Entry Course on Attending Lectures (revisited)

Main idea

Outline

This initiative has undergone changes based on the SURFY-wisdom and evaluation. The entry course has been split up in two separate workshops: ‘Taking Notes’ and ‘Attending Lectures’. These have been moved into the first semester (rather than before) with a repetition in the second semester, and they have been embedded in a series of sessions throughout the academic year that aim to prepare students for a new and challenging way of learning by building their confidence and competency.

The 5 sessions are:

• Attending Lectures
• Taking Notes
• Study Methods
• How to Prepare for Exams
• What to Expect When Taking Exams

As first year students have no or little experience attending classes with more than 25 pupils, the transition to higher education involves a getting used to learning in bigger groups.

Both sessions focus on attending lectures. Each has a different focus. One focuses specifically on taking notes (something students know or have heard of), the other focuses on understanding a class. The content of each session is briefly offered in the other session as well, so every student has a minimal understanding of both.

Length and timing

The Entry Course on Attending Lectures took three hours and took place before the start of the academic year, but after enrolment. This workshop has been split up into two shorter entry courses: ‘Taking Notes’ and ‘Attending Lectures’, each taking one hour. These now take place during the academic year, at the beginning of each semester. One around week three, the other one week later.

This way, students have already gotten a taste of what it’s like attending lectures in HE and can better recognise their support needs. The adjusted timing also allows lecturers to refer students to the workshops when they notice a student is struggling.

Target group

The workshops are available for students from the Business and Management Department. They are targeted at first years, but are open for all. We frequently welcome second years as well.

 Who organizes this?

The workshops are organized by the Business and Management Department at Artevelde University of Applied Sciences (AUAS).

Goals

• Building competency by giving the students tools to follow lectures
• Building confidence in their skills (reassuring them this is hard for all)
• Contributing to belonging by bringing students together to learn

Obstacles targetted:

• Educational difficulties

Inspiration and evidence

Both workshops are based on research on listening comprehension skills and learning a second language. The underlying idea is that academic Dutch is different from the Dutch used in everyday life, thus learning academic Dutch is similar to learning a second language.

Success criteria

• There is ample interaction, room for questions and for personal advice (e.g. feedback on lectures)
• Due to the new timing, the students have experienced attending a lecture. This makes it possible to respond to the needs of the students as they arise.
• Students are required to attend a couple of student support sessions for one of their courses. This can be an incentive for students to come to (one of) these workshops.

Points of attention

• The timing is pretty tight. Some students wish that there was more time.
• The workshops often overlap with lunch breaks.
• There’s room for improvement when it comes to student involvement.
• Another improvement would be to allow students to follow along online. This is currently not possible.

Do you feel you can effectively provide the support that students require?

Would you recommend this to other institutions?

agree

Evaluation

These workshops are evaluated by showing a QR-code to students at the end. This brings them to an evaluation form where they are asked about:

• the relevance of the workshops’ content,
• the strengths and weaknesses of the initiatives,
• the communication strategy.

Students are very satisfied with the workshops. They find them very useful and relevant. Some students wish that there was more time and that the workshops were linked to a specific course.

Students refer to internal communication platforms and recommendations of peers and teaching staff on how they were informed about the existing of the initiative.

Communication

• The workshops are mentioned on the online platforms for students.
• The workshops are mentioned during the induction period.
• Students are referred to the workshops by lecturers.
• Students taking part of one of the workshops also receive information about the other workshops.
• Some students are required to attend a couple of student support sessions for one of their courses. This can be an incentive for students to come to (one of) these workshops.

Timing

The workshops ‘Taking Notes’ and ‘Attending Lectures’ are one hour each and take place during the academic year, at the start of both semesters, especially the first.

Resources

• Staff and skills: You need someone who wants to give the workshops. They need to be competent and knowledgeable.
• Material resources: A room, a blackboard, a projector and a computer

Extra information

• Teaching L2 Learners How to Listen Does Make a Difference: An Empirical Study

Transferability

We think it is easily transferable to other contexts or groups.

These workshops have not been developed with a specific group or with specific needs in mind, so in general they would be easily transferable to other groups by making some small adjustments. It would be more challenging, though, to do these workshops with groups that experience language related difficulties (e.g. students with poor auditory processing, deaf students…)