Conference 10 June 2003

PDP in HE for induction and retention

Facilitators: Elaine Smith and Barry Beggs, School of Engineering, Science and Design
Glasgow Caledonian University

Workshop Outline

This workshop was highly interactive, interspersed with animations providing multimedia presentations of the philosophy that has been successful. The emphasis was on PDP materials integrated into a student induction and support initiative customised for students from schools and college access courses.

In Part One of the Workshop the Induction Questionnaire, used in the last academic year to elicit information about risk factors of students at point of entry, was presented. This led to a group activity with tasks to rank the risk factors and estimate which correlated most closely to the actual student failure, and to suggest additional risk factors. The variation in student profile and risk factors for each university or subject discipline formed the basis of the discussion, facilitated by presentation of actual results.

Part Two of the Workshop concentrated on the methods and PDP materials streamlined for personal tutor use and shared with students to improve retention. The 'Triple C Model' of student Care, Control and Consistency and an exposition of the dramatic improvements were presented. The presenters role-played student interviews, giving the audience the opportunity to identify examples of good/bad practice. The interviews were based on case studies of real interviews designed to bring out some of the details and variations. True/False cards were distributed to the audience and an interactive voting session took place.

Workshop findings

• absence
• no friends at start of course
• entry qualifications

These problems could be tackled through 'assertive outreach', involving absence monitoring and management as part of 'Triple C' model (Care/Control/Consistency).