • 24 378 students (2008) • Undergraduate: 15 677 • Post-graduate: 8 701 • 2 421 permanent staff members – academic staff: 812 • Ten Faculties (Colleges/Schools) • Four Campuses • University town • One third in University housing (residences) • One third in town (private housing) • One third commuting

4. Overview • Background and context • Challenges • Core of initiative – Teaching and Learning Coordinating Points (TLCs) • Important elements • Framework of continuous monitoring and evaluation • Some preliminary results • Summary and concluding remarks

5. Background and Context • Bleak picture for whole higher education system in South Africa in terms of retention of first-year students: • 30% attrition end of first year • 50% attrition end of year three • First-Year Academy (FYA) ground work started end of 2005: • report tabled June 2006 • implementation commenced immediately • 2007 was first full academic year of implementation • Most important characteristic of FYA initiative: • institution-wide, systemic-holistic process making buy-in from everybody essential

6. Some Important Challenges • Continuous process to ensure institution-wide buy-in and involvement: management, faculty staff, support staff and students • FYA is largely virtual – challenging to market, communicate and sell idea • Integrating existing initiatives impacting on first-years with new initiatives of FYA, e.g. tutoring and mentoring systems • Utilizing technology optimally and creatively • Developing early assessment system and orchestrating whole University to participate and follow-up on results

7. Core of FYA Initiative • Central questions were: • how to get faculty, support staff, management and students to participate and cooperate in FYA to achieve optimal student success? • how can the in-class experience and out-of-class experience both contribute towards academic success? • Establishment of Teaching and Learning Coordinating points (TLCs) provided some meaningful answers: • senior academics convene/chair these forums (many cases deputy deans) • academic staff teaching first-years, and those responsible for curriculation of first-year programmes are involved

8. Core of FYA Initiative (cont) • very important aspect: include support staff, e.g. student services, academic support, student housing, as well as students • regular meetings with reporting channel through faculty council, to Senate and University Council • common goal: work together to improve first-years’ academic success • first time that non-academic variables are very deliberately taken into consideration as important contributing factors in faculty context - factors such as student housing, sport, recreation, wellness: student as whole person (this corresponds with work of Astin 1997 and McCuskey and Dunckel 2006) • Schematic representation

9. Important Elements in FYA • First-year monitoring system (Dr Susan van Schalkwyk’s paper) : • early assessment - objective: early warning and assistance • mark for every first-year module loaded within first six weeks • clear message (picture) of who high-risk students are: students, lecturing staff, management and parents get information • technology plays important role • Early support survey: system with immediate feedback to students • Expansion and decentralization of tutor system • Improvement and expansion of residential mentoring system • Much improved training programme for tutors and mentors

10. Important Elements in FYA (cont) • Profiling of first-year students much improved: • quantitative data, such as results of grade 11, 12, access tests and early assessment scores • qualitative data obtained with Alpha Baseline Questionnaire, Progress Questionnaire • prediction model (combine qualitative and quantitative variables) – provides clearer picture of variables determining academic success at our institution (Dr Alten du Plessis’s paper) • Tracking system: brings all data on first-years together: • easier to monitor and identify high-risk students • can assist more meaningfully and timeously when necessary • research based, e.g. cohort analyses, impact of non-academic variables, etc

11. Important Elements in FYA (cont) • Various mechanisms to share good practice, market FYA and encourage research: • Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (in-house) Conference (SOTL) • Fund for innovation and research in teaching and learning (FIRLT) • Rewarding top papers at SOTL conference • Publishing best work in in-house media (e.g. Teaching Matters @ Stellenbosch University – an electronic journal) • Rewarding top achieving first-years and lecturers of first-year students at Prestigious Dinner with Vice-Chancellor as host

12. Important Elements in FYA (cont) • Imbedding FYA in formal structures of University: • section in Centre for Teaching and Learning with senior staff member as Coordinator of FYA • FYA Committee (Vice-Rector chairperson) – sub-committee of the Senate Committee for Teaching and Learning • annual reporting on FYA – Senate and University Council • Continuous research on first-year issues and the FYA: • teaching large classes • the role of e-learning • the role of identity and culture • the role of language of instruction in the multilingual classroom • predicting first-year success, etc

13. A Process of Continuous Monitoring and Evaluation Longitudinal Evaluation: 3+1 year Quantitative data available since 1999 for first-year students 2007 2008 2009 Compare previous 10 years with data since inception of FYA Qualitative data available since 2002 for first-year students 2007 2008 2009 Compare previous 5 years with data since inception of FYA

14. Functionality of TLCs Welcoming programme for new students Marketing & recruitment of prospective students (Access Tests) Training mentors and tutors – assessing impact of their work Analyzing early assess- ment data – correlating with final marks Monitoring retention and success rates A Process of Continuous Monitoring and Evaluation (cont) Continuous evaluation of elements of the FYA with the view to assess and improve (collecting data remains important)

15. Some Preliminary Results • Institution responds positively and overall impression is that FYA adds to success, because: • TLC feedback on structured questionnaire 80% positive • feedback from mentor and tutor programmes positive • number of first-years going to Student Counselling for problems with adaptation – significantly lower that previous years • greater awareness of teaching and learning issues in faculties (especially with reference to first-years) • significantly more teaching and learning research initiatives aimed at first-years than ever before in institution • great enthusiasm and excellent participation during in-house conference on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning – considerable interest in first regional FYE Conference in Africa from 8 to 10 September 2008

16. 88 87 86 85 84 83 82 81 80 79 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Retention Rates of First-year Students 1998 - 2007

17. 77 76 75 74 73 72 71 70 1998 2000 2002 2004 1999 2001 2003 2005 2006 2007 Percentage Credits Passed by 1st years: 1998 - 2007

18. 53 52.5 52 51.5 51 50.5 50 49.5 49 48.5 48 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Weighted Average (%) Achieved: First-year Students of 1998 - 2007

19. Summary and Concluding Remarks Systemic-Holistic Approach Enhances the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

20. Summary and Concluding Remarks (cont) • Essence of Stellenbosch University’s FYA initiative: It is a systemic-holistic, institution-wide process where all parties (staff and students) participate in re-thinking, re-inventing and re-aligning everything at our University which impacts on our first-years students’ wellness and academic success • It is a network (web) of people, actions and mechanisms focusing mainly on improving teaching and learning • Approach is in line with Organizational Theory which is part of Systems Theory • The following quotations illustrate the connection of the approach adopted with the FYA to the Systems Theory:

21. Summary and Concluding Remarks (cont) • “A systemic view on organizations is transdisciplinary and integrative. In other words, it transcends the perspectives of individual disciplines, integrating them … The systems approach gives primacy to the interrelationships, not to the elements of the system. It is from these dynamic interrelationships that the new properties of the system emerge. In recent years systems thinking has been developed to provide techniques for studying systems in holistic ways to supplement traditional reductionistic methods” (Mattessich 1978 and Capra 1996). • “In simple terms, it was meant to promote the study of entire systems rather than elements (aspects, parts) of systems” (Jordaan and Jordaan 2003).

22. Any questions?

23. Implementation: Early Support Questionnaire

24. Prestige Dinner for First-years and Favourite Lecturers Julia Wahren “You have made a major contribution to my success. Not only did you encourage and care about us students, but you made a winner out of me by showing me that I can reach out beyond my borders. ” Ms Lindie Korf “From a lecturer’s point of view, it was a privilege to have you in my class. I was so impressed by your ability to strike a fine balance between facts and interpretation and to weave them together so skilfully. It is an art on which historians pride themselves and it is not easily mastered. ”

25. Prestige Dinner for First-years and Favourite Lecturers Dirk Badenhorst “The presentation of his classes was excellent. Basic principles in physics were demonstrated with very interesting practical examples. Almost like magic tricks – his classes were not only brilliant, but also great fun!” Dr Gillian Arendse “Somebody who takes responsibility for his own learning; somebody who is aware of his own abilities; somebody who is minimizing the “negative” influences in his life and uses the “positive” experiences to push him forward; somebody who serves as a role-model to others (sometimes without being aware of it).”

26. Establishment of TLCs in Faculties

27. Systemic-holistic: Buy-in from Everybody Essential

28. Largely Virtual