Abstract
New students face challenges when they make the transition from school to university. Existing digital technologies used during this transition can sometimes increase the stressors associated with change. In order to explore ways forward for technology design in this space, we developed a brochure of questionable concepts. The concepts were grounded in findings of our prior research, yet were also intended to act as provocations to promote discussion in workshops involving 32 first year university students. Our analysis of workshop discussions documents the diverse issues students face around social bonding, their home environment, and their academic performance. Our findings challenge assumptions made in prior work about the ease of transition to university. We demonstrate how questionable concepts can play an important role in prompting ‘safe’ conversations around stressful life events for adolescents.
Highlights
There are significant challenges for new students making the transition to university
We identified key concerns running through our data around social and performance anxiety and we were able to map out design elements that exacerbated these anxieties
Participants recollected the ways they curated and edited their social media profiles to ensure pictures and content they felt would not show them in their best light to new flatmates, friends and peers: M5: I did clear every ugly photo of myself before I came to university, I just know how judgmental people can be and you can soon feel exposed and vulnerable if you let people see [...] all those childhood photos of you
Summary
There are significant challenges for new students making the transition to university. It is perhaps not surprising that more than one-third of first year university students in eight industrialised countries around the globe report symptoms consistent with a diagnosable mental health disorder [4] Often, such problems are associated with a vicious circle wherein poor mental health leads to poor academic performance and in turn high anxiety [5, 6]. Mental health problems are highly prevalent in European university student populations, for those transitioning from secondary to tertiary education [19]. In part, this can be explained by new stressors: leaving family for the first time, making new friends, and facing academic hurdles. The work of Mottiar and Quinn [27] is relevant here, who describe the transition to higher education as ‘highly stratified and complex’, noting the prevalence of failed transitions and recommends a better understanding of the ‘lived realities’ of students
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