Economics 178Economics 178

The first year experienceThe first year experience

Improving the performance of first-year Improving the performance of first-year Economics students by means of an innovative Economics students by means of an innovative

summer school programme – An evaluationsummer school programme – An evaluation

PM Horn & AI JansenPM Horn & AI Jansen

Our First-Year Class

Outline of Presentation

• Introduction– Why a summer school?

• Background– First-year course

• The Summer School programme– Lectures & tutorials– Disciplinary procedures– Assessment

• Qualitative Analysis– Interviews

• Lessons Learnt

Introduction• Why the need for a summer school

programme?

– Concern about pass rates at Department, Faculty & University Level

– Flow through of students to senior Economics courses restrained

– Repeating course has financial implications

Background: First-Year Course Economics 178

• Currently a year course, non-elective for all BCom students in Economic & Management Sciences (EMS) faculty– Elective for students from other faculties

• One of the largest enrolments in EMS Faculty– Enrolment still increasing: from 1668

students (2002) to 2024 students (in 2007) – 21%

Success RatesYear 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

Total enrolment 1668 1712 1747 1719 1922

Fledgling students as % of total enrolment

74 74 78 74 75

Repeaters as % of total enrolment

26 26 22 26 25

Failures as % of total enrolment 36 36 37 40 35

Fledgling students failures as % of total

fledgling students33 34 36 36 34

Repeater failures as % of total repeaters

44 41 45 54 39

Total Enrolment

15001550160016501700

17501800185019001950

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

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Fledgling students Repeaters Failures

Economics 178

Enrolment s

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Success Rates

• Average pass rate of 65% for Economics 178

– Low (compared to Faculty (74%) & University averages (81%))

Possible Remedy to improve Success

Rates?

• EMS Faculty initiated and implemented Summer school programme in January 2007

– Results – 89% pass rate

– Statistics for the 2007 enrolment: • 80.3% fledging first year enrolment• 19.66% repeaters• Decrease of 6% in the repeat rate enrolment

Summer schoolRequirements for

entry

• Students had to have qualified for the final exams

• Students had to have written the final exam and failed this exam

• If students failed the first exam but qualified for a re-evaluation, they had to have made use of the second opportunity and again failed, to qualify for the summer school

Summer schoolLectures

• Seventeen 3-hour sessions comprising all content covered during year course

• All lectures compulsory – Van Walbeek (2004) found that lecture attendance improved performance.

• Students not allowed to commence late with the programme

• 3 Lecturers (from Economics Department) teaching different themes

Summer school - Tutorials• Tutors all Honours or Masters students

• All experienced tutors (received extensive training with the assistance of the university's Centre for Teaching and Learning)

• Tutorials compulsory

• Group sizes were approximately 30 students

• Tutorial homework consisted of exercises covering the chapters completed

• Purpose of exercises:– ensure that students revise the chapters covered– test their understanding of the literature– ensure that they participate actively during programme

• Marburger (2005)supports cooperative active learning where problems had a direct practical connection to work

Summer schoolAssessment

• Two tests and an examination (weights similar to those in year course)

• Type of questions and format of tests and the examination identical to those year course

• Assessments set by the first-year lecturers and internally moderated

• Students had to obtain entrance to the examination - predicate (course mark) of at least 40%

• Students not allowed to submit any leave of absences for either tests or examinations

• All registered students wrote both tests and the examination

Summer schoolDisciplinary procedures

• Students informed from the start that a) attendance of lectures and tutorials monitored, and b) if they did not attend lectures & tutorials, registration of course cancelled

• Card-swiping machine used• If missed one lecture, students called in to

provide reason (only allowed to miss once, if valid reason provided e.g. medical certificate)

• Rower (1993) – mandatory attendance could lead to a possible improved performance. Stanca (2006) – motivated students will attend all lectures – exogenous motivation by mandatory attendance.

Summer School Results

Distribution of Final Results

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50-55 56-60 61-70 71-75 >75

Percentage Categories

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Interviews• From the 178 students on the summer school,

10 students agreed to a 40 minute personal interview.

• Nine students arrived for the interviews, which was conducted by the authors.

• Of the nine students, one student had failed the summer school.

• Of the remaining eight students, three students continued with second-year economics.

Qualitative Analysis

Qualitative AnalysisThe interview focused on the

following aspects:

• motivation for attending the summer school • how students experienced the management

of the programme (discipline; compulsory attendance, etc.)

• teaching techniques applied (different lecturers teaching different themes; length of lecture sessions)

• active learning techniques (homework exercises; tutorial sessions and group work techniques applied)

• impact of summer school experiences on second year of study

• attitude towards Economics as a discipline

Interviews – Some Results

Primary reason for participation – do not want to repeat Economics 178 & extend studies with one more year.

Strict discipline and compulsory attendance expected given type of programme they enrolled for.

Many comfortable with teaching style used. Some comments on some sections being taught too fast or lack of clarity on some important concepts.

Resounding success of the tutorial sessions. Techniques used one of the primary factors contributing to their success in the summer school.

Most students indicated that they actively participated during tutorial sessions. They asked questions and answered when the tutor asked them questions (different to what they did during the normal tutorial sessions).

Very few students did more self-study other than just completing their tasks. Most students spent, on average, about two hours per day on this activity.

Students indicated the importance of becoming actively involved in their learning process.

They became more aware of what they did not apply correctly during the academic year, such as reading before lectures, doing tutorial exercises, reading and practicing the examples on a daily basis.

Most students indicated that these learning techniques worked effectively during the summer school, but that it was more difficult to apply during the year (due to time constraints, other subjects, friends around, etc.).

Factors identified that contributed to failing the summer school include less attention paid in class, very little participation in tutorial sessions and little interaction with other students during study sessions.

Interviews – Some Results

Some Lessons Learnt

• Tutorials allowed students to engage with peers in small, interactive groups – increased opportunity to learn

• Attending only one course during this period

• Enthusiasm and encouragement of lecturers and tutors contributed to success achieved

• Experienced staff important

Concluding Remarks

• It is apparent that strict discipline, mandatory attendance of lectures and tutorials, attending only one module at a time, motivated students, and repetition of work still relatively fresh in the minds of students, contributed to the success of this summer school.

Questions?