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Keynote Speaker
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Enhancing First Year and Easing Transition: A Learner-Centred Approach
Sally Kift, Assistant Dean, Teaching and Learning
Faculty of Law, Queensland University of Technology |
Abstract
Enhancing the First Year Experience of our students and easing transition to tertiary study centres around one essential - their engagement as learners in their learning. For our students to engage in their tertiary studies and have a successful first year, they need to:
• feel that they belong to a larger group of students and academics who are committed to learning;
• sense that there is a seamlessness between their structured, timetabled classes and the learning experiences that occur outside the classroom; and
• actively connect to the subject matter of their discipline.
(McInnis 2003:9 and Kul et al, 1991)
This presentation will discuss a "whole-of-course" response to the dynamics of the first year experience. It will explore briefly the complex interaction of factors that can militate against engagement, retention and success in the first year and some guiding principles to inform the development of strategies to impact positively on the quality of the first year cohort's experience will be canvassed. A two-pronged approach will be suggested that embeds the basic skills-set necessary for tertiary success into core curriculum and then supports this in-class learning with a range of out-of-class strategies that emphasise retention and learning engagement. How this can be operationalised will be discussed, starting with the central tenet of the FYE, curriculum renewal - specifically, the development of a new customised first year. This will be followed by reference to some further exemplars of strategies for first year engagement.
Kul, G., Schuh, J. and Whitt, E. (eds) (1991). Involving colleges: Successful approaches to fostering student learning and development in the classroom . San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
McInnis, C. (2003) New Realities of the Student Experience: How Should Universities Respond? In: 25 th Annual Conference European Association for Institutional Research , August, Limerick.
Biography
Associate Professor Sally Kift is the Assistant Dean, Teaching and Learning at the Faculty of Law, Queensland University of Technology. In this role she collaborates with academic and divisional colleagues to enhance quality teaching practices and to assure the delivery of positive learning outcomes. Sally's work on sessional staff training has been cited by the Australian University Teaching Committee ( AUTC) 2002 Project Training, Support and Management of Sessional Teaching Staff . Her research on curriculum development and subject design in law was highlighted as good practice in the latest analysis of Australian legal education, the AUTC 2003 Report on Learning Outcomes and Curriculum Development in Law (Johnstone and Vignaendra) . Sally has received numerous University teaching awards and much national recognition for her teaching initiatives. In 2003, she was one of eight Australian academics recognised for teaching excellence by the Australian Awards for University Teaching (AAUT). In her AAUT category of Economics, Business, Law and Related Studies, amongst other things, she was specifically acknowledged for her work and scholarship in FYE. |
