One of the themes that Durham University is currently exploring is that of Transitions. Specifically that within Higher Education (HE) a number of transitions occur across the student lifecycle. One of these transitions that has attracted focus is the entry into University. There is a perception in some quarters that there is something of a cliff facing students arriving at University and that there is great value and reward in taking steps to address this view.
Colleagues from across the University have recently completed a project focused on this Transition into HE. The objective of the project was to “develop an innovative e-learning course to support all incoming first years before they start at Durham University. The course is designed to help students develop study skills and to successfully make the transition into higher education”.
The aims of the project were:
- To develop an online course for incoming undergraduates. This ran through September and focused on the skills required to make the transition into higher education. It was developed in partnership with current students, to allow us to identify the areas which students struggle with and develop innovative engaging solutions at the appropriate level.
- To exploit existing distance learning tools such as DUO (Blackboard Learn), video streaming and web-conferencing to create an online community of learners prior to their arrival at Durham.
- To evaluate the impact of these web-based resource upon students’ learning.
- To disseminate this work both within the University and at a national level.
Malcolm Murray, the University e-Learning Manager, from my Education Team was a key member of the project and has produced this excellent video detailing the findings.
The project was funded from the Enhancing the Student Learning Experience (ESLE) Awards which is an internal fund to support innovative practice. The project team drew on staff from the Foundation Centre, The Careers, Employability and Enterprise Centre and the Learning Technologies Team (namely, Drs Sam Nolan, Eleanor Loughlin, Malcolm Murray & Elaine Tan). The project proposal was highly praised by the ESLE panel and was fully funded.
The course ran for a 4 week period prior to the start of academic year and introduced students to four key study skills, based around:
- Preparing for Academic Study
- Introducing Independent Learning
- Digital Literacy and Managing Information
- Preparing to Arrive At Durham
Short videos were produced to target specific skills and needs and these were delivered as an online Course through the University’s Blackboard Learn online learning environment. This incorporated the students into the community of learners by introducing them to the core learning platform and supported their transition into Higher Education at Durham.
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