HERE! Project Case Study 4

HERE!

Higher Education Retention and Engagement project

Strand B:

Programme review of good practice

at Bournemouth University

Case Study 4

BSc (Hons) Ecology and Wildlife Conservation

Natalie Bates and Christine Keenan

Contents

SECTION 1: Context Page 2Course data Page 3

SECTION 2: Programme/staff view Page 4Examples of practice and evaluation Page 13Summary Page 16

SECTION 3: Student view Page 16Practical examples that enhance the student experience Page 21Summary Page 21

SECTION 4: Overall summary and key conclusions Page 22

SECTION 5: HERE! Programme Review Tool Page 23

HERE! Project – BU Case Study 4 – BSc (Hons) Ecology and Wildlife Conservation1

HERE Project Programme Reviews: Case Study 4BSc (Hons) Ecology and Wildlife Conservation at BU

SECTION 1

Context

BSc (Hons) Ecology and Wildlife Conservation is a three year course located in the School of Applied Sciences, formally School of Conservation Science, at Bournemouth University and has been running since 2003. The programme was chosen for the review as it had the highest retention figures for courses containing STEM JACS codes for the number of first year students who progress to year 2 (based on 2007/08 data) and the project methodology included the comparison of a STEM subject at each of the three universities that was successful in retaining its students. Two lecturers were interviewed from the programme including the course leader and framework leader. A Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) leader was also interviewed. All were invited to participate due to their close involvement with first year learning and teaching and all were interviewed by the BU project research assistant.

The Ecology and Wildlife Conservation course changed name in 2003 to have broader appeal to those students who want to study the science of ecology and also practical wildlife conservation. This change was aimed at broadening the students’ horizons. The course has also recently undergone significant changes in 2010 in terms of structure and the way the framework is managed. As well as the School of Conservation Science changing its name to the School of Applied Sciences, the course is now part of a new framework which incorporates all programmes within the School. Strategic management of each level of the framework has been introduced, with each of the three levels (or year groups) being managed by a Framework Leader and individual programmes led by Course Leaders. In 2010 changes were made to the induction experience for the 2010/11 cohort and details of this have been included in this case study. Consequently, the students who completed our cohort online survey were reflecting on the previous induction offering .

Students complete two placements throughout the course, a six week placement at the end of the first year and a six week placement at the end of the second year. Employment and future goals are a key focus of the course, and volunteering and fieldwork experience are strongly encouraged.

The course team gave consent for us to survey all first year students on the 2009/10 wildlife and ecology conservation cohort. A total of 10 out of 41 students from the course completed the student survey for our project (24% response rate) which included a mixture of quantitative and qualitative data.


Course data

Student administration data BSc (Hons) Ecology and Wildlife Conservation

Cohort 2009/10Total no. of first year students in cohort 41UCAS tariff requested by course 2010 entry 220 points

2011 entry 260 pointsGender M 18

F 23Age <18 1

18 1619-20 1321-24 725-30 231-40 141-50 1

Mode of study (FT/PT) FT 41PT 0

UK/EU/International UK 40EU 1

Disability ALN 3Non-ALN 38

No. of students taken through clearing 7No of students repeating year 1 1Professionally accredited? NoSandwich course/placement yr No

Retention data gained for previous cohorts (no. of first year students progressing from year 1 to year 2 in recent years):

Registry data BSc (Hons) Ecology and Wildlife ConservationLeft Cont’d to yr 2 Total no. 1st years

07/08 9.5% 90.5% 2108/09 9.1% 90.9% 3309/10 N/A N/A 41


SECTION 2

Programme/staff view

This section provides a summary of the analysis of the staff interviews. Two lecturers were interviewed from the course team, including the programme leader and level C (first year) framework leader. A PAL leader for the course was also interviewed. Section 2 begins by highlighting the key factors that the staff feel contribute to their retention rate, followed by a more in-depth analysis of their perceptions on course related factors, the relationship between students and staff, feelings of belonging and students at risk of doubting or withdrawing. Subheadings have been taken from the HERE! Programme Review tool (see section 5, p.23). At the end of section 2, practical examples are listed from the staff interviews that could be used by other university programmes to enhance the student experience.

The course team share similar views on the BSc (Hons) Ecology and Wildlife Conservation high retention rates and emphasise that a combination of the following factors have helped:

Valuing all students’ choices from the beginning and supporting whichever career pathway they choose to follow through their degree.

Having an open door policy so that students can discuss any problems before they build up.

Engaging students early in the degree, such as incorporating practical work. Enabling students to see how their learning maps onto future employment. Helping students to build a community of peer support. Not overpromising something that you then don’t deliver. Having a clear framework pathway to follow that gives students direction and makes

them feel that they’re on a planned journey.

Course related factors and adapting to the course

Academic transition

The focus of induction week for the course is on students getting to know one another through a combination of fieldwork activities and different interactive exercises. In addition to ice-breaker activities such as ‘human bingo’, a number of new initiatives have been introduced for the current cohort to encourage social integration and engagement in the course, in particular the Science Café. This event is organised during induction week by the course team and provides an opportunity for students to get to know each other whilst reflecting on big questions within the field. Students are mixed into different groups in café style seating with tea and coffee and share their thoughts with the wider group following discussion. Staff reported that the Science Café aims to get students to learn whilst having fun and ‘was just a really nice kind of welcome to the School and initial get to know each other’.

As well as getting to know their peers during induction, students also meet their personal tutors for the first time and key note lectures on exciting topics are arranged during the evenings to engage students and give them a taste of the course. As most students on the course are practically focused, a fieldwork day is incorporated into induction week to enable students to experience hands-on work from the start and a practical skills module is introduced the following week as part of the course:

That’s again about trying to capture their enthusiasm and wish to really engage in their degree and the practicalities of their degree early in the process, whereas I think that if you


leave that til later, by then they’ve become doubters and they don’t see where their degree goes. It’s about trying to give them that perspective right from the very beginning.

The course team therefore strongly believe in engaging students by making connections between practical work, their degree and future goals. The importance of students taking their studies professionally and seriously and ‘being excellent orientated’ is emphasised during induction week and helps to set expectations of the course. Such motivational messages are enhanced by activities like ‘The Wall of Success’ in which students place a note on the wall during induction about what they consider success to be at university. This aims to engage and inspire students in both their degree and future plans.

In terms of understanding the differences between learning at university and previous learning experiences, the lecturers help students learn how to learn as part of the degree. As opposed to spoon feeding, the lecturers make an effort to provide awareness and guidance on particular study skills, for example, independent reading.

It’s getting them to think that their view matters but that their view needs to be well informed and so how do they do the extra reading to get themselves well-informed and how does that tie into the exam questions at the end. So with [a] particular exercise perhaps you can put up at the end…‘this would be a typical exam question in this area so how can what you’ve just learnt now feed into that? What would you do extra to feed into that?’ So there is that sort of way of just trying to show them the links to the world that they’re in now and how they’ve already got a lot of the skills that they need to do that.

The structure of the new framework also provides a clear pathway for students through the three years of the course, indicating specific skills that are required and supported as they progress. Each year of the framework has a key theme – year one focuses on aspects such as asking the big questions, getting engaged in science and playing a part in debates; in the second year students are encouraged to take charge of their studies and the direction they want their degree to take; and the final year is ‘about showing yourself in the best possible way for employment and for post-graduate study and whatever the student wants to go on and do’. The lecturers believe that strategic management of the three year experience, and attention to the student journey, makes the students feel cared for, gives them a sense of direction, and reassures them of the support they have along the way.

Coping with coursework

To support students in coping with their coursework at university, the team believe in giving regular feedback on assessments. Some assignments are set within the first term so that students gain formative as well as summative feedback, which provides guidance on how they are doing and how they can develop their skills further. An Academic Practice unit is also run in the first year of the course which is very transitional in nature and provides assessment and feedback on a regular basis.

If students are experiencing difficulty with their learning, they are advised to go to their unit leader, programme coordinator or personal tutor who will direct them in a number of ways. In most cases, the lecturers are able to provide immediate support themselves. If students are struggling with a particular part of a unit, for example, the lecturers will do more work with them as they often find it’s a group issue:

I’d say over 90% of it [we] can deal within house, but it’s a relatively small amount of help provided at the right time.

If students are anxious about exams or other study skills, the staff direct them to support services within the library and resources on myBU. Providing opportunities for students to


discuss their study concerns during programme seminars or PAL sessions was also considered helpful:

Most of our students actually just want to know that there are other people that feel a little bit the same as them.

It’s providing that opportunity for students to say what I’m not sure about before the problem really starts to build up. So what we find is if they’ve not got that access to be able to chat to somebody early on then that’s when problems really build up.

The PAL leader interviewed for the project described how they support students on aspects of the course that they find difficult, mainly issues with assignments and referencing. Not all students, however, take advantage of the PAL resource and the PAL leader felt that the benefits of attending the scheme could be advertised greater during induction week.

Choice of course

Open days were deemed useful for selling expectations to students and emphasising the ‘learning by experience’ feature of the course, which most ecology and wildlife students are keen to hear. Lecturers highlighted the importance of giving accurate messages at open days and stated that the following factor was key to retaining students:

Not promising something you then don’t deliver…I guess there’s a danger of over-promising and there’s a danger in under-providing…not to raise expectations far above what we can actually deliver.

One way in which the reality of the course can be promoted to prospective students is through the involvement of current students sharing their experience with visitors at open day. The PAL leader for the course in particular has participated in open days and been a useful point of contact for prospective students to talk to and find out more about the programme.

The course team also uses open days to direct and guide students to courses that are most appropriate for their interests. For example, the course would not be suitable for a student who is interested in animal welfare so the staff re-direct them at open day to a more suitable programme:

It’s actually really important to enable them to make that decision sooner rather than later so I’m not trying to keep somebody on a degree course that’s on the wrong course. You’ve got to get it right at open day. Making sure that our open day message is really clear…you just guide people down to the right course because that’s what you want. You want them on the right degree course in the first place and that’s really important.

Open days can therefore prove vital for retention and help prevent students from applying to the wrong course and withdrawing– clarity about course content and structure is essential.

Making the subject interesting

The team believe that engaging students early in the degree with elements that they enjoy is key to retention:

For our particular students they like fieldwork, they like learning from practical experience, so incorporating that really early on in their degree, so within the actual formal degree.


The lecturers support their students’ enthusiasm for active learning by providing fieldwork opportunities/practical days and incorporating placements into years one and two. In addition to practical aspects within the course, students are also encouraged to get involved in research projects with staff, practical volunteering and overseas work experience. The students are believed to learn best from active participation and the lecturers base their teaching on making links to the students’ experiences and passion for practical work:

You can always build the theory and the depth around that core enthusiasm.

I tend to avoid just doing those straight lectures sometimes. It’s a very efficient way of communicating information but that’s what you’re doing, just communicating information one way, I’m not sure that it’s necessarily the best way of them learning so at least try to mix and match it with class discussion.

Lecturers aim to make links between theory and the real world through their teaching, and placements in particular were considered important for drawing connections between theory and practice.

Different methods of teaching and assessment are used to engage students on the course, for example, blogs were chosen as a unit task to help students understand and reflect on the links between lectures and fieldwork they had participated in. Whilst lectures are usually generic to the framework, programme seminars provide students with the opportunity to share their thoughts on topics specific to their degree and are run by the course leader with the PAL leader present for additional support to students. The seminars capture students’ interest and focus and give students the chance to see that they are studying with like-minded people. As all courses share the same lectures across the framework, students are able to mix with students from other subjects which can be beneficial for social integration at university and increasing students’ sense of belonging to the School. It also helps to broaden their perspective. Due to the nature of the single framework, unit leaders have to ensure that lecture materials are appropriate for several, sometimes all, courses and include all students.

The course team believe that lecturers who have an enthusiastic teaching style are good for engaging students, particularly in the first year, and key note lectures are organised during induction week with this purpose in mind. The key note lectures were delivered by:

Some of the more user-friendly staff members in terms of dealing with first year students, and they’re also meant to be role models, so although it wasn’t explicit the staff members concerned were mostly young, mostly quite dynamic and mostly doing quite good research, projects that were quite sexy for want of a better word, so it wasn’t some grandfather figure professor who the students probably couldn’t relate to at all. It was more sort of older brother sister kind of people who we got to give the presentations.

However, it was acknowledged that both types of lecturer were an asset, depending on what is trying to be achieved. A well-established professor could provide credibility to the course whereas a young, dynamic lecturer could make a subject interesting for students. There is room for both.

Relationship with staff – staff/student relations

The course team have an open door policy and students have a choice of people who they can approach should they need to talk to someone, including a personal tutor, the framework level C leader and programme leader. Students are allocated a personal tutor who is not from their discipline, for example, a wildlife and ecology conservation student may have an archaeology lecturer as their personal tutor:


I think it’s about giving them the opportunity to have a different perspective and a different person that they can talk to.

Although most academic issues are dealt with by the programme leader and most pastoral issues by a personal tutor, in both cases it is considered important for students to be aware that help and advice is available if needed. This was regarded by the lecturers as fundamental to retention:

It’s an open door…and I think that’s actually really important and probably…that’s been one of the biggest things that actually does help with retention. It’s the students that are the doubters that panic and that don’t feel that they’ve got anywhere to come and talk about their concerns before they become big concerns …..those are the sorts of students that you lose …if there’s one thing that’s important it’s to not be faceless.

The approachability and availability of staff are therefore factors that the team consider to be influential to the student experience.

With regard to communication between staff and students prior to arrival, students have the opportunity to meet some lecturers at open day. Facebook has also recently been used as an initiative to provide a connection between staff, students and peers during transition. A Facebook group was set up for incoming students to answer their queries or concerns about the course and starting university which helped ease students’ apprehension about different issues, such as timetables. Staff were able to answer questions which other students could see, hopefully answering the concerns of others in the process:

We thought the Facebook group might be a bit more of a positive way of helping them know each other, and also helping them get an easier flow of information pre-enrolment.

Facebook has provided an extra route for disseminating information to students and enables the team to send positive messages about the School and course. It is also used as a method of communication between PAL leaders and their students.

The lecturers value the students’ opinions and believe that having high expectations of their students makes the students rise to those expectations. Listening and responding to student feedback was recommended so that staff can make a point of tailoring the course to meet students’ needs and interests, hence the incorporation of numerous fieldwork opportunities in Ecology and Wildlife Conservation:

I think a lot of it is about understanding what the positive buttons are for your individual students and working with them and letting them know that you’re working with them.

The course team enthusiastically support students through their placements and in addition involve students in their own research, including international fieldwork opportunities. They also emphasised the importance of supporting individual career aspirations:

It’s about valuing all of their choices from the very beginning and I think that helps with retention because it is that thing of trying to convey to them that whatever they decide to do with their degree is fine but that they need to take control and responsibility for making it work for them and that we’ll help them do that.

Whilst the lecturers encourage and inspire the students to achieve their goals, they are honest with students about the competitive nature of gaining a career in this field:

It’s about preparing them for their life and that they can take control of how they build that degree and the surrounding experience to make it possible for them to live the career and the life they want…and I never pull the wool over their eyes, you know, it’s hard, hard area in


which to get in, so popular, a lot of competition and I’m always honest with them and I’ll say look it’s not easy. It’s true that it’s not easy but it’s also true that if you want to do it you’ll do it.

One lecturer likened their role to the ‘informal coaching’ of students through the three year process.

Support from friends/peers

The course team believe that helping students to build a social network and establish friendship groups gives students a further form of support during their studies. Having a common interest in wildlife conservation often helps the group to gel as they see that others feel similarly to them and have a similar world view. The programme attracts a diverse range of students who integrate well and this has added benefits for the students:

I love the fact that we have some mature students and some overseas students because it really improves the mix. I think it improves the overall learning of the group because it just gives them that wider perspective.

By providing opportunities for small group work, and mixing the groups frequently, lecturers aim to help students meet as many people as possible. Induction week was designed to socially integrate students, in particular the recent introduction of the Science Café event:

[It] seemed to work really well as a way to get people talking to each other for the first time…So the first half of the session was very much getting to know each other so we talked about the worries about being at university and maybe some of the strategies to overcome those worries, and then the second part of the session was very much focused on what are the big questions in applied sciences.

This initiative helps students to realise that they are not alone and that their peers may have similar concerns about coming to university. The focus on science questions also gives them the opportunity to get to know each other based on a common interest. Other opportunities that help the students to bond include programme seminars and fieldwork:

I think the fieldwork just binds people together as well and the friendship networks that are set up during fieldwork are really, you know, semi-permanent really, certainly during the time that the course is operating. You can go away for a week with people who are basically strangers and come back, you know, as lifelong friends, it’s that sort of experience.

As well as fulfilling the students’ practical interests, fieldwork therefore assists the social integration of students at university. Peer support is again strengthened through the students’ passion for the subject.

Whilst most opportunities for friendship development are informal on the course, the programme does support the university’s Peer Assisted Learning ( PAL) scheme as a formal method of peer support for the course. One PAL leader is assigned to Ecology and Wildlife Conservation students who is a second year student from the same course. PAL leaders on the course do not follow the same PAL structure as used throughout the university. Instead, the course team have empowered the PAL leaders to do what they feel is appropriate for their students e.g. some are focusing more on the social side and setting up societies, whereas others opt to provide an hour of study support. This format was adopted to offer help to students when they need it rather than when PAL leaders feel input or support is required. When interviewed for this project, the PAL leader for the programme claimed that their priority with the students was helping them to build a community of support for each other, a group bond:


That was the main aim I had as PAL leader, I wanted them to become a unit…cohort identity is a really big thing at the moment and I personally interpret that to be just bonding really, that’s how I interpret it and I just want them to be a group because that’s not what it was like for my first year, when I was a first year, and it’s the same now in the second year. We’re not a group and there’s a whole resource that we miss because we’re not a group and that’s what I try and stress to them…You kind of make friends with one person, you don’t think well what happens if they don’t make it through, you know, which is what I’ve told all the first years, what happened to me, just be careful, be a group and don’t sort of limit yourself.

To encourage the group to mix and get to know each other, the PAL leader puts effort into organising socials for the students and trips, such as a visit to the Natural History Museum. Second year students are also invited to these events on occasions which encourages the development of peer support throughout all levels of the programme.

In addition to helping the students develop peer support, the PAL leader provides both one-to-one and group support on aspects of the course that students find difficult. Rather than having a timetabled PAL session each week, students can approach the PAL leader during programme seminars and ask for a session to be arranged to cover particular issues, for example, referencing or assignment queries. The PAL leader believes it is important to share personal experiences as part of their role as it helps students to hear from people who have been through the first year experience, for example, if someone is feeling homesick. It is also sometimes easier for students to share concerns, or what they consider to be ‘silly’ questions, with their peers as opposed to a course lecturer:

Everybody thinks that they’re feeling something that nobody else is feeling and then that’s why the cohort identity is so important because if you get them talking and you get one person to say oh actually I am struggling a bit with this assignment and then you’ll get ten other people going yeah me too, but you need one person to say it first, which is why I think being a bit more informal helps because I think people are more willing to say things that they wouldn’t say to [a lecturer], they will say them to me which is good, that’s obviously why I’m there, so yeah [PAL] is useful.

The PAL leader defined the benefits of PAL as being partly academic support for students but also personal support for individual issues that the students may not have the confidence to broach with members of the course team. The PAL leader diverts students to the course leader where appropriate. The PAL leader feels it would be useful for students to meet with their PAL leader during induction week so that students are aware of PAL and the purpose of the scheme from day one.

Fitting in/belonging

The course team believe it is important for first year students to feel part of the course community during transition. One way in which a sense of belonging to the wider group is enhanced is through opportunities for students to integrate with different year groups, such as the Placement and International Fieldwork Fair (where second and third year students share their placement experiences peers from all year groups) and trips organised by PAL leaders:

They can see that they’re part of a bigger community…and that matters doesn’t it because that’s their world. You can’t build a world for them purely in your lectures, you just can’t.

It’s this first term that’s just so important for getting them to feel at home, that this is their degree and this is their community and that we are here if there is anything we can do to help with that.


As well as helping students feel that they belong to the programme, the lecturers also invest in helping students feel part of the School in which the programme is based. The School has recently changed its name to the School of Applied Sciences and, to coincide with this, the course team gave all first year students a School of Applied Sciences t-shirt during induction week to make the students feel that that they were part of ‘a bigger framework and a bigger community’:

[The t-shirts were] designed to give some kind of cohort identity and obviously with the new name of the School and so on to give them a sense of that they were part of the School, part of something important, and the programme.

Such initiatives are aimed at helping students make a connection to the wider university and feel part of the changes that affect their programme.

Life outside of studies

If students have problems outside of the programme, for example, issues with accommodation, health or finances, the personal tutor or programme leader would be a first port of call for students. In cases where the personal tutor or programme leader are unable to solve the problem, they would direct students to other services within the university and explain how mitigating circumstances or extensions may help relieve pressure:

What we can do is to ensure that it doesn’t adversely affect your studies as much as we possibly can and support you in that so the very first thing you’ve got to do is tell us that that’s going on and then we can register that you’ve got circumstances and make sure that that’s not impinging on your degree marks.

The lecturers reflected that more often than not, it is about being aware of and acknowledging the problem a student is having rather than being able to directly solve the issue.

Students more likely to doubt

If students have doubts on the Ecology and Wildlife Conservation programme, reasons tend to include homesickness, young students who are away from home for the first time and feeling overwhelmed by the experience, and mature students who doubt their ability as they set personal expectations of themselves that are often too high achieve. Personal tutors, the level C framework leader, course leader and PAL leaders are available to support students with doubts and reassure them. In most cases the lecturers believe that a human face and reassurance is needed. One lecturer often tells students who are considering leaving to give themselves five weeks before they make a final decision as it is normally the first two to three weeks when panic occurs. Students usually settle into the university lifestyle after this point. Having someone to talk to was considered vital in supporting students who have doubts:

[For] those sort of core students that are, that genuinely, specifically struggle, then that’s about them knowing that we’re here sooner rather than later and then feeling that there is an open door that they can go and very easily talk to a member of staff, be it their programme coordinator or be it their personal tutor and get help soon, and before it all builds up…then often what turns out to be the best solution for them is to stay on and keep on going.

Get them on the right course in the first place and support them…and I suppose listen to what it is that they’re saying is the problem because if it is about confidence or one of the other or about feeling homesick then those are relatively easy things to help because they’re temporary.


To avoid students having doubts about being on the right course, the lecturers use open days to present a clear message about course content and structure.

One lecturer reflected that communication and getting details right was key to retaining students. As with open days, information and messages for students need to be correct and consistent throughout the course:

I think it probably takes three or four small things going wrong for a student to become that disheartened…The more things that go wrong, the less likely the student is to stay, and I think the detail is important and it doesn’t have to be a major thing, it could be staff missing deadlines, it could be not providing quite the right information for options/choices, it could be a student not receiving an e-mail or something, you know, and those four or five things once they build up they are enough to turn the student off so much they’re not interested in staying.

The programme team do not have a formal method of monitoring student retention. Unless a student confides in a member of staff that they are experiencing doubts, staff are usually only alerted to students at risk when assignments are not submitted. For non-submissions, a letter is sent to the student from the programme team asking them to make an appointment to see their personal tutor or programme coordinator. No official registers are taken at lectures and programme seminars.

Future goals

A strong emphasis is placed on students’ future goals on BSc (Hons) Ecology and Wildlife Conservation and the importance of making sure students feel that they’re on a planned journey was highlighted by the lecturers. Through engagement in fieldwork, students are shown how their interests can be developed into work skills and the course team enable students to see early on how their learning maps onto possible future employment:

There’s a sense of reality to it all really early on, and they already come with that expectation and so actually harnessing their enthusiasm…for us that works particularly well…so you make it vibrant and alive for them in their very first term, what the world out there is, in terms of opportunities for them and how what they’re learning might feed into that.

Students are supported in making their degree relevant to them and the lecturers believe that the students can achieve any of their goals as long as they are engaged:

I do sort of say if you’re not engaged, not a chance, but if you are engaged you’ve got every possible chance and I think probably that’s one of the biggest things that I try to get them to take on board is that they could be anybody, anything that they like, as long as they want to do it.

Lecturers aim to motivate and inspire the students, highlighting that even in the competitive market for the field, they can achieve if they want to.

Placements take place at the end of the first year and the end of the second year of the course. Placements are discussed in the first term to generate enthusiasm:

It’s about them seeing that right from the beginning of their degree that they’re going to be trying to hone their skills to appeal to employers and it also gives them a chance to think of what sort of employment they do or they don’t like so I think their degree feels very real to them from the very beginning and that’s what we try to do.

Students are responsible for choosing and organising their own placements with the support of a placement officer. The placement officer is available to give advice on how to write a CV HERE! Project – BU Case Study 4 – BSc (Hons) Ecology and Wildlife Conservation

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and how to look professional when applying for placements. As well as the placements, the students are given structured links to how they can get involved in volunteering. The majority of students enrol on the programme because they want to be involved in practical wildlife conservation and make a difference. The importance of gaining voluntary experience in addition to their degree is therefore encouraged by lecturers as a way to enhance their future prospects:

It’s trying to provide all those opportunities for students to see that there’s a big world out there that they can start to engage in once they’re at the university that is relevant for them at the far end.

To support the students in finding placements and voluntary experiences that appeal to them, a Placement and International Fieldwork Fair is being organised this year. The aim of the fair is for second and third year students on the course to create a poster about their placements and volunteering that they will share with other students from all years of the programme. The event will provide an opportunity for the different year groups to interact and hear about placements from those who have experienced them. Students can also learn more about grants that they can bid for to support their placement and external contacts linked to placements are also invited and available for students to talk to.

It’s an opportunity to see the world out there and see how they can participate in the world out there…they get an opportunity to see how the students just one year ahead of them have already really got involved and I just think that’s really important about giving them the push to get involved but also the confidence to see that it’s something that they can do because other students are doing it and seeing the relevance of what they’re learning and how that translates into the workplace at the far end of it.

This Placement and International Fieldwork Fair is an opportunity to say look that’s out there, it’s part of your degree, make it really work for you.

The programme is career focused throughout all three years and students are supported in choosing different course options ‘to fuel your own life and your own career’. In the third year of the course, a ‘speed up-dating’ session is organised for students whereby former students come in and talk about what they’ve been doing since graduating.

Examples of practice and evaluation


Academic transition

Activities for students to get to know each other during induction e.g. ‘human bingo’ with prize giving.

Science Café – helps students socially integrate whilst getting engaged in discussions about the big questions in science.

Key note lectures on exciting topics arranged during the evenings of induction week to engage students and give them a taste of the course.

Arranging a fieldwork day as part of induction week to give students a flavour of the practical aspect of the course from the beginning. Good way of engaging students.


The Wall of Success – activity during induction week whereby students write a note on the wall about what they consider success to be at university. This is aimed at engaging students in the degree and motivating them for the future.


Academic Practice unit in first year – about preparing students for university level study and addressing academic transition.

Setting formative (as well as summative) assessments on a regular basis so that students get regular feedback and guidance on how they are doing.

Choice of course

Using open days to promote the practical feature of the course and ensure that students are selecting the course that is right for them.

Involving current students on open days to answer prospective students’ questions and share their experience of being at university.

Making taught sessions interesting

Organising key note lectures in the evenings of induction week on exciting subjects, led by enthusiastic lecturers, to engage students early on and give them a taste of their course.

Varying assessment methods – e.g. use of blogs to record and reflect on learning experiences.

Incorporating fieldwork opportunities for students to make links between theory and practice.


Personal tutor system in place to provide academic and pastoral support.

Having a personal tutor from a different discipline, not necessarily from the course the student is studying.

Writing blogs as part of programme seminar tasks – a good way for personal tutors to get to know their students.

Involve students in staff research projects/conservation work, including international fieldwork.

Facebook group set up for incoming students to answer any questions they have about the course – good way of disseminating information to students and making prior contact with them. Also gives students option to communicate with each other before starting university.



PAL – students are able to request sessions (one-to-one or group) with their PAL leaders if they want extra support on subjects they are struggling with or if they want to discuss any problems. PAL sessions also give students the opportunity to meet with their peers in an informal setting.

PAL leaders help to organise trips and other socials for the students as a group bonding exercise.

Science Café in induction week helps students get to know each other by working on big science questions in groups – it also provides an opportunity for students to share their concerns about starting university.

Fieldwork opportunities can help students to bond – particularly week-long field trips.

Lots of small group work, changing the mix of groups frequently.

Facebook used as a method of communication between PAL leaders and their students

Fitting in/belonging

Providing a t-shirt to students during induction week that shows they are part of the same school and course community – aimed at increasing a sense of belonging and developing cohort identity.

Creating opportunities for students to integrate with different year groups, such as the Placement and International Fieldwork Fair (where second and third year students share their placement experiences with first year peers and other year groups on the programme). Helps students gain a sense of belonging to the wider group.

Organised trips e.g. to the Natural History Museum, that bring students together from different year groups and help students to bond.

Life outside of studies

Consider giving students extensions/mitigating circumstances if they have problems outside of their studies e.g. health, personal issues, to help ease pressure.

Personal tutors and lecturers direct students to services within the university e.g. accommodation services, if experiencing difficulties that cannot be dealt with directly by the course team.


Letters sent to students who do not submit assignments asking the student to make an appointment with their personal tutor to discuss reasons behind the non-submission. Support is implemented where necessary.

Future goalsHERE! Project – BU Case Study 4 – BSc (Hons) Ecology and Wildlife Conservation

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Voluntary work experience – lecturers help students to find opportunities for getting involved in voluntary work e.g. habitat management work/conservation work. International volunteering also encouraged.

Placements give students the opportunity to try different areas of work that they may be interested in pursuing as a career.

Placement and International Fieldwork Fair – second and third year students on the course create a poster about their placements and volunteering experience and share it with students from all years of the programme. External contacts are also invited along. A prize is given to the best poster.

‘Speed up-dating’ event (mainly organised for third year students) – former students come in to talk about what they’ve been doing since they left the course. Aimed at motivating the students and their academic journey.

Summary

A strong theme evident in the BSc (Hons) Ecology and Wildlife Conservation review is the importance of engaging students in their subject early in the degree, whether through practical work or exciting lectures, and enabling students to see from day one how their learning maps onto future employment. Maintaining students’ interest in their degree throughout their academic journey was considered an important factor for retention, in particular offering numerous fieldwork opportunities to help students link theory with practice. Placements are also a popular feature of the course that motivate and inspire students to reach their personal goals.

The personal tutor scheme on the course provides support to students for both academic and personal issues, and the open door policy adopted by the course team ensures there are a number of people students can approach if experiencing doubts. Peer support is encouraged by lecturers and PAL sessions provide an opportunity for students to share concerns or discuss work with their fellow course mates, making friends in the process. Developing cohort identity and supporting students to feel part of the course and School community, is invested in through various initiatives, helping create a supportive learning environment and student experience.

SECTION 3

Student View

This section presents the views obtained from first year students enrolled on BSc (Hons) Ecology and Wildlife Conservation for 09/10. A link to the online survey was given to students via an e-mail from the course leader. Ten first year students enrolled on BSc (Hons) Ecology and Wildlife Conservation for 09/10 completed the survey (24% response rate). Some students completed the survey at the end of the first year and some completed it in the first term of their second year as the survey deadline was extended to increase participation. The majority of respondents were therefore second year students reflecting back on their first year experience.


Students were asked to rate different aspects of their course using a Likert scale and a number of qualitative questions were included on students’ feelings about their first year experience. Following a summary of the survey results, practical examples that enhanced the student experience are listed. Responses to the quantitative survey questions are as follows:

1. How interesting the students found their course

90% found the course interesting10% found it moderately interesting0% did not find it interesting

2. How valued the students feel by staff

50% of students felt valued40% felt moderately valued by staff10% did not feel valued

3. Friendliness of the students on their course

90% had made good friends on their course10% had not made any good friends

4. Doubts in the first year

66.7% had never considered withdrawing in their first year22.2% had considered leaving but decided to stay11.1% had considered leaving and had not yet made up their mind whether to stay or go

5. Confidence in coping with their coursework

66.7% of students felt confident that they could cope with their coursework16.7% felt moderately confident16.7% did not feel confident at all

In comparison to when the students first started the course:

16.7% felt more confident now that they could cope with their coursework66.7% felt about the same16.7% felt less confident than they did at the start of the course

6. Differences between learning at university and previous learning

90% of students understand how learning at university is different from their previous learning10% do not understand the differences

7. Future goals

90% of students said that the course is helping them to achieve their future goals10% said it was not helping them to achieve their future goals


The analysis which follows is based on the students’ responses to the qualitative questions in the survey and the points below are overall aspects of their course that the students liked best:

Fieldwork Subject content Interesting lectures Learning new things The staff Placements Lab work Assignment balance Peers


Academic transition

Almost all of the students (90%) agreed that they understand the differences between learning at university and their previous learning. Students found the most common difference to be the focus on independent learning at university. The following elements of the course helped students understand learning expectations in higher education:

Realising that a lecture was the starting point of a topic, but if I look around at literature I can find much more.

Help is given on coursework and assignments if you ask for it, but most of the work is done by yourself away from lectures.

You need to do a lot of research yourself.

The students understand that less support is given for assignments than would be expected in previous educational experiences and that the responsibility is on themselves to plan and complete their work. The process of preparing assignments in the first year made students realise how time consuming academic reading can be.


66.7% of students felt confident that they could cope with their coursework and the majority of students felt the same level of confidence in coping with their studies at the time of completing the survey to when they first started. One student felt more confident than when they started and one student felt less confident. The timing of assignments helped students to gain confidence in their work as they were spaced out well and enabled students to plan for them effectively:

Coursework briefs are always given well in advance of hand in dates. This makes it easier for me to get things done around my other commitments.

Help from lecturers increased students’ academic confidence, as did the experience students gained as they completed each piece of work. Some students, however, said they felt less confident due to their personal time management skills:

Individually, [the assignments are] fine. I just struggle to manage time so if I have more than one in around the same time, I struggle to give them enough time to do my best.


Some students said they would have liked essential information required for assignments and data collection more in advance of assignment deadlines. One student also indicated that they would like to have more detailed feedback on assignments.


Students find the content of their subject interesting and feel engaged when lecturers share their real life ecology experiences and research. Students enjoy the practical activities and fieldwork on their course and welcome the breadth of topics covered:

It broadens horizons and makes you think about things and the world around us in a different way. It opens lots of doors and is great for personal development.

As well as appreciating the variety of content offered by the course, the students like the relevancy of lectures to their personal interests in ecology. This influenced some students’ decision to apply for the course, illustrating the importance of communicating accurate information at open days and in prospectuses:

Relevant lectures on topics that interest me (subjects which I was interested in before university, and which affected my course choices).

This supports the staff view that it is essential to get students on the right course in the first place – a course that interests them, meets their expectation and does not fail to deliver what is promised.

Whilst most students found it interesting learning in depth, some disliked studying theory and statistics because they found such aspects difficult. Others did not find the Academic Practice unit interesting or were not keen when PowerPoint was used excessively by some lecturers.


The majority of students felt valued by staff on their course, commenting that lecturers spend time helping them and show an interest in their learning:

Overall they explain well and are always willing to help out.

The students appear to be satisfied with most staff members but stated that some staff valued them more than others. Not all lecturers were considered to have a personal approach to the individual needs of students:

Some probably wouldn't know if I were present or not but some do take interest in the class and make you feel involved.

Students disliked occasions where they had been treated like children rather than adults but expressed that it was the minority of staff who took this approach. Support from friends/peers

Almost all of the students on the course said that they had made good friends during their first year at university. The most common way of developing friendships with their peers during induction was through fieldwork which helped get students talking to each other. Further opportunities for making friends during induction included being split into groups for discussion activities during lectures. Mature students, however, found it more difficult to make friends:HERE! Project – BU Case Study 4 – BSc (Hons) Ecology and Wildlife Conservation

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I didn't know about the buddy stuff until it was over and by the second week most people had decided who to mix with. Being a mature student I hadn't anticipated that age would be an issue but feel it is at times.

This highlights the potential difficulties in helping to integrate mature students with their peers and reflects the lecturers’ opinion that sometimes it depends on the personality of the students as to how much they will integrate with their fellow students. When asked to describe opportunities for making friends after induction, fieldwork again featured highly, as well as practical lab classes and group discussion. In accordance with the lecturers’ view, programme seminars were regarded by the students as a good place to make friends. Informal situations external to the course, such as waiting outside lecture halls and talking to people on their bus journey to university, also provided the chance to get to know people and the students themselves used Facebook to organise socials.


Of the ten students who completed the student survey, two expressed that they had considered withdrawing from their course during the first year but decided to stay and one student had experienced doubts and was undecided as to whether to stay. Reasons for having doubts included financial difficulties, other commitments such as children, and not being happy with the course:

I wasn't happy with the course in the first year, but a friend persuaded me to stay and I'm glad I did because the course improved dramatically in the second year.

For the students who had decided to stay, the main course related factor that encouraged their decision was enjoying what they were doing. Other aspects of their life that persuaded the students with doubts to persevere were the friends they had made, wanting to be independent, and living away from home.

Future goals

90% of students claimed that the course is helping them to achieve their future goals. For most this involved gaining practical experience within the field as well as an increased understanding of subject knowledge:

I feel that to work in my area of interest I will need a degree both to improve opportunities available to me and so that I have more understanding of my area of work.

The six week work placements have helped, it gives you an idea of what to expect in this kind of work.

Students felt that completing the degree would open up more opportunities for them in the future and believed it has opened their eyes to the different careers they could enter.

Practical examples that enhance the student experience



Having an achievable assignment schedule that spreads out deadlines and gives students a realistic timeframe to plan their work.



Include fieldwork and practical activities to engage students in learning.

Listening to the real life ecology experiences of lecturers and their personal research interests.


Lecturers showing an interest in students’ learning.

Providing help to students where necessary.


Organising fieldwork events where students can get to know one another.

Incorporating group work and discussion within the course.

Use of Facebook to organise course socials.


Providing opportunities for students to make friends and develop peer support for times of doubt.

Future goals

Including placements and other practical experiences as part of the course so that students can gain an understanding and awareness of the different career paths they could follow.

Summary

Overall, the students rate all aspects of their course highly and enjoy learning new things through interesting lectures. The students feel engaged when lecturers share their practical experiences of ecology and wildlife conservation and they like the variety of topics covered on the course. Support from friends was important to the students and in some cases helped students with doubts to stay at university. Students appreciated the help they received from lecturers when needed and felt valued by staff who expressed an interest in their learning experience. Whilst most students were confident that they could cope with their coursework, time management skills seemed to be an element of their academic studies that needed developing.

In alignment with the staff perspective, the students believe that fieldwork provides a good opportunity to make friends and develop peer support, as well as make them aware of different careers they could enter according to their interests. Placements are valued by the students for giving them a taste of work in the real world. HERE! Project – BU Case Study 4 – BSc (Hons) Ecology and Wildlife Conservation

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SECTION 4:

Overall summary and key conclusions

A combination of factors appear to be associated with the good first year retention rates maintained by the BSc (Hons) Ecology and Wildlife Conservation course. Of high importance is the incorporation of practical fieldwork from the start of the programme which lecturers believe engages students from the beginning and inspires them to fulfil their future careers. The new framework provides a coordinated approach to the student journey which helps give students direction and purpose by making connections between their studies and future employment. Support from both staff and peers was considered fundamental to helping students through the first year of the course and lecturers make a point of valuing and supporting all students’ choices throughout their degree. The lecturers ensure that students’ expectations of the course are realistic by not overpromising something that cannot be delivered and by communicating information accurately.

When comparing the student and lecturer perspective, both share similar opinion on the value of developing peer support and cohort identity to assist transition to university and academic study. The students enjoy being taught by lecturers who relate lectures to real life experience and favour practical work as a learning method. This view is echoed by staff who feel that practical activities should form part of the student experience from induction and that ‘student-friendly’, dynamic staff should strategically be placed to teach first years to capture the students’ interest. Both the staff and students agree that the structure and content of the course broadens horizons and offers different perspectives of the world.

Where the student and lecturer views tend to differ is with regard to the relationship with staff. Despite having an open door policy and the majority of staff being approachable and supportive, not all lecturers were considered to value the students as individuals. Another area of slight difference is the Academic Practice unit. Although the unit is aimed at supporting academic transition and introducing essential study skills for higher education, some students did not engage well with the unit.

The BSc (Hons) Ecology and Wildlife Conservation course team continue to review practice and develop new ways of engaging students and improving the student experience. This is particularly evident in light of the new initiatives introduced in 2010 for induction week and changes made as a result of the new framework. Providing practical opportunities and links to students’ future careers continues to be a priority for the course.


SECTION 5:

The HERE Project: Strand 2

Research into programmes with better than peer rates of retention

Guide for staff participants

Research Purpose

The HERE project is a 3 year research project funded by HEFCE/ PHF as part of the “What Works? Student Retention & Success” programme of work. We are interested in student retention, but unlike most studies we are primarily investigating why students stay rather than why they leave. The work has two strands: students with doubts who stay and those actions programmes can take to better support retention.

Our aim is to find out what works in your programme to support retention and help first year students to stay at university. We are primarily looking for good practice and, whilst we will seek to be rigorous, we are looking for examples of good practice, not flaws and weaknesses.

Research Design

The focus of our research is to find out what works best in your programme to support retention. We have applied the principles of the Appreciative Inquiry approach in order to do this. Appreciative Inquiry “…focuses on identifying and developing what works in an organisation rather than trying

to fix what doesn’t” (Dovestone and Keenaghan, 2006, p5). We will ask you about what you do best in your programme to support students to stay. We would then like to ask you about specific areas that we have found (from our strand one research) that appear to support retention.

Our strand one research collected feedback from just under 1,000 first year students between March & May 2009. Approximately 1/3 had, at some point, doubted and considered withdrawing from university. Importantly, the reasons for doubting were not the same as the reasons that doubters cited for remaining. For example, the most common reason for doubting related to the course (poor initial choice, dissatisfaction with some aspects of the experience etc.), but the main reason that doubters cited for subsequently remaining were associated with support from friends and family (particularly friends made on the course).

We have therefore structured the questions to reflect the need to reduce activities likely to lead to doubting and also to enhance those activities that support students who have doubts.

What would we like to find out?

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SECTION 5:

We would like to know what you do in your programme to support students with retention.

We would like to find out what you actually do (rather than what you would like to do or think would work given more time/resources etc). Where possible we would like to explore actual activities, examples and practices.

We would be particularly interested in exploring any research or evaluation that you have carried out into your own practice (formal and/or informal).

Anonymity

The information that we collect from you will be reported anonymously. A programme, for example, may be referred to as ‘a large programme within the School of Social Sciences at Nottingham Trent University’. Individuals will not be identifiable from the information reported. No incentives will be offered to staff for participation in the interview. Participants may withdraw from the project at any time and ask for their data to be destroyed.

Data will be stored according to the Data Protection Act 1998. An audio recording of the interview will be made only with permission. This will be stored safely and not made available to those outside the project. Data will be kept for six years after the end of the project in line with current ethical guidelines. After this time, the data will be destroyed.

Intended use of the research data

The data will be used to report on progress for the “What Works? Student Retention & Success” programme of work. A final report will be produced that makes recommendations (based on evaluation and evidence from all projects within the programme) about how best to support student retention across the sector.

The data will also be used to produce academic articles and conference presentations.

DOVESTON, Mary and KEENAGHAN, Marian, 2006. Improving classroom dynamics to support students’ learning and social inclusion: a collaborative approach. Support for Learning, 21(1), pp.5-11.

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SECTION 5:

Interview Structure

The structure below illustrates the areas that we would like to ask you about. We may prompt you for further details, and are happy for you to give us additional information that you feel is relevant.

Questions

Background information about the programme

Can you give us some background information about your programme, common issues, types of students, its particular challenges to retention etc?

What works?

What is it that your programme does now when it is at its best in terms of retaining students?

What is it about your programme that makes this possible?

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SECTION 5:

Programme Practice

Reducing leaving Increasing staying

COURSE RELATED

The most common reasons that students who answered our questionnaire gave for having doubts about being at university were course related, for example, wrong choice of course, describing difficulties in making the academic transition to HE and problems with the workload. Students who had had doubts about being at university (doubters) were much less likely to agree with the statement ‘I’m confident that I can cope with my studies’ than non doubters.

Could you tell us what you do in your course that you think helps students in these areas? (Academic transition, coping with work, choice of course, problems with the course).

SUPPORT FROM FRIENDS & PEERS

The most common reason that students gave for why they had decided to stay (after having doubts) was because of ‘friends and family’. Friends were mentioned most often, and students often described friends they had made at university such as ‘seminar buddies’.

Can you tell us about the kinds of things that you do that help students get to know each other?

RELATIONSHIP/COMMUNICATION WITH STAFFStudents that we spoke to in our qualitative research that had not had doubts about being at university all described that they had ‘someone they could talk to’ (be it a lecturer, personal tutor, or so on) about their work if they needed to. Student doubters were also much less likely to agree that they felt valued by teaching staff.

Could you tell us about communication between staff and students on your programme (such as written, online, informal etc)?

ADAPTING TO UNIVERSITYIn our focus groups, all students who had never had doubts could describe a time when they felt they belonged to the university, and this was often linked to recognizing faces, or places. More of these students (non doubters) described taking part of the social life of the university (student union, student ambassador) than student doubters.

Can you tell us what you do to help students feel part of the university?

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SECTION 5:

ADAPTING TO THE COURSEStudents described adapting to the course, getting to know the staff, starting to enjoy the subject and course as reasons for staying after having doubts.

Can you talk about what you do to facilitate adapting to the course?

LIFE OUTSIDE OF STUDYThe second and third most common reasons that students gave for having doubts about their course were ‘student lifestyle’ (which included problems with accommodation, with other students such as flat mates, feeling unhappy with their social life) and ‘financial problems’.

Could you tell us about how you have communicated to students where to go if they had a problem with their finances, accommodation, or problems with other students?

DETERMINATION AND INTERNAL FACTORSSome students said that it was internal factors such as their desire not to quit that helped them stay here.

Could you tell us if there is anything that you do in your programs that would support such students (some of which may be staying here mainly because they don’t want to leave, rather than a desire to stay)?

STUDENTS MORE LIKELY TO DOUBTOur initial analysis of the survey data found that mature students were more likely to have had doubts about being at university than non mature students. Students who completed our survey and said that they had a disability were also more likely to have doubts than those students that did not declare a disability.

Can you talk to us about who you see as ‘at risk’ students in your programme and tell us about anything that you do because of these students?

FUTURE GOALSThe second most common reason that students cited as a reason for staying after having doubts was ‘future goals and employment’.

We would like to hear about how the programme (and in particularly any activities you do) relates to future student goals (both employment goals and personal goals if appropriate).

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SECTION 5:

Closing questions

Can you summarise why you think your retention rate is as good as it is and what it is you do best?

What have you plans to improve on?

It would be extremely beneficial if we were able to survey some of your students, may we do so?

As this is a pilot study for further research, could you also tell us if there any questions that we haven’t asked that you think would be useful?

We are happy to share our findings with you. Is this something you are interested in? We could, for example, facilitate a workshop about the project, forward presentations, academic articles etc.

Thank you very much for taking part in this research.

Contacts

NTU

Ed Foster [email protected]

Sarah Lawther [email protected]

Bournemouth

Chris Keenan [email protected]

Natalie Bates [email protected]

Bradford

Rebecca Currant [email protected]

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mailto:[email protected]





SECTION 5:

Ruth Lefever [email protected]

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