Induction Framework

Introduction
Consultation with staff and students about an induction framework has been ongoing since 2007. This has included focused discussion
opportunities at the strategic learning and teaching events held in September 2008 and January 2009. During this time, a number of
suggestions and ideas have been debated with a variety of stakeholders. Given the pressing need to finalise induction activities for 2009
entry, this paper makes recommendations about what Schools and the wider University could implement with regard to induction. The
focus here is for full time undergraduate students, but the principles which are discussed can also be applied to part time students,
postgraduates, work based learners and other routes.

Topics Discussed
Discussion Topics Ideas, Suggestions and Debate Identified Good Practice
What activities should  Induction should cover a wide variety of different activities designed  Peace Studies provide a rich
induction include? to enable effective engagement with regard to academic and social programme of social activities
integration during induction (and beyond)
 At least one social opportunity should be organised for students to through their Peace Liaison Officer
meet other students. Using students from other years is  Field trips/team building residential
recommended to build networks of peer support from within the activities away from campus (e.g.
student body (and is something students repeatedly request when Archaeology, SLED) which
asked about how they would improve their first year experience). encourage students to build
 An opportunity to engage in discussion about expectations of relationships in a relaxed manner
University level studies and how these may differ from previous and provide opportunities for all
learning experiences. students (living at home and away
 Induction is more than a week long activity and needs to feed from home) to bond.
through the whole year, with particular emphasis on the first  The expectations questionnaire
semester of the first year. (covering the whole university)
 Induction activities also need to be provided for transition into other provides an opportunity for
periods e.g. subsequent years; between modules (especially if students to ask „burning questions‟
different teaching methods are used); into and out of placement and receive answers prior to
activities and so on arrival. The outcomes of these
questions also inform future policy.
When should  Students need to receive relevant information as soon as they  The introduction of the PEP (pre-
information be enquire about a course of study. However, this needs to be tailored enrolment portal) has enabled
Discussion Topics Ideas, Suggestions and Debate Identified Good Practice
delivered to to fit circumstances at particular times to avoid information overload. more information to be made
students?  Drip-feeding information, and reinforcing key elements at critical available electronically. Whilst this
periods, is crucial to ensuring students can remember where they is not necessarily the easiest
need to access relevant information. format for all students to access
 Care needs to be taken not to top-load too much information into the information, it does remove
events during Welcome Week. Feedback from students highlights issues of papers being lost and
dissatisfaction with long induction talks which are often described as misplaced.
“boring”, “demotiovating” and “confusing”.  Feedback about the Develop Me!
 There are also tensions about how to deliver necessary information social network to help social
(e.g. good academic practice, health and safety) and providing an engagement has been excellent,
engaging, meaningful experience. especially as a point of call for
information and useful place to
start looking.
How should  Information should be delivered in a variety of methods to meet  Informatics extra provides students
information be different needs. There is no single most effective method that has with an opportunity to find out more
delivered? been identified, but web based information is the most often cited information about their course and
and accessed method that students state they have used when talk to other students.
asked about what types of information they have accessed.  The Develop Me! social network
 Ongoing developments to the PEP process will make online also provides a rich media in which
information more effective in subsequent years. students can access information
 Development of a pre-entry „module‟ is ongoing. It is anticipated that (written, audio, video, pictures etc)
in addition to the current information available on the Develop Me! as well as talk to other students
website, this will provide information and guidance on good (new and current) about their
academic practice, health and safety issues as well as other more experiences.
general University information.  Stepping Stones to Success
 Schools/courses might wish to consider establishing pre-entry tasks (http://tinyurl.com/cdr78n) provides
to engage students with particular activities and/or issues before contextualised course based
they come. information along with generic
university information. SLED used
a version of this approach for
2008/9 entrants.
What about late Providing more information on the web reduces the gap between those Develop Me! website
comers? Direct who are here at the beginning of the induction period and those who
Discussion Topics Ideas, Suggestions and Debate Identified Good Practice
entrants? arrive later. Having information on the web allows all to access it as and
when they need to, and also to identify which bits are relevant and at
what stage.
What activities can be We currently hold a significant number of different events to welcome  UBU Welcome Week activities
organised by the our new students and help them adjust to University life. However, what (see programme attached)
centre? By Schools? different students experience will vary from School to School. Centrally  School/course based activities e.g.
delivered activities vary and are generally whole University events (e.g. EIMC hold a film showing at the
UBU Welcome Week activities), School/course specific activities (e.g. National Media Museum as an
library inductions) or are focussed into the first week as opposed to icebreaker activity for new
being staggered over the whole semester/year. students.
How can Extensive work has been undertaken to pilot the use of social  UBU FaceBook groups (University
networking/group networking to support student transition, both at Bradford and elsewhere of Bradford Students Union,
working/social in the sector. Student and staff feedback so far has been positive. Some UniBradford Freshers 08/09)
activities be of the most significant benefits have been identified as:  Develop Me! social network
meaningfully  Ongoing opportunity to „keep in touch‟ with students and promote  Informatics Extra
embedded into the events to them in a way that is less obtrusive than constant
process? emailing Also see
 Benefits of „lurking‟ (watching but not posting on forums) to help http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/project
nervous students feel part of a community at University s/socialsoftware08 for an evaluation of
 Building up of a bank of actual FAQs based on questions asked the use of different social networks in
by students UK HE.
 Peer support networks developing across courses, years and
cultures due to the anonymous nature of social networks
 Ownership of the process of social networking – it‟s their space,
the information is more informal and students report feeling more
comfortable with raising issues
There still remain issues about what successful student engagement looks like, how to
deal with immature behaviour, effective classroom management and involvement of
students within a wider University community. It has been shown at other institutions
(particularly those in the States and Australia) that setting time aside during induction to
focus on citizenship issues and building a sense of community within the student body has
been very successful. Obviously this needs to be balanced with the need to teach the
curriculum and deliver module content as a common criticism levied at induction activities
is that they are unrelated to the subject students have come to university to study and staff
feel pressurised into squeezing more and more into less and less time.

Recommendations

1. Developing an Academic Community

Time (e.g. 1 hour) should be set aside during Week 0 for each course to agree a set of
„groundrules‟ in terms of how the course is run and managed, what student
expectations are, how students can become engaged in the university community and
so on. This will provide an opportunity for students and staff to engage in discussion
about expectations of University level studies and how these may differ from previous
learning experiences, deal with any differing expectations that may be identified and
address and issues or concerns. These discussions may be based on the previously
agreed Commitments (see Appendix 1) produced by the university, but they should not
be constrained by this list. Specific courses may have different and additional
issues/areas they wish to address. Staff may wish to use students from other years to
help facilitate this activity, and to help inform the process.

2. Pre-Entry Activities
Based on the success of the Stepping Stones model (which has been shown to
improve retention by 20% on some courses), courses should identify simple pre-entry
activities to help students engage with academic material prior to arrival. These should
be debriefed on arrival and can consist of individual and group based activities.

3. Social Networking
Whilst social networking will never include 100% of a new intake, significant numbers
of students either already engage in these types of activities, or are willing to do so
when starting university. In order to develop cohesion between students and increase
social integration, social networking can be a powerful tool. Support is available from
the centre in terms of establishing networks. Other students make effective facilitators
and moderators of online communities.

4. Central Welcome Activities

We need to continue to build on the success of Welcome Week 2008 and the KAPOW
welcome back event. A co-ordinated programme of ongoing activities needs to be
developed by the University and UBU offering a wide variety of different events for
students to engage with. This needs to be circulated to Schools as early as possible to
facilitate the timetabling of induction activities. Whole days should be used during the
induction period with ideas of activities for students to participate in on the timetable
(including UBU events).

5. Personal Tutoring
An early meeting with the personal tutor should be arranged (ideally during week 0).
This meeting should be structured and enable the student to discuss how they have
found the process of transition. If you use SaPRA this is a good time to discuss the
 outcomes of the activity and identify any additional support which may be required.

6. Reality Checks
Holding a „reality check‟ (Middlesex University) in Week 3 has been shown to be an
extremely effective way to identify „at risk‟ students. The reality check consists of a brief
series of questions and is completed at the beginning/end of a lecture. Students are
screened to identify any risk issues and a follow up meeting is held with their personal
tutor or another member of staff to discuss any issues. Students who do not attend the
lecture/intervention in week 3 to complete the reality check are automatically invited for
a discussion.

7. Responding to ‘Burning Questions’

Providing students with an opportunity to ask a „burning question‟ prior to arrival has
been very well received by the student body. It would be good if each school could
nominate a designated person for specific, School based questions to be forwarded on
to. The HUB and LSS already provide answers to generic questions, but significant
numbers of the questions received are related to course management issues.

Central/school based support will be available to help staff implement these

recommendations.

Becka Currant
Head of Learner Development and Student Engagement
March 2008