This document summarizes a module called STEP UP that was designed to support the transition of articulation students from further education colleges to university degree studies. The module aimed to help students develop academic skills, adjust to the transition from a highly supported college environment to independent learning at university, and foster a sense of belonging. A pilot cohort of 20 students from various disciplines participated. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected to measure the learning gain experienced by students. Results showed improvements in students' self-evaluated academic skills, confidence in the FE to HE transition, and teamwork abilities. Qualitative feedback also indicated students felt more prepared and integrated into university life.

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Michael Allardice and Tom Cunningham
Becoming, Being and Belonging: Learning
Gain through Transition Support for
Articulation Students
11th May 2017
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Scottish University of the Year 2017

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CASTLE: Centre for the enhancement of Academic Skills, Teaching,
Learning and Employability
Michael Allardice
I am an Academic Skills Tutor based in CASTLE. I came to the University of Dundee as a mature student in
1993 and graduated with a single Honours degree in Modern History in July 1997. My second degree is in
the Philosophy of Education. I teach on many courses across the University and have continued to study,
most recently Theology by Distance Learning.
Dr Tom Cunningham
I am the University Transitions Officer, also based in CASTLE. I help students make successful transitions
from Further Education College courses to degree studies at University. My PhD is in Philosophy, I was a
lecturer in Philosophy for a short time at the University of Stirling, and I have also worked in widening
participation to Higher Education in High Schools across Fife and Tayside.
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Introduction
Background
What is STEP UP?
How did it operate?
Who were the students?
“Becoming, Being, Belonging” in Higher Education (Thomas, 2012)
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Teaching the STEP UP Module
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Pilot cohort of 20 students, from a range of
backgrounds and disciplines. This presented
challenges and opportunities for the teaching
team.
The optional nature of the module created
concerns to begin with.
Being...
Becoming... Belonging...
Independent learning
Embracing Diversity Self Reflection and Self
Efficiency Self Management of
expectations
Academic information
literacy
Sophie Glover, Ben Lawler, Ian Martin, Erryn Miller, Holly Stephen, Charley Stinson, Amelia Wilkinson
• The ability to think clearly and
rationally about what to do or what
to believe.
• Going from a highly-supported
guidance system at school to a self-
regulated learning approach at
university requires students to
develop a high level of intellectual
skills such as the ability to select
and synthesise large amounts of
information (Booth 2001).
• Critical thinking is about developing
academic skills and responsibility
which will help you work
independently throughout your
degree.
• There are different ways to develop
critical thinking such as
assignments, research project,
group project, presentations, and
writing essays.
• This will allow students to become
more confident and involved during
discussions.
Critical Thinking
• The term Information literacy is
greatly accepted in Education.
• The Term Information Literacy was
being too mechanistic and only
tended to represent certain
behaviours associated with
information literacy. (Hepworth,
2017)
• Traditionally a great deal of emphasis
was placed upon using the
information resources provided by
the University, Ethical Use of
Information. i.e. Citing your work.
(Hepworth, 2017)
• Overall in Higher Education The use
of Academic Information differs from
greatly to little based on what subject
you’re doing whether it be Chemistry
or Social Sciences. Also, the Needs of
a student in their first year 2nd
semester will vary from the needs of
a Student in their 2nd year 2nd
Semester. (Hepworth, 2017)
Students need to not only comprehend
the university setting but also their role
in it in order to manage their own
expectations. Many students have
negative perceptions that produce poorly
developed ideas of what is and what is
not to be expected at university (The
Centre for Student Success, 2009). Many
students are not accustomed as to what
their chosen course entails which can
result in impacting on their academic
success. To manage expectations,
preconceptions need adjusted and
realistic goals need to be set. This can
help students change their weaknesses
into strengths.
In all stages of life, especially university,
self-reflection is a vital tool when it comes
to growing and developing as a person. Of
course feedback from tutors and lecturers
is extremely important, however when
taking this praise and/or constructive
criticism into account students must be
able to understand what they can improve
upon themselves. (Jisc, 2017)
Many students have trouble learning to
self-reflect when they transition from
school to university, as at school there is
not enough value placed on it as a skill, this
can cause issues for university students as
in order to thrive in higher education self-
reflection is necessary. (Clements, 2017)
It is common knowledge that many
students when transitioning from high
school to university find it hard to keep
up with their deadlines and work
without the safe environment that
school offers. While this does not mean
that university leaves students to fend
for themselves completely, the prospect
of becoming more independent can
seem daunting to some people.
However, independent learning is
extremely important when it comes to
developing as a person, as it not only
assists students throughout university, it
also prepares them for the rest of their
lives. (Sheffield.ac.uk, 2017)
References
http://philosophy.hku.hk/think/critical/ct.php
https://my.dundee.ac.uk/bbcswebdav/pid-4889136-dt-content-rid-3263203_2/courses/AG11023_SEM0000_1617/00%20-%20Key%20Transition%20Skills.pdf
The Centre of Student Success, 2009. Effective Practices for Promoting the Transition of High School Students to College, available at: www.cccbsi.org/Websites/basicskills/Images/High-School-Transition.pdf
Hepworth, M. (2017). Higher Education | Information Literacy. [online] Informationliteracy.org.uk. Available at: http://www.informationliteracy.org.uk/sectors/il-higher-education/ [Accessed 9 Mar. 2017].
Clements, M. (2017). The Importance of Reflection in Education. [online] Edunators - Helping Teachers Overcome Obstacles and Focus on Learning. Available at: http://www.edunators.com/index.php/becoming-the-edunator/step-5-reflecting-
for-learning/the-importance-of-reflection-in-education [Accessed 8 Mar. 2017].
Jisc. (2017). Student self reflection | Jisc. [online] Available at: https://www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/transforming-assessment-and-feedback/self-reflection [Accessed 8 Mar. 2017].
Sheffield.ac.uk. (2017). Independent Learning - Modes of Learning - Toolkit for Learning and Teaching - LeTS - The University of Sheffield. [online] Available at: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/lets/toolkit/learning/independent [Accessed 8 Mar.
2017].
Bandura, A. (1994). Self-efficacy. In V. S. Ramachaudran (Ed.), Encyclopedia of human behavior (Vol. 4, pp. 71-81). New York: Academic Press. (Reprinted in H. Friedman [Ed.], Encyclopedia of mental health. San Diego: Academic Press, 1998).
The belief in oneself of their own
efficacy is developed from:
Mastery of experience. Success helps
cement a strong sense of efficacy.
Failures undermine and reduce self-
efficacy.
Strengthening of self-efficacy through
the experiences of social models.
Observing those in similar situations to
oneself helps in the belief of oneself
being able to also succeed.
Social persuasion. Essentially being
told in a verbal manner they are
capable of succeeding help increase
the self efficacy and thus ability to
succeed. Finally, emotional
and somatic hold factors in our own
belief of ourselves. They are in part
responsible for of self-efficacy.
(Bandura 1997)

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Discussions
What would ‘Becoming, Being and Belonging’ mean for this cohort of students? How might this compare
and contrast with other students making the transition into University?
How should we best understand the potential Learning Gain for students taking the STEP UP module? How
does this relate to access programmes, academic skills modules, or other courses offered in HE?
How can we measure and assess the Learning Gain of students taking academic skills modules like STEP UP?
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STEP UP Research Project
A Mixed Methods approach using a range of tools and indicators to track student performance (HEFCE,
2015):
(1) Self-Evaluation
(2) Exit Questionnaire
(3) Focus Group
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Measuring Learning Gain: Quantitative Data
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2.5
2.7
2.9
3.1
3.3
3.5
3.7
Entry Mid-point Exit
Student Self Evaluation Reports
Academic Skills FE to HE Transition Teamwork

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Measuring Learning Gain: Qualitative Data
Academic Skills
“It has allowed me to see the importance of self-study and learning and shown me that I can achieve more
if I work on it.”
“Becoming familiar with how to use library and better at referencing.”
“It’s working for me so well. I would never have known about that if it wasn’t taught to me in STEP UP. I
feel like now my revision is so much more effective because of that way of notetaking. […] I’ve never done
well in my exams. That’s why I’m on this course so it did help.”
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Measuring Learning Gain: Qualitative Data
FE to HE Transition
“I feel much more confident having done the module to come to university.”
“I think the separate module was good for motivating us because we obviously want to be at uni so once we
were on the course, we are actually are in uni now so you’re more inclined to do our work so we can
actually pass the HNC.”
“A lot of worries that I had were sorted. A lot of questions I had have been answered. I’ll still be nervous
going in there because I’m not quite sure what to expect.”
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Measuring Learning Gain: Qualitative Data
Teamwork
“Worked with members of the class that we haven't met before, allowed for a better class togetherness.”
“It forced us to work with people we normally wouldn't which made us have to actually work in order to get
along and achieve success.”
“My team working skills have had the opportunity to develop significantly thanks to the final group project.”
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Becoming, Being and Belonging?
“We actually stood outside the five of us until half past because none of us knew where we were going. No
one wanted to make that first move. No one wanted to go into reception and ask where to go […] now
we’ve been in about three or four different buildings, we know the library back to front, we know where to
find computers and different things like that. We know where the humanities are based. We know at least
five or six members of staff now that we recognise if we pass them.”
“For the first time you actually felt like you were a uni student rather than a college student.”
“it wasn’t even compulsory, we could have bailed out of it if we wanted to but no one did. [...] you’d expect
that some people would have said, ‘I’ll just focus on the course stuff and ditch this’, but no one did. I think it
was just different. It took our day off, what was our day off, but no one seemed to complain because it
wasn’t like college, it was different. It was more enjoyable than college.”
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References
Brewer, N., Booth, D., Morris, L. & Coates, D. (2015) “Widening access to HE in partnership with FE Colleges: Supporting,
developing and enabling students to succeed from disadvantaged backgrounds and make successful transitions” available at:
http://www.enhancementthemes.ac.uk/docs/paper/widening-access-to-he-in-partnership-with-fe-colleges-supporting-
developing-and-enabling-students-to-succeed-from-disadvantaged-backgrounds-and-make-successful-transitions.pdf?sfvrsn=6
, last accessed 6th May 2017
Chien, Y. (2016) “After six decades: Applying the U-curve hypothesis to the adjustment of international postgraduates students”
in Journal of Research in International Education, 15(1), pp.32-51
Cunningham, T. (2015) “Not Getting Lost in Articulation”, available at: http://www.enhancementthemes.ac.uk/docs/paper/not-
getting-lost-in-articulation.pdf?sfvrsn=6 , last accessed 6th May 2017
HEFCE (2015), “Learning Gain in Higher Education”, available at:
http://www.hefce.ac.uk/media/HEFCE,2014/Content/Pubs/Independentresearch/2015/Learning,gain,in,HE/Learning_gain.pdf ,
last accessed 5th May 2017
Pancer, S M, Hunsberger, B, Pratt, M W and Alisat, S (2000), “Cognitive Complexity of Expectations and Adjustment to
University in the First Year”, Journal of Adolescent Research, 15 (1), pp 38-57
Risquez, A, Moore, S and Morley, M (2008) “Welcome to college? Developing a richer understanding of the transition process
for adult first year students using reflective written journals” in Journal of College Retention, 9 (2), pp 183-204
Thomas L (2012) Building student engagement and belonging in Higher Education at a time of change: final report from the
What Works? Student Retention & Success programme, Paul Hamlyn Foundation: London.
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