Questionnaire Number Two ‘Checking Back’ for Students

The second questionnaire, ‘Checking Back’, was circulated to a selected sample in February (the second semester) for each year of the study. The selected sample was drawn from the respondents of the first questionnaire and included a mixture of students from access schools as well as students from non-access schools who, in general, had been identified as ‘at risk’ based on feedback from questionnaire number one. The categories of questions here attempted to delve further and are framed by Bourdieu’s concepts of social capital, field, dispositions and habitus. This questionnaire captured data on how the students are engaging with college, what sort of relationships they have developed and how happy they are in college. A copy of the questionnaire is in Appendix B.

(i) How are you engaging in Higher Education?

Questions ask respondents to answer questions regarding their attendance, the amount of time they spend on campus and studying. How they are engaging in extra-curricular activities. What friends they have made. How happy they are with their programmes. Did they have good results in the first semester. What parts of Higher Education do they least enjoy.

(ii) What sort of relationships have you developed?

Questions asked respondents how they are managing their course work and assessments. How often they get feedback on their performance and what is the quality of that feedback. Questions were asked with regard to their sense of self confidence. Questions also were asked on other issues in relation to the student staff interactions as well as relationships with other members of the staff of ITT.

(iii) How happy are you in college?

Assessing the students’ level of happiness at college is important to our theoretical framework and ‘habitus’. Firstly, are they happy and is this sense of happiness linked to their sense of belonging, the culture of care manifested in the institution.

Measuring general feelings of contentment among the year one students allows us to establish the factors that contribute to their successful completion.

Table 3 9 Response to ‘Checking Back’ Questionnaire

RESPONSE TO QUESTIONNAIRE NUMBER TWO IN SPRING SEMESTER

Academic Year Participants access Non-access

2009/10 24 13 11

2010/11 24 14 10

2011/12 24 11 13

2012/13 27 15 12

2013/14 20 13 7

Totals 119 66 (55%) 53 (45%)

One hundred and nineteen participants completed questionnaires over the period of the study from 2009-2014 with an average response rate of 55% from students entering from the access schools, Table 3.9.

3.3.9 A Reflective Online Diary

The researcher piloted, in ITT an online reflective diary, Student Diary Pro, in 2008 which she had seen in use in the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland. Initially the researcher used this as a reflective tool for students on national and international internships and work placements. At the end of the pilot year, an evaluation was carried out which found the reflective online tool to be very effective in engaging the students and in achieving the learning objectives of increased reflective practice. The author decided to use this as a qualitative research method to engage responses from the group of students being researched. The tool is very user friendly, requiring a minimum of training of students in its use. The students can access the tool at any time and from anywhere and it has since been integrated into Moodle, which is their Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) that they are familiar with. Real and meaningful reflective practice comes from the student “...taking ownership and taking responsibility for their own learning” (Stiggins & Chappauis, 2008 p.42). Absolum (2006) uses the phrase ‘active reflection’ to describe the goal-focused evidence based thinking that is ongoing. A reflective learner is one who understands the difference between simply knowing theories and effectively using them in practice. Reflective practice requires valuing inquiry, knowing how to structure opportunities for discovery and sense making as well as having the willingness to engage in it.

Reflection involves “a continual interweaving of thinking and doing” (Schön, D. 1989 p.12).

The students were asked to reflect on the first year experience in the broadest sense.

The training provided, which is detailed in later chapters, included an introduction to reflective writing and the use of online diaries. Guidelines were also provided that guided their reflection without interfering with the personal nature of the diary.

The reflective online diary was introduced to ITT in 2008 and for the purposes of the research in February 2014 for the year one students, academic year 2013-2014.

Students nowadays are very familiar and very comfortable using social media. This instrument has proven useful where any element of reflection is required and has proven very effective for that purpose. It is a safe environment for individual students to further express their thoughts on experiences of first year and particularly useful in allowing everyone to have an opportunity to contribute. This involved meeting with the group and providing training in the use of the diary, what constituted reflective writing and the different types of reflective entries, what is reflective writing, what type of entries could be recorded in the diary as well as training in what is appropriate and not to record with regard to anonymity (Reflective writing 2000). The participants were also made aware that the diary is totally confidential and not visible to anyone else except themselves and the researcher.

The level of engagement in the diary was relatively high due to the fact that the participants already had access to Moodle with which they were familiar and the online Diary Pro tool is very user friendly. During the final year of the research, 2013-14, this additional online reflective diary was used as a further research instrument for one semester from mid-September to mid-December. In total, 232

students completed consent procedures and 209 registered with the online diary. At least one diary entry was received from each of 209 students. 1124 entries were made by participants over the period of the twelve week semester. Engagement in the diary by year one students varied in terms of their participation rates, how frequently they opened the online diary and the length of their diary entries. Interestingly, the students used the online diary in different ways, some responding to the diary categories and prompts that were created, while others used it as a diary to record their experiences and thoughts. The prompts created on the online diary related to the culture of care, their identity, learning, relationships, feelings of isolation, integration, belonging and college being an unfamiliar place.