Making Connections: First Year Transition for Computer Science and Software Engineering Students. Moffat, A., Hughes, B., Søndergaard, H., & Gruba, P. In Young, A. & Tolhurst, D., editors, Proceedings of the Seventh Australasian Computing Education Conference (ACE2005), volume 42, of Conferences in Research and Practice in Information Technology, pages 229–238, 2005. abstract bibtex During the last decade, an increasing emphasis has been placed on the need for carefully planned transition programs to help first-year students integrate into university. In this paper we critically examine our experiences in designing and running successive transition programs for Computer Science and Software Engineering students. Over the last three years we have trialled several models. At present, our program requires all entering students to be enrolled in a transition subject, ``Making Connections'', which runs for half a semester. The subject, led by designated academic staff, serves as a forum for students to learn about each other, the department and the university. The program includes a computer-based language and study skills assessment component, including self-assessment tasks. Students can extend the subject by taking academic skills workshops run by the university's student support services. We have found compulsion to be a useful facilitator of student engagement, and the addition of an objective assessment task has been beneficial.
@InProceedings{Mof-Hug-Son-Gru_ACE05,
author = {Alistair Moffat and
Baden Hughes and
Harald S{\o}ndergaard and
Paul Gruba},
title = {Making Connections: First Year Transition for Computer
Science and Software Engineering Students},
editor = {A. Young and D. Tolhurst},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the Seventh Australasian Computing Education
Conference (ACE2005)},
series = {Conferences in Research and Practice in Information Technology},
volume = {42},
pages = {229--238},
year = {2005},
abstract = {During the last decade, an increasing emphasis has been placed
on the need for carefully planned transition programs to help
first-year students integrate into university. In this paper
we critically examine our experiences in designing and running
successive transition programs for Computer Science and
Software Engineering students. Over the last three years we
have trialled several models. At present, our program requires
all entering students to be enrolled in a transition subject,
``Making Connections'', which runs for half a semester. The
subject, led by designated academic staff, serves as a forum
for students to learn about each other, the department and the
university. The program includes a computer-based language and
study skills assessment component, including self-assessment
tasks. Students can extend the subject by taking academic
skills workshops run by the university's student support
services. We have found compulsion to be a useful facilitator
of student engagement, and the addition of an objective
assessment task has been beneficial.},
keywords = {Education, Student transition programs},
}
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