0000000000230948
AUTHOR
Orsolya Kálmán
Approaches to Transition Support for First Year Students in Higher Education
The growing numbers and diversity of the student population challenge the study and learning environments in higher education institutions. In this chapter, students’ transition from secondary to higher education was examined by analyzing practices of support offered to first year students in order to promote retention, smooth progress, and success in their studies. We classified the practices supporting students starting their university education on the basis of the main contents of the programs, using four categories: (1) introduction and orientation, (2) enhancing a sense of belonging, (3) developing academic skills, and (4) pedagogical arrangements. These approaches to support were ana…
Patterns of university teachers’ approaches to teaching, professional development and perceived departmental cultures
Many studies have been conducted about academics’ approaches to teaching, professional development and perceived departmental culture, but their interconnectedness has been considered to a lesser extent. The research presented here examined these patterns comparatively by disciplinary fields and years of teaching experience. Three inventories were filled in by 1141 academics from one Finnish and two Hungarian universities. Based on a hierarchical cluster analysis, four patterns emerged: (1) Experimenters with diverse teaching approaches; (2) Experimenters perceiving their department’s culture as most supportive and collaborative; (3) Individualistic knowledge-focused teachers; and (4) Stude…