Embedding Successful Pedagogical Practices: Assessment Strategies for a Large, Diverse, First Year Student Cohort

Abstract

AbstractThis paper argues that the transition to first year in a diverse, multi-campus, multimodal university provides significant difficulty and disorientation for school leavers and mature age and international students. Consequently, curriculum design for first year students requires an awareness of the need to provide commencing students with a framework for meeting the requirements of the academic environment. This paper illustrates how the successful practice of teaching first year students addresses the learning issues and needs of first year university students through the use of scaffolding and developmental assessment.The case study is from a first year Faculty of Business core course at the University of Southern Queensland in Australia. It provides a range of examples of successful pedagogical practices, including examples of scaffolding and developmental assessment embedded within the course materials to support and meet student needs. The strategies to embed these support mechanisms included...