2009 Day 3 9:15-10:00 Wendy Hardman, UOIT: Supporting First Generation Students with Online Resources

We define first generation students as those whose parents did not attend post-secondary education in Canada

First generation students are less likely to enroll, can be discouraged easily and have higher dropout rate at four-year programs (they drop out in first two years)

As first generation students often have difficulties with writing and Math, it is important to provide them with support resources in those areas

It is very important for first generation students to understand both explicit and implicit expectations of university requirements

Possible influences significant to first generation students:

a) Distance from institution – there is no literature which explores this factor, so we don’t know;

b) Being female – literature suggest that female students (first generation) are less likely to persist in their programs;

Brian Campbell disagrees with this, his own research shows that male students are less successful in HE because male working culture (e.g. ‘does not pay to have a degree’) doesn’t support their success in university settings;

c) Number of siblings – There is no data and/or literature exploring this factor;

d) Income – yes;

e) Math background – yes;

f) Size of university – First generation students tend to choose larger universities

g) More mature (22+) – Yes, they tend to be older (24+)

a) doing academically well and b) having social connections

There is an interesting article on how students’ perception on whether they will be successful or not influence their academic performance;

UOIT approach: provide online resources for first generation students + provide information in a variety of ways

Site designed influenced by web sites that students like to visit (Facebook, Wikipedia)

Students’ input was very important while building the site (focus groups, surveys)

There are five ways to access important information on this site; website is expandable, usage tracking is conducted by

Google analytics

Discussion

Wendy Hardman: These objects have a purpose – they grab students’ attention so they can click on other objects (faculty buildings,

classrooms, etc.) to further explore the site; students were heavily involved in making the site and they are not distracted by moving objects;

Even though this website was built for students already attending UOIT, it will be publicly available on the web for everyone

interested;

Social networking side is also included; students are encouraged to submit their pieces; the website also has lots of learning objects, games, chat, etc.