Easing the transition from school to HE: scaffolding the development of self-regulated learning through a dialogic approach to feedback

Abstract

High quality feedback is known to be essential for learning, yet in higher education it has been highlighted as a problem area in the UK by both the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) and National Student Surveys. Furthermore, a recent study has shown that there is a fault-line between the highly structured guidance system that exists in schools/colleges and the culture of 'independent' learning that is promoted in higher education and suggests that this is a significant barrier to a successful transition. This article reports research to improve the transition for first year undergraduates by providing a structured set of guidance activities as a means of an extended induction into the assessment processes in higher education. The activities are based on the Dialogic Feedback Cycle which encompasses principles of feedback as dialogue, emphasising guidance at the start of, and during an assignment rather than summative written feedback. The intervention was evaluated by means of a questionnaire and supported by focus groups. The questionnaire was administered to a control group and an intervention group. Results showed statistically significant improvements (p<0.05) in students' perceptions of their understanding of assessment tasks, criteria, and confidence at completing assessment tasks and self-regulated learning. KeywordsFeedback, Feedforward, Dialogical Feedback Cycle DFC, Assessment, Self-regulated learning, transition, computing. IntroductionThe transition from school to higher education is increasingly recognised to constitute a crosscultural process 'with potential for substantial problems ' (Kirkpatrick and Mulligan, 2002, 75) and experienced as an 'alien environment' (Askham, 2008). There can be many reasons for such problems and Lawrence (2005) provides a detailed analysis of the complexities of the cultural transition in terms of socio-cultural competencies, university (learning) literacies and selfmanagement. However, a particularly important aspect concerns assessment practices and feedback. Beaumont, O'Doherty and Shannon (2011) identified the substantial difference between the approaches for assessment feedback at school and higher education as a significant barrier to successful transition. Their study of students' experiences in English schools and * Email:Chris.Beaumont@Edgehill.ac.uk Journal of Further and Higher Educationuniversities revealed that both students and teachers used the term 'spoon feeding' to describe the learning process in school, explaining that it aims to deliver high grades. Whilst this may be good for league tables, it leaves many students unprepared for university assessment, which is typically characterised as 'independent learning' (Leese, 2010). Bingham and O'Hara (2007) confirm the difficulty students have in becoming 'autonomous' learners.It is therefore important to explore the effectiveness of approaches that will help students make a successful transition between the two sectors; in short, to scaffold the development of self-regulated learning skills. Ind...

Revisión Sistemática sobre Competencias de Autorregulación del Aprendizaje en Estudiantes Universitarios y Programas Intracurriculares para su Promoción

“…El paso de la Enseñanza Media a la universidad constituye una etapa crítica, ya que este proceso de separación, transición e incorporación a un nuevo mundo social y académico, genera una línea de fractura entre el ciclo educativo altamente estructurado y controlado que existe en la Enseñanza Media y la cultura de aprendizaje independiente que se promueve en la Educación Superior, esto lleva a los estudiantes a experimentar dificultades académicas, fenómeno que ocurre a nivel internacional ( Beaumont et al, 2016;Dörrenbächer y Perels, 2016;Elvira-Valdés y Pujol, 2012;Gale y Parker, 2014;Koivuniemi, Panadero, Malmberg, y Järvelä, 2017;Yau, Sun, y Fong, 2012). Además, la transición al nuevo sistema educativo de la universidad, evidencia una preparación insuficiente, con un déficit considerable en el desarrollo de estrategias de aprendizaje en los estudiantes, que no le permiten adquirir un compromiso constante y autónomo en el estudio (Hernández, Rosário y Cuesta, 2010).…”

“…Ya se ha dejado de lado el paradigma relacionado con completar lagunas de contenidos, siendo sustituido por la promoción de competencias para un aprendizaje autónomo (Rosário et al, 2007). Un desafío sería implementar programas de mejora de las estrategias de autorregulación con el fin de facilitar la transición de la Enseñanza Media a la Educación Superior en el currículo universitario de primer año (Beaumont, Canning, y Moscrop, 2016;Rosário, Fuentes, Beuchat, y Ramaciotti, 2016;Vassallo, 2011).…”

“…Las iniciativas de promoción de estrategias de autorregulación en el contexto universitario se instalan de manera poco sistemática y aisladamente como programas de nivelación y/o remediales (Navarrete et al, 2013;Soto, 2016). Aunque se han desarrollado programas de intervención promoviendo procesos de autorregulación, los artículos publicados sobre programas intracurriculares son escasos, y pocos estudios muestran resultados empíricos (Beaumont et al, 2016;Cerezo et al, 2010;Dörrenbächer y Perels, 2016). Este tipo de intervenciones son efectivas, pero se encuentra en un estado inicial de desarrollo (Rosário et al, 2014).…”

Validating constructs of learners’ academic self-efficacy for measuring learning gain

“…Connections are noted by Wei (2015) and others between students' socio-economic status and their academic confidence, while background characteristics are drawn upon in other studies to offer explanations for transition differences (Beaumont, Moscrop, & Canning, 2016;Briggs, Clark, & Hall, 2012). That young people's HE choices are influenced by their background is well established (Brooks, 2003), but studies are increasingly beginning to note the potential impact of background characteristics on performance and engagement (Jones, 2017) and, ultimately, it is suspected, on learning gain.…”

Construcción y características psicométricas de la escala de estrategias de estimulación del autoconcepto académico

“…Corroboran los hallazgos de Craven y Debus, y señalan mayor efectividad cuando los programas de intervención son ejecutados por los propios docentes en lugar de profesionales externos. La modalidad intracurricular, en la intervención de las variables cognitivo motivacionales, ha demostrado mayor efectividad para mejorar los resultados académicos (Beaumont, Canning, & Moscrop, 2016;Hui-Ju, 2009;Isiksal, 2010;Lobos & Diaz, 2015;Marsh & Martin, 2011;Tempelaar, Rienties, & Nguyen, 2017).…”