TY - JOUR
T1 - Student responses to a tough early assessment
T2 - A useful “kick up the bum”?
AU - Wilson, Kate
AU - Wilson, Kate F.
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - First year is a delicate time for students. Many have little idea what to expect of university, and their sense of identity as tertiary students is fragile. A diagnostic assessment early in first semester may reassure students that they have chosen the right path. However, some academics, particularly in engineering, argue that this early assessment should be very demanding – so tough, in fact, that some students fail-in order to alert students to the hard work required to pass the course. This study uses a mixed methods design (weekly surveys and in-depth interviews) to explore the effects of a purposefully tough early assessment on first year engineering students at an Australian university. We find that, across the cohort, the high failure rate was not associated with a significant slump or spike in motivation. Although some students were initially dismayed by their results, most went on to address their study with resilience, and appreciated the “kick up the bum”, as they described it.
AB - First year is a delicate time for students. Many have little idea what to expect of university, and their sense of identity as tertiary students is fragile. A diagnostic assessment early in first semester may reassure students that they have chosen the right path. However, some academics, particularly in engineering, argue that this early assessment should be very demanding – so tough, in fact, that some students fail-in order to alert students to the hard work required to pass the course. This study uses a mixed methods design (weekly surveys and in-depth interviews) to explore the effects of a purposefully tough early assessment on first year engineering students at an Australian university. We find that, across the cohort, the high failure rate was not associated with a significant slump or spike in motivation. Although some students were initially dismayed by their results, most went on to address their study with resilience, and appreciated the “kick up the bum”, as they described it.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85073374024&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.mendeley.com/research/student-responses-tough-early-assessment-useful-kick-up-bum
U2 - 10.5204/ssj.v11i3.1158
DO - 10.5204/ssj.v11i3.1158
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85073374024
SN - 1838-2959
VL - 10
SP - 1
EP - 15
JO - Student Success
JF - Student Success
IS - 2
ER -