Supporting

As students proceed through the first year, there is a tendency to lower the level of support but given the research on FiF learners that indicates more consider departure later in their university career (Coates & Ransom, 2011), support should be continual, repetitive and timed according to the stages of the academic year and program.

Remind students of the range of support available to them can be sufficient and normalising repeated help-seeking behaviour can assist in long-term retention and success. Include the family or significant others of the student in this process – again utilising an app or other social media forum.

In our research (O’Shea, May, Stone & Delahunty, 2015) the centrality of assignments came up again and again. These are often regarded as ‘evidence of belonging’ for this cohort who may have feelings of being an ‘imposter’ (O’Shea, 2016a; 2015).

Early and regular feedback on assignments is essential and this should provide practical recommendations for how to improve writing and research skills. Consider:

• a series of action statements that can be usefully applied by the learner, or
• links to essay writing guides that may be available within your institution.

Encourage the use of diagnostic forms of assessments for students at the beginning of each subject – this can provide clear indication of what individuals need to improve or seek support for in a timely manner.

For example: The MASUS approach at University of Sydney.

Also there are a number of quizzes that assist student to identify their particular style of learning and their study strengths :

The Education Planner:
http://www.educationplanner.org/students/self-assessments/learning-styles-quiz.shtml
And
http://www.educationplanner.org/students/self-assessments/improving-study-habits.shtml

Consider how you might embed the first-in-family profile within your institution. Some universities are starting to develop dedicated sites for the first-in-family student: UQ have developed a page that invites students to contact their support services: http://www.uq.edu.au/student-services/new2uq/first-in-family

In your institution (or department / faculty or unit) you might consider including a short welcome page for FiF students or perhaps linking to the first-in-family website (http://www.firstinfamily.com.au) for more advice and information.

Remember: small gestures can translate into big gains in terms of feeling a sense of belonging and engagement.