First-year Integration Test (FIT)

Main idea

The FIT-test is a questionnaire taken by first-year students in their eighth week of classes to measure their social and academic integration. Students can receive appropriate referrals to support, and guidance initiatives based on their results.

Outline

Academic and social integration are important predictors of study success in the first year of higher education. To enhance features of academic and social integration, Artevelde University of Applied Sciences (AUAS) offers all first-year students ‘track coaching’. This used to include a lot of tests measuring study methods, motivation, etc. for first-year students in the first week of the academic year with the goal of discovering and remediating potential issues early on. The decision was made to stop taking these tests so early in the year and to let students adjust to the new context before giving them a questionnaire. With this new approach, these came a new kind of test: the First-year Integration Test (FIT-test).

Detailed description

Coaches monitor the integration of their students by using the ‘FIT-test’. This questionnaire measures a couple of variables:

• Social integration (e.g., ‘Have you met some of the other students in your study programme?’, ‘Do you feel lonely sometimes?’)
• Academic integration (e.g., ‘How do you take notes during lectures?’, ‘Do you know what the lecturer expects from you?’)

At the end of the test, when students get their scores, there’s tips and tricks for those with low scores.

The results of this test can be used to compare average scores across study programmes and the institution as a whole. The individual scores are also talked about in class. During these talks, students give each other a lot of tips and tricks and their coach can recommend support initiatives and make clear where students can go for guidance on their issues.

(No) part of the curriculum

The FIT-test is part of the curriculum. In some study programmes, taking this test is a mandatory assignment. They can, however, choose to not share their scores with their coach.

Timing

Students take the FIT-test eight weeks after starting higher education at AUAS.

Developed by

The FIT-test is developed by the Office of Study and Career Guidance in collaboration with Quality Management and Guidance Coordinators at AUAS and Edubron at University of Antwerp.

Goals

• Offering students appropriate referrals to support and guidance initiatives
• Showing students that they are not alone in their struggles and normalizing struggling with the transition to higher education
• Offering psycho-education about the transition to higher education
• Measuring first-year students’ social and academic integration

Students involvement

The items on the questionnaire were tested by students while the questionnaire was being developed.

Inspiration and evidence

• The idea that all students are faced with specific needs and struggles in their transition to higher education and that all students benefit from getting to know themselves better through taking the FIT-test
• Literature on the role of academic and social integration when it comes to predicting study success in the first year of higher education (e.g., work by Tinto)
• Research done by the Office of Study and Career Guidance on the integration of first-year students
• J. Willems doctorate work on the FIT-test

Success criteria

• By offering the test after eight weeks instead of at the beginning of the year, students have had time to adjust. They also feel more comfortable to talk about their struggles at this point in time.
• Students learn about the different options for support and guidance at the beginning of the year, but this information often does not stick. By talking about the FIT-test results with their coach, students can receive more specific and applicable recommendations and referrals based on their needs.
• It’s available to all students. In some study programmes it’s even a mandatory assignment.
• It’s evidence based.
• It’s a conversation starter. It may lead students to share things with their coach that they wouldn’t have said if it were not for the test.
• Students give each other a lot of tips and tricks based on each other’s scores on the FIT-test.

Points of attention

• Some study programmes are considering letting students take the test again in the second semester. This might be especially beneficial due to changes in the Belgian educational system.
• The tips and tricks offered at the end of the test itself, are rather basic. This can be improved by adding tools from outside of AUAS as well.
• There should be an evaluation of the test to see if all questions are relevant, so that the test can become a bit shorter.

Effectiveness

There is a correlation between the results on the FIT-test and students’ grades, this implies that the test measures what it’s supposed to measure.

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

We strongly agree.

Would you recommend this to other institutions?

strongly agree

Evaluation

The FIT-test is not systematically evaluated.

Results

• Coaches say the FIT-test is a useful tool and mention students’ enthusiasm when it comes to discussing its results.
• Coaches wanted to actively work with the results of the FIT-test but didn’t know how to best go about this.
• The design of the test was too complicated.

Adaptations

• Based on the coaches’ informal feedback and needs, the Office of Study and Career Guidance developed supporting material for coaches (e.g., a guide on how to talk about the results in group and individually).
• The design of the questionnaire was adjusted to be easier to navigate.

Communication

There isn’t a lot of communication about the FIT-test towards students because all students find out about this test as part of their curriculum. It’s mentioned in Canvas and on AUAS’ online platform for students.

Timing

Students take the FIT-test eight weeks after starting higher education at AUAS. By offering the test at this point in the year, students have had time to adjust. They also feel more comfortable to talk about their struggles at this point.

Resources

• You need programmers.
• You need adequate support and guidance for students to work on the issues brought to light with the FIT-test.
• You need staff members to organize it all.

Extra information

• Examining the early first-year experience (pdf)
• First Year Integration Tool Presentation (vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentation)

Transferability

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

The FIT-test might need some adjustments if it were to be used with a different target group, but it would be quite easily transferable to other universities (of applied sciences).

Universal Design

The principles of universal design were kept in mind during the development of the FIT-test. When it comes to accessibility, the fact that the test is taken digitally can be a barrier for some students. The results are also provided in a way that requires some prior knowledge and insight (e.g., graphs), but the language used in the test is as simple as possible. The use of colours also makes the test more user friendly. Additionally, staff members with expertise on students with specific needs (e.g., autism) were asked for input and feedback while the test was being developed. There’s also a simplified version of the test for those studying to get a graduate degree.

Context

The FIT-test is not a standalone initiative at AUAS. It’s part of the ‘track coaching’ that’s available to all first-year students. It’s important that there’s support and guidance for students to actively work on the issues that get brought to light with the FIT-test.