The intervention will use my role at Central Saint Martin’s as an embedded academic support online (ASO) tutor to focus strategies on improving the experience and efficacy to which contextual admissions are supported through their first year of University. In Spatial Practices, around half of the hundred or so first years are CA students, yet there is little in the way of extra support for them given demonstrable ongoing difficulties with study. They are often from lower economic, disadvantaged areas and have less support at home. According to the Office for Fair Access, ‘while more disadvantaged young people are in higher education than ever before, the discrepancies between institutions and the numbers of those students leaving before completing their studies continues to grow. (Gilbert, 2019)
ASO could be a much more efficient vehicle for supporting CA students in first year but the larger problem is that uptake for tutorials is low especially for the first two terms. Some larger, global interventions I’ve been thinking about have been inspired by the strategies Judy Willcocks has implemented (Willcox, 2018) to increase participation within the museum and study collection at CSM to make ASO a place students wish to engage. Her strategies include:
- Moving buildings to a more prominent place. My tutorials are online at the moment but I could make a case for creating a destination at CSM, this is entirely possible.
- Pedagogy and learning theories. Continue to develop my learning focussed on themes of enhancing CA student success.
- Delivery of new content. I could partition my hours to deliver more diverse content beyond one to one tutorials. This could include year wide lectures as well as smaller workshops and group work.
- Data gathering. Understand specific challenges students are facing, with a special focus on CA students so as to tailor future content for maximum efficacy. (Willcocks, 2018)
Some evidence would benefit initial enquires where I could map retention rates against CA students and also begin to understand their perspectives and experiences beyond the global student survey and informal conversations. These are as yet unexplored.
The above is the beginning of a general longer term series of interventions which could enhance the experience of CA students. I think the immediate problem is increasing visibility and the ease with which students sign up to ASO. The existing process is to follow a link in a weekly email but ASO lacks presence within the department. For the intervention I propose designing a poster with a QR code that takes you directly to sign up. Another problem is students not honouring their appointments, I think because of organisational issues. I’d like to see whether there could be an automatic link created in their diaries once sign up has occurred to remind them of the appointments (although this might be overkill). In addition, I’d like to make a short video that explains how ASO works and how to get the best out of tutorials.
I’m not sure whether this is ambitious enough for the intervention(s), which is why I’ve included some larger global strategies to see if there might be something in them to utilise. I don’t know how to provide targeted support to CA students without singling them out as different and so have taken a holistic approach with ASO visibility and efficacy in the hope that this becomes an attractive initiative to students. Any thoughts would be most welcome.
References / Bibliography
- Arao, B. a. C. K., 2013. From safe spaces to brave spaces; a new way to frame dialogue around diversity an social justice. Sterling: Stylus.
- Addison, N., 2014. Volume 3 ed. Doubting learning outcomes in higher education context: from performativity towards emergence and negotiation: International journal of art and design education.
- Friere, P., 2005. Pedagogy of the opressed. New York City: The continuum international publishing group plc.
- Gilbert, J. H., 2019. Precariat insurgency: A means to improve structures of inclusivity in higher education , London: Institute of education press .
- Shreeve, O. &., 2017. Art and design pedagogy in higher education: knowledge, values and ambiguity in the creative curriculum. Milton: Taylor & Francis.
- Willcocks, J., 2018. Museum & study collection: Judy Willcocks Copenhagen Presenatation [online presentation] (27 June 2018).