But having to navigate the transition after spending most of high school in a pandemic makes it even more difficult, says 18-year-old Jamie Raybould. “I wasn’t sure… if I was learning the content — if I was learning it all or if I was retaining it all — because of the constant shift from online to face-to-face [classes]”, they said. “My biggest worry was honestly that I would be behind.” Now a freshman at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Raybould said they’re still not sure if they’re ready. “I struggled with some of my lessons at first, trying to find my feet, [wondering] ‘Do I have the same baseline as everyone else?’ and “How do I get to the same baseline?” Better support for students entering post-secondary education were on the radar before COVID, but pandemic learning disorders have heightened the need, according to students, professors and those who research higher education. And educators behind new courses focused on first-year students hope to bridge the gap — and help put them on a path to academic success. Freshmen attend a lecture on Dalhousie University’s new Introduction to Social Sciences course, one of two introduced this fall to help students better transition into postsecondary studies. (Robert Short/CBC) Introducing or expanding programs to help first-year students strengthen academic skills and bridge knowledge gaps is one of his recommendations a 2022 report from the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO), published after researchers surveyed Ontario students who graduated from high school in the spring of 2020 and began post-secondary education that same fall. In addition to feeling they lacked the necessary skills to make the transition to rigorous online courses, more than 70 percent of students surveyed said they found a lack of motivation to be the main challenge to academic success in their first year after the high school. “A similar number said a major challenge was staying focused and engaged,” said Jeffrey Napierala, senior researcher at HEQCO and co-author of the report. “Many students also said they have a hard time just staying on top of their classes and coursework.” He and colleague Natalie Pilla, also a co-author of the report, encourage institutions to help students develop their capacity for independent learning — how to manage their schedules and course loads, for example — as well as how to create specific skill sets required for distance education, given the increased reliance on online course delivery in recent years. “What we heard from the students was that this was a real big need and a gap in their knowledge and skills,” said Pilla, a research associate at HEQCO. Ontario Higher Education Quality Council researchers Natalie Pilla, left, and Jeffrey Napierala released the report “Postsecondary Entry in a Pandemic” this spring. Their team surveyed Ontario students who graduated from high school in the spring of 2020 and began secondary education that same fall. (Submitted by Natalie Pilla and the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario) The sooner this is addressed for incoming students, the better. “These are skills that students need right away when they start [post-secondary]Napierala said. “If we wait too long … then we risk students becoming overwhelmed and disengaged.”
Ensuring every student ‘starts on the same page’
Nearly three months into the fall semester, Raybould feels he’s on stronger footing now, thanks to one of two new courses offered to Dalhousie freshmen in September. Introduction to the Humanities and Introduction to the Social Sciences were specifically designed to better engage students, highlight real-world connections to what is being studied, and guide them in building key academic skills.
How a new Dalhousie first-year course aims to ‘inspire’ students’ confidence in learning
Dal Professor Robert Huish, coordinator of a new Introduction to Social Sciences course for first-year students, discusses how the new offering takes a different approach to developing academic skills. Course topics are divided into smaller learning units, each with a main assignment and an associated field trip. Lectures from a variety of speakers — different professors and guests — also make classes more interesting, Raybould said, as they hear a range of opinions, knowledge and experiences. Beyond learning course content, students are pushed to make broader connections and express opinions about what is being explored, Raybould said. “You don’t just spit out what you were taught.” And the general arts student found the course’s short side assignments—for example, how to email a professor, access campus resources, or properly structure an essay—helpful and confidence-building for college life: “I know all different knowledge and outside of what I’m supposed to do.’ Those courses will soon complete their inaugural editions, but students still enthusiastically attend weekly lectures and seminars, with much participation in activities posted online, said Robert Huish, associate professor of international development studies and social studies course coordinator. . “Every week we rock in there and we have 300 people who are there by choice and walk out of there engaged,” he said. “They’re clapping. They’re focused on their missions.” We can’t assume that students who enter postsecondary with high grades from high school are simply “ready to go,” says Dalhousie professor Robert Huish. “We have to make sure everyone starts on the same page and then moves forward together.” (Steve Lawrence/CBC) The associate professor credits high student commitment to the care that went into creating the new courses, starting with tapping experienced faculty with the confidence to share teaching responsibility and the continued emphasis on real-world connections between the study of the humanities and social sciences. Instructors also teach academic skills in gradual, confidence-building, and non-disciplinary ways. Learning to use citations and sources properly was linked to fighting misinformation, Huish offers as an example, rather than the traditional plagiarism shakedown. First-year students attend a short seminar for Dalhousie University’s new Introduction to Social Sciences course in early November. (Robert Short/CBC) Another key element was quickly identifying and providing support to those who may be struggling. Instead of a few major assignments or exams, final grades are based on “lots of little assessments,” quiz-like knowledge checks, a final essay and participation grades, Huish explained. That way, through an online course management system, “we can get data very quickly to see how people are doing… There are people who maybe didn’t do that first legwork about going out and connecting with people in the student society — and they also don’t attend classes? Is that something we should be concerned about, in terms of maybe some social anxiety? And if that’s the case, we can direct you to the right resources,” he explained. We can’t assume that high-scoring students “are ready to go,” Huish said. “We don’t know that. We have to make sure everyone starts on the same page and then moves forward together.”
“Release the pressure,” get students to think
At York University in Toronto, Andrew Skelton has also seen how students can benefit from a bridge between high school and post-secondary studies.
As of 2020, he and his colleagues have taught non-credit, online summer transition courses for incoming freshmen. York’s five-week summer modules combine skill development — effective note-taking, for example, or different approaches to studying — with some content revision.
Andrew Skelton, an associate professor in York University’s department of mathematics and statistics, has helped teach non-credit summer transition modules to incoming first-year students for the past three summers. (Submitted by Andrew Skelton)
One of the main goals is to “take away the pressure of grades, take away the pressure of assignments. Take away the pressure of deadlines and just start taking [students] thinking “You know what? The college course might look a little different than what my high school classroom looked like, but I have some skills I can develop to help me through it,” said Skelton, an associate professor of mathematics and statistics who has also taught at the upper secondary school.
York is considering expanding the modules to reach more students, but for now Skelton considers office visits from past summer students — to tell him how the modules helped them — an unscientific barometer of success.
Freshmen need opportunities to develop and practice the skills needed for college or university and life beyond — skills many adults take for granted, he believes — and that doesn’t just happen right away during orientation week.
“It’s not reasonable to expect a 17-year-old student to know how to do some of these professional skills. That’s what college is all about… to graduate four years later with these adult skills.”
