Abstract
Students transitioning into higher education face a myriad of personal and educational challenges as they adjust to new ways of studying in unfamiliar environments. We examine the potential for helping students adapt by providing opportunities for interaction within the context of their courses through two distinct workshops delivered to first-year, undergraduate students at a UK University. The ‘LEGO Serious Play’ and ‘Reframing’ workshops allowed students to reflect on their educational journeys and the challenges they faced by providing activities which encouraged discussion and creative thinking. Student feedback in the form of post-workshop surveys and focus groups suggested the workshops were particularly effective for alleviating student concerns and encouraging new and alternative ways of thinking about and approaching their academic work. We present the findings and demonstrate the potential benefits for embedding workshops of this nature into first-year course curricula.
Highlights
Undergraduate students are still frequently transitioning into higher education with unrealistic expectations about University life (Pennington et al 2017; Leese 2010), unprepared for, and often unaware of, the processes needed for studying at an undergraduate level (Lowe & Cook 2003)
This still remains a problem for transitioning students (Hassel & Ridout 2018; Bartle & Wilson 2018), who are entering higher education without the necessary skills to approach their academic work (Tate & Swords 2013)
First year students enrolled on the Design Products module were invited to participate in two distinct workshops: first, a LEGO Serious Play workshop to help them reflect on their experiences of University life; and, second, a ‘Reframing’ workshop to help them explore and discuss a specific essay question set by their module leader
Summary
The resulting confusion and uncertainty can be a potential source of anxiety for students, some of whom may be reluctant to ask for help through institutional support services (Deasy et al 2016) This situation is compounded for many students by unsettling changes to their personal and social lives that a move to University often entails (Hussey & Smith 2010), as they find themselves in unfamiliar surroundings without their usual support networks. This is a situation which can lead transitioning students to experience many negative emotions including anxiety, depression, low self-esteem and isolation (Hughes & Smail 2015). Such emotions should not be ignored and must be considered when implementing interventions, which may deviate from, and move beyond the traditional (McMillan 2013)
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