www.destinationsocialwork.com

1. Going to uni is no longer a
pipedream:
How an interprofessional project transformed learners
and prepared them for their next destination in higher
education
Dr Jane McKay, Academic DevelopmentTutor
Dr Lina Petrakieva, Academic DevelopmentTutor
Lynn Sheridan, Lecturer in SocialWork
School of Health & Life Sciences
Glasgow Caledonian University

2. Interprofessional context
GGAP
• Greater Glasgow Articulation Project
• Enhancing 1st generation student articulation pathways
CUSP
• College University Subject Partnerships
• Working groups of staff from FE and HE
Research
• Funding to explore pathways
• Led to identification of support needs
Needs
identified
• Academic
• Psychological
2

3. Scottish system
National
Certificate
• SCQF level 4
Higher National
Certificate
• SCQF level 7
Higher
Education
3

4. Literature
 Students may feel sense of ‘dislocation and loss’ as find themselves
less prepared than traditional entry counterparts (Cree et al., 2009)
 FE-HE Differences may include:
Very different approaches to L&T
Emphasis on critical appraisal and independent learning
Staff may be perceived to be unapproachable (Barron & D’Annunzio-
Green, 2009)
 Social work students tend to be first generation, mature and often
have care commitments so have additional challenges (Cree et al.,
2009)
 Without early targeted support, these students are at increased risk
of drop-out and failure (Gale & Parker, 2014)
4

5. What we did
Academic skills enhancement:
Development of a package of web-based academic skills
tutorials to support the college to university transition.
Key features:
Auditory and visual components – video format
Sequential
Contextualised
Integrated learning activities to consolidate learning
5

6. What we did
To address confidence and anxiety issues:
Student videos
Staff welcome videos
All materials hosted on website:
www.destinationsocialwork.com
6

7. Demonstration
7

8. Evaluation
 Pilot – 88 questionnaires completed by college students.
Preliminary feedback all very positive, e.g.
51% students reported that it had made them more likely to
consider going to university
 Final evaluation
Qualitative (3 college staff interviews and 3 student focus
groups with college students)
Quantitative (from 3 different sources)
8

9. Example of theme building process
Raw data
1st order
theme
2nd order
theme
General
dimension
Positive
outcomes
Increased
psychological
preparedness
for higher
education
Made
university seem
achievable
It makes it seem easier to
achieve….I think it is just
such a helpful tool
Increased
confidence in
writing ability
It’s not just like you’re going
to this big place and you’re
all alone, like people
have done it before
Normalised
feelings of
anxiety
I felt like well there must be
other people that feel the
way I’m feeling and needing
this sort of help
9
(Berg & Lune, 2012)

10. Student focus groups –
commonly reported issues
 Use of examples “cemented understanding” and discipline specific – “easy to
relate to”
 User-friendly and simple language
“…it’s like an easy guide to writing”
“…no kind of unnecessary complications or jargon”
 Format
 Real-life staff and student videos
“I think as well there’s so many horror stories about going to uni…but the bit I liked was
that every lecturer said that they were looking forward to meeting us and that if we ever
needed support just to ask…”
“Nobody in my family has ever been to uni; it’s still a wee bit of a taboo so I expected it to
be really posh with people using big words, maybe a bit snooty, but nobody seemed like
that, they were just like your average people.”
10

11. Student focus groups –
commonly reported issues
 Enhanced understanding of academic skills
“…it’s actually taught me how to write. I now know why a paragraph is
there and how you use a paragraph properly. I’ve been ranting about it –
‘you need to go and see this website!’”
 Increased psychological preparedness for HE
“I think it was good because I sometimes I think about going to uni as a
pipedream but I think with that it showed you what’s expected and it didn’t
really seem as scary if I’m to progress on to uni, I found that quite useful.”
11

12. Staff interviews – commonly
reported issues
o Supported teaching
“You’re always struggling with how to pitch it but when I watched the video I
realised I was making it too complex”
o Useful in other learning contexts (e.g. academic levels/subjects)
o Engaging features – echoed student feedback
o Positive outcomes, e.g. freeing up staff time, building
confidence
“I think it took away some of the fear by showing that there are support
mechanisms and I thought that confidence building was a big thing for them.”
12

13. Quantitative findings
Sources
Feedback survey on website
Website traffic - GoogleAnalytics
YouTube traffic
13

14. Evaluation – quantitative
Feedback survey on website
97% found it useful or very useful
14
89%
47%
42%
86%
57%
43%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Skills for Uni Student interviews Meet the staff
Percentageofresponses
Website area
Area reported as useful
at college at university

15. Evaluation – quantitative
Google Analytics
 Page views >4000
 More than 86% from UK (other popular are USA and Russia)
 Average visit duration 5:22min
 Average number of pages visited 3.92
 Visits:
from a computer >76%
From mobile devices 19%
15

16. Evaluation – quantitative
YouTube statistics
 Total views >5800 views
 Accessed by a variety of countries
Country Views Average view duration
United Kingdom 550 (41%) 3:06
Canada 185 (14%) 1:09
United States 162 (12%) 2:24
Australia 149 (11%) 2:33
Ireland 45 (3.4%) 3:51
New Zealand 36 (2.7%) 2:07
Jamaica 17 (1.3%) 5:23
Malaysia 11 (0.8%) 2:14
Singapore 10 (0.7%) 1:39
16

17. Evaluation – quantitative
YouTube statistics
 Skills for Uni – Reflective practice - 1400 views
 97% fromYouTube directly
 Most traffic throughYouTube recommendation and directYouTube searches
(66%)
 Top websites to navigate to video:
 destinationsocialwork.com (44%)
 edgehill.ac.uk (21%)
 deakin.edu.au (16%)
 Skills for Uni – Critical thinking ≈600 views
 Skills for Uni – Features of academic writing ≈480
 Skills for Uni – Reflective writing ≈480
17

18. Conclusion and reflections
 A relatively simple intervention can have a transformative
effect on students’ academic and psychological preparedness
for higher education.
 Lessons learned:
 The psychological component of support needs cannot be
underestimated; academic and psychological preparation should be
addressed collectively.
 Promote engagement with contextualised examples
 Keep teaching simple; avoid complex language and jargon
 Select formats that students will be familiar with. Using established,
open platforms likeYouTube will increase accessibility.
18

19. References
 Barron, P. & D’Annunzio-Green, N. (2009).A smooth transition?:
Education and social expectations of direct entry students. Activity
Learning in Higher Education, 10, 7-25.
 Berg, B.L., & Lune, H. (2012). Qualitative Research Methods for the Social
Sciences, 8th edn. NewYork: Pearson.
 Cree,V. E., Hounsell, J., Christie, H., McCune,V. &Tett, L. (2009). From
further education to higher education: Social work students' experiences
of transition to an ancient research-led university. SocialWork Education,
28(8), 877-901.
 Gayle,T. & Parker, S. (2014). Navigating change: a typology of student
transition in higher education. Studies in Higher Education, 39(5), 734-753.
19