Find out how you can support academic transitions in your T&L practice and what colleagues in various schools are doing in T&L to help students.
Teaching and assessing in line with the principles contained in the Curriculum Framework and the university’s Teaching & Learning Framework will help support students with their academic transitions in a number of ways. The following table lists the key evidence-based considerations and recommendations from Pownall’s paper (2020) ‘Supporting students during the transition to university in COVID-19 – 5 key considerations & recommendations’ and shows how the T&L Framework aligns to them.
| Consideration (C) / recommendation (R) | How T&L Framework aligns |
| (C) Re-acclimatising to study
(R) Clearly communicate expectations throughout the curriculum, with an |
*MORE DETAIL COMING SOON* |
| (C) Imposter syndrome and sense of belonging
(R) Facilitate peer-to-peer support and encourage collaborative group |
|
| (C) Mental health consequences of COVID-19
(R) Remain sensitive to the long-lasting mental health effects of COVID-19 on new students, and account for this when setting and managing educational expectations. Consider rethinking how course or module structure may be temporarily adjusted to minimise reasonable adjustment cases and encourage accessibility to all students. |
|
| (C) Increasingly unattainable hidden curriculum
(R) Provide support in helping students to navigate the ‘unspoken rules’ of |
|
| (C) Accounting for (in)equality of experience
(R) Embed equality, diversity, and inclusion into all aspects of the student |
For examples of how UoR colleagues are already supporting academic transitions in their T&L, see the Toolkit’s thematic summary of good practice examples and the full spreadsheet of examples (you will need to be already logged in to Blackboard to access these documents). Each document details existing teaching and assessment approaches and activities, providing ideas you might like to try out in your own practice. NB. These activities were collected in summer 2021 so it is possible that contact details may be out of date.
References:
Pownall, M., Harris , R. & Blundell-Birtil, P., 2021. Supporting students in the transition to university during COVID-19: 5 key considerations & recommendations. [Pre-print]