{"id":20886,"date":"2024-05-06T08:57:52","date_gmt":"2024-05-05T22:57:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/educational-innovation.sydney.edu.au\/teaching@sydney\/?p=20886"},"modified":"2024-05-14T09:27:51","modified_gmt":"2024-05-13T23:27:51","slug":"putting-support-for-students-at-the-centre-update-on-semester-1-and-looking-forward-to-semester-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/educational-innovation.sydney.edu.au\/teaching@sydney\/putting-support-for-students-at-the-centre-update-on-semester-1-and-looking-forward-to-semester-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Putting support for students at the centre – update on Semester 1 and looking forward to Semester 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Response to the legislative changes to the Higher Education Support Amendment Bill 2023 in Semester 1<\/h2>\n

As reported previously in Teaching@Sydney<\/a>, the new requirements from the Commonwealth\u2019s amendments to the Higher Education Support Act <\/i>(HESA<\/i>) came into effect on 1 January 2024. In response, the University published a new \u2018Support for Students Policy<\/a>\u2019 on the 18th December 2023 \u2013 the first university to do so. The legislation requires us to\u00a0have “processes for identifying students at risk of not successfully completing their units of study and supports available to students to successfully complete their studies”.\u00a0Our Policy aims to improve academic and non-academic support for students at risk of not completing units and incorporates changes to teaching and learning methods including early feedback tasks, proactive student communication, and engagement with students potentially at risk before the census date.<\/p>\n

Pre-census indicators and support<\/h2>\n

To date, the focus has been on introducing a number of pre-census indicators, to identify students who may be at risk of not successfully completing 1000-level units of study (Table 1). Students who triggered a pre-census indicator were proactively offered academic and non-academic support services prior to census, via the Student Portal. The latter includes new options for students to have one-on-one consultations with educators from their units. A new booking process and student interaction record for these consultations enables referral to other support services such as academic support, health and wellbeing.<\/p>\n

Early feedback task<\/h3>\n

As detailed in a recent article\u00a0Supporting students through pre-census assessment and feedback<\/a>, early assessment and feedback increases student engagement and belonging, and enables educators to intervene and provide targeted supported. Early, low stakes assessment and feedback helps students adjust their study strategies and improve their performance. It\u00a0is particularly important for commencing and equity students as it fosters engagement and\u00a0understanding of their\u00a0capability<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0expectations and standards<\/a>\u00a0of their educators.<\/p>\n

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Following a change to the Assessment Procedures,<\/a>\u00a0an \u2018early feedback task\u2019 has been introduced in all 1000-level units of study to identify and offer support to students at risk of failing pre-census. Typically, coordinators have utilised existing assessments or introduced low or zero weighted early feedback tasks which are auto-marked in Canvas. The task may have a low or zero weight (0%) and Figure 1 shows the distribution of weights across the units in Semester 1.<\/div>\n
\"Early<\/a>Figure 1. Distribution of weightings (%) for the early feedback task in Semester 1 units. Click on graph to expand.<\/small><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Personalised communications<\/h3>\n

Each student enrolled in a 1000-level unit received a “Welcome” email at the start of the teaching session. In addition, students triggering a pre-census indicator were sent further messages from their coordinators personalised to their situation. These personalised emails were sent by coordinators to using the\u00a0Student Engagement Relationship Systems (SRES)<\/a>, a powerful communication tool, built at Sydney by and for educators. SRES is particularly useful for\u00a0personalising learning support in large units<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Coordinators were provided with pre-configured SRES email filters and text, which could be personalised if desired. As a pilot, students in a small number of high enrolment units were also sent accompanying SMS text messages for the early feedback task indicator in week 4.<\/p>\n

Table 1: Pre-census indicators for Semester 1 units. Similar indicators have been used for units running in intensive sessions.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Week<\/strong><\/td>\nPre-census indicator<\/strong><\/td>\n‘At risk’ classification<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2<\/td>\nCanvas engagement<\/td>\nNot logged into Canvas by 5pm Wednesday of Week 2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2<\/td>\nLate enrolment<\/td>\nStudent enrols between Canvas engagement trigger and “last day to add” (LDA) deadline (i.e. between 5pm Wednesday and 5pm Friday of Week 2)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4<\/td>\nEarly feedback task (undertaken in Week 3; results released in Week 4)<\/td>\nUnsatisfactory performance or no attempt of early feedback task<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/h3>\n

Student Portal and student appointments<\/h3>\n

Although the primary form of communication has been email, students are encouraged to interact with services and support options via the Student Portal<\/a>. Alongside reducing email traffic, the use of the Portal enables tracking of which options individual students pick for internal improvement and external reporting. So far, more than 3200 students have interacted with the Portal. Around 38% of students selected multiple options and the most popular support selection has been the Learning Hub<\/a> which has seen a significant increase in bookings.<\/p>\n

The Portal now also includes options for students to have one-to-one consultations with educators from their units.\u00a0Uptake of the booking system by students has been low so far.<\/p>\n

Changes to unit outlines and Canvas<\/h3>\n

Since the start of the year, a link to the new Support for Students Policy, an explanation of its purpose and links to appropriate support have been added to the \u2018Learning Support\u2019 section of every unit outline. For 1000-level units, additional text explaining the early feedback task has been added to the \u2018Assessment\u2019 section of their outlines. An \u2018early feedback task\u2019 assignment group has been added to the Canvas site for every 1000-level unit. This enables completions to be tracked for the student communications as well as for reporting.<\/p>\n

Semester 1 pilot<\/h2>\n

Thanks to the huge efforts of all involved, the Semester 1 2024 pilot has been very successful \u2013 being designed and implemented at a rapid pace and involving partnerships across the institution.\u00a0Key engagement and support highlights from Semester 1 include:<\/p>\n