The implied student

et al. 2018

NorDiNa

Self Cite

. Her research centers around understanding students' identity-work in science. She has published on students' choices of and transition into higher education science, students' drop out and first year experiences. Currently she work on defining the concept academic integration to understand how students gain a sense of belonging in science.Moreover she is involved in research that explores STEM-students' transition into first employment.Lene Møller Madsen is an Associate Professor in science education at the Department of Science Education, University of Copenhagen. She holds a PhD in geography and has published on the development of spatial thinking skills, students' meeting with teaching in geography and how institutional cultures interact with researchers' perceptions of fieldwork.She is involved in a number of research projects concerning student's academic integration within higher education, noncompletion and gender issues in science, as well as educational choices.Lars Ulriksen is a Professor in higher education teaching and learning at the Department of Science Education, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He has been leading the Danish part of the IRIS project on retention and gender issues. His research areas include the transition of students into higher-education and the meeting of the students' prior knowledge and experiences with the culture and the curriculum of the programmes. He has developed the notion of the implied student and together with the Danish co-authors of this article published on student retention, transition and educational choices.[4] 14(1), 2018 Balancing Cost and Value: Scandinavian Students' First Year Experiences of Encountering Science and Technology Higher Education AbstractThis paper investigates the experiences of students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) during their first year in higher education, based on 874 Danish and 1314 Norwegian students' responses to an online questionnaire. Rather than focusing on averages, we compare the experiences of two distinct groups of students: those who rated their overall study situation as better than expected (the satisfied group) and those who rated it as worse than expected (the dissatisfied group). Although the satisfied group were more positive to many aspects of their study situation, the dissatisfied group were also relatively positive to many aspects. All respondents expressed that the study cost more time and effort than anticipated, but only for some students (notably the satisfied group) was this high cost counterbalanced by a high value in terms of subject interest and social integration. Implications are discussed in terms of future research directions and how educational institutions can improve students' meeting with higher education.

Section: Both Student Groups Were Surprised By the Effort And Motivatmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As this is not usually addressed explicitly within the curriculum, the students develop their own study strategies (Ulriksen, 2009). However, general courses in study technique might not solve the problem, as each course presupposes different strategies.…”

Section: Implications For Educational Institutionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Balancing Cost and Value: Scandinavian Students’ First Year Experiences of Encountering Science and Technology Higher Education

Jensen

Henriksen

et al. 2018

NorDiNa

Self Cite

“…During that first year she had to reconstruct the way in which she could be 'a good student' and reflect on the status of being 'clever'. It appears as if Amalie's reconstruction of herself as a student to some extent distanced her slightly from the mainstream of the programme culture and the kind of student the programme implies the students to be (Ulriksen, 2009). The reconstruction both concerned her idea of her 'cleverness' compared to the other students and (perhaps more importantly) her interpretation of what should be considered important and how different parts of her life should be balanced.…”

Section: Coping With the Gap Between Expectancies And Experiencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Weaving a Bridge of Sense: Students' Narrative Constructions as a Lens for Understanding Students' Coping with the Gap between Expectancies and Experiences When Entering Higher Education

Ulriksen

European Educational Research Journal

Madsen

2013

Self Cite

This article shows how the application of narrative methodology brings new insights into understanding students' choices and their experiences upon entering a higher education programme. The point of departure is a study of a cohort of 38 students followed over a three-year period from when they were about to finish upper-secondary school in 2009 and into higher education. Firstly, the use of a narrative methodology gives access to understanding the students' choice of study as a continuous process of meaning making that involves both changes in perspectives concerning future plans and in interpretation of past experiences. This process continues when the students' expectations of their new programme interact with their first-year experiences, and they continuously work on their identities in order to feel they belong to their higher education programme. Secondly, by using this methodology, the authors gain access to how this meaning-making process through a three-year period of time reflects the students' negotiations of belonging to their higher education study programme. Finally, the methodology highlights the complexity of the students' choices, as well as the factors and contexts influencing these choices.Ann: Tell me why, Graham, why? ... Graham: Am I supposed to recount all the points in my life leading up to this moment and then just hope that it's coherent, that it makes some sort of sense to you? It doesn't make any sense to me. You know, I was there. (soderbergh, 1989, 1:22) In Steven Soderbergh's film, Sex, Lies, and Videotapes, from 1989, the character Graham records women talking about sex. This upsets his new acquaintance, Ann, but when she asks him to explain why he makes the tapes, he responds as quoted above. What he had experienced in his life had not made any sense to him, even though he was there.The experience expressed by Graham does not fully reflect the results of research based on a narrative methodology. Indeed, this kind of research challenges the quote in two ways. Firstly, using narrative inquiry reveals that even though experiences and incidents may not make sense to the person involved, a careful analysis of the narrative can unveil the sense or at least sociological and/or personal rationale behind some of the occurrences. Secondly, as we shall discuss in this article, an important way to cope with the challenges is the construction of narratives that are sensible to themselves as well as to their surroundings. Before coming to this, we will present the background of our study and the methodology. In the presentation of the results we will focus on the use of narratives as both a research method and as a way of coping with the experiences when entering higher education. Weaving a Bridge of Sense 311 Background and Methodological Considerations

“…Consequently, the academic and social integration are processes where students' prior knowledge, experiences, expectations, and inclinations towards the study meet with the culture, traditions, and pedagogical forms of the programme. Ulriksen (2009) argues that a study programme holds "an implied student". This means that study programmes presuppose that students attending the programme possess a particular study practice, attitude, interest, and behaviour.The structure of the programme, the sequence of the courses and modules, the teaching and learning activities, etc.…”

Section: Background: Understanding Students' First-year Experiencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The First-Year Experience: Students’ Encounter with Science and Engineering Programmes

Ulriksen

Madsen

Understanding Student Participation and Choice in Science and Technology Education

2014

Self Cite

To increase the number of graduates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), it is not sufficient to attract more students to the programmes. It is equally important to ensure that the students complete their studies. This chapter presents a qualitative analysis of the experiences of 20 students who entered a science or engineering programme at a Danish university. In this longitudinal study, narrative interviews were carried out with the students during their first year. The chapter explores how the students were striving to bridge the gap between what they had expected the programme to be like, and what they experienced when entering. Drawing on Tinto's model of student departure, the academic and social integration is discussed. The analysis suggests that the curriculum of the STEM programmes makes it difficult for students to become academically integrated. This is primarily because of the sequencing (when do students meet which content?), the pace, and the teaching and learning activities.