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

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)

• First generation students less likely take a rigorous high school programs

• 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+)

• There is also no literature on background culture and first generation students

• What is important for first generation students to succeed?

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

• Topics vs. Faculty

• Additional resources added throughout the term

• Social aspect (optional)

• 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)

• Accessibility was also important factor in building the site

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

Google analytics

Discussion

• Some moving object on the site (a car, birds, a person) may be distracting

• 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;

• Marketing plan: posters, new students’ orientation

• 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.