Dr Sue Whittle

‘Second year is an enormous step up’

Understanding and supporting transitions within university degree courses

Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (Science)DREEM-S

Adapted from a 50 item questionnaire developed to assess the learning environment in medical/healthcare education

Questionnaire generates an overall ‘score’ plus scores in relation to 5 subscales

Perceptions of learningPerceptions of teachers

Academic self-perceptionsPerceptions of atmosphere

Social self-perceptionsRoff et al. Med Teach 1997; 19(4)295–299

Methodology

Paper-based survey delivered by UG interns with on-line alternative

Questionnaire uses 0 – 4 Likert scale: negative statements scored in reverseScores are added to give a ‘course score’ /200

Subscale item scores are added to give subscale scores:

Perceptions of learning /48Perceptions of teachers /44Academic self-perceptions /32Perceptions of atmosphere /48Social self-perceptions /28

Recommended interpretation of DREEM scores

Overall score

0-50 Very Poor51-100 Plenty of problems101-150 More positive than negative151-200 Excellent

Individual items

0-2 Problem area2-3 Area could be enhanced3.5 – 4.0 highly positive

MCALEER & ROFF, (2001). Part 3; A practical guide to using the Dundee Ready Education Measure (DREEM). In, J.M. GENN (Ed), AMEE Medical Education Guide No.23 Curriculum, environment, climate, quality and change in medical education; a unifying perspective . Dundee, UK: Association of Medical Education in Europe.

Key outcomes from DREEM-S

Overall score is 128/200 “more positive than negative”

Only one item gives an overall ‘problem area’ score (< 2.0)

I am able to memorise all I need

Year 2 students report significantly lower satisfaction than either Year 1 or Year 3 students

Year 1 Year 2 Year 315.0

17.0

19.0

21.0

23.0

25.0

27.0

29.0

31.0

33.0

Perceptions of learningPerceptions of teachersAcademic self-perceptionPerception of atmosphereSocial self-perception

Scor

e

Subscale scores in Years 1-3

Scores dip in Year 2Year Y1 Y2 Y3

Overall score 131.6 124.1 128.8

Qualitative study – Y2/Y3 focus groups

3 semi-structured focus groups for each year group; 33 participants in total

• Now that you are in Year 2 (3), have you noticed any differences in how you are being taught? (approach of teachers, support for independent learning, interesting topics, feedback)

• Do you feel that what you learnt last year has prepared you for this year? (change in confidence, motivation, skills)

• How does your enjoyment of the course this year compare to last year? (tiredness, stress, availability of support)

• Can you suggest reasons why Year 2 students might feel less satisfied than other students? (how can we help?)

It’s a big jump to Y2

Increased academic expectations

“I definitely felt there is a lot more work to do and it is more reading articles and extra reading around the subject” (Y2)

Emphasis on long term integrated learning

“I think they expect you to prepare more - you get to the lectures they say ‘well as you already know’ and I think well no I didn’t know” (Y2)

“as far as the presentation of the topics is concerned, it seems, there’s far more emphasis on an integration of topics”

It’s a big jump to Y2

More personal responsibility

“there seems to be a much greater emphasis on if you want something, go and get it, we’re not gonna sit here and hand it to you” (Y2)

Changes good or bad ? - opinions differ …..

“I think they expect you to be a lot more independent and in a way it is nice not getting so much help, it doesn’t feel as patronising” (Y2)

“some people who just aren’t big fans of self-directed learning, would rather have lectures where they get their information given (Y2)”

Is it just that Y2 counts?

“This is the first year that really counts and the end of uni’s only eighteen months away, and that’s actually not that far away to me, so I need to work really hard now to get what I want to get at the end.” (Y2)

“I think it is quite hard to avoid it being difficult in second year because it is just such a transition year I think you will probably find even if you tried to improve that area there would probably always be a slight dip because there is such a jump from first to third year and you are developing in yourself” (Y2)

“… third year you are independent, and you have done a project and you feel you are an adult, so it is the adolescent in year two and you are not sure enough of yourself” (Y3)

Or is it all a matter of maturity?

Attitudes change…

“I’ve started to notice it [feedback] a little bit now, in first year I used to just pick it up and looked at the grade and then I was like “Ah! I don’t need to read the rest of it”. So it’s only now that I’m actually starting to read it all. And actually get the benefits from it.”(Y2)

“I think I have much stronger opinions so in first year I either liked or I didn’t really like a module but this year if there is a module I don’t like I hate it because you have got to know it so well.” (Y2)

… and confidence can suffer

“I think I am a bit less confident because even though my marks haven’t really changed that much but this year I know it is really important so it doesn’t matter if my grades stay the same it is just more scary this year handing a piece of work in” (Y2)

Fitting everything in is a challenge

“I play for one of the uni sports teams and trying to balance that and actually playing for the sports team while training whilst also having time to apply for placements, I don’t even know how I have time to sleep - seriously, I am just like what am I doing? Where am I going? What am I supposed to be doing next?” (Y2)

as is finding support

“I think there’s always people who say we are here to help but by the time it gets to a stress we have forgotten where they are.” (Y2)

Students report skills gaps

“in terms of what you actually learn [in year 1] the basic theory does help but in terms of learning how to read and learn for exams I don’t think you get any of that in the first year” (Y2)

“there’s been so many more [exam] essays this year and we had I think one last year, so definitely more practice of essays would be, would be good to prepare for second year” (Y2)

“It is much more time management you have got to revise … adapt in to your extra reading whilst getting a piece of coursework in and revise for your January exams” (Y2)

“it would be nice to maybe have some sort of support on how to find journals and how to … understand journals.… I’m not really sure about how to find a specific journal” (Y2)

How can we support students through transition?

1. Provision of materials to help students maintain their knowledge

• Suggested work/revision to do over the summer • ‘refresher sessions’ during Induction week – (what material should be

reviewed before new Y2 modules start?)• Availability of module reading lists for next year’s modules over the summer

2. Support with skills development

• Exam essay writing – practice (with feedback) and advice on style and expected content for students

• How to find and read journal articles

3. Reminder of sources of support at the start of Year 2

Support Resources for Y2 students

Academic work

Degree Classification criteria

Tips on studying

Module-specific advice What to revise from last year

What to read in advance

SkillsReflection on current skills

- Which skills you need- Where/how you will develop these

University/Faculty support resources

Support for new skillsHow to read a journal

Examples of annotated Y2 exam scripts

Employability

Reflection on current experience

What you should be doing in Y2CV/cover letter

Internships/positions of responsibility

Employability links

Pastoral & Academic Support

Programme/Faculty support

Advice on mitigating circumstances

Links to sources of supportUniversity and beyond

Guidance from Year 3 students

Support Resources for Y2 students

Resource element % of who used it describing this as Very or Quite useful

Academic Work 80Skills 75Employability 80Pastoral care 63Videos 82Degree Classification 82Exam essay exemplars 88Reading journal articles 77Programme-specific material 67

Evaluation of Y2 support resource

Resources considered useful, used by both Y2 & Y3 students

BUT – of those who didn’t use it, almost 70% said they hadn’t heard about it …..

Any questions?

Sue R Whittles.r.whittle@leeds.ac.uk

AcknowledgementsWith thanks to Kate Rollins, Helen Gidney, Vijay Patel, Tom Simpson (Y2 student interns) for help with data collection and analysis, and for their insights into the issues underpinning the information

obtainedAlso to Dr Matthew Homer for statistical support