Succeeding at University: The Centrality of the Students' Personal Goals
Abstract
What helps successful progression through university? We surveyed over a thousand students about the factors they believe contribute to their success at university. Focus groups and interviews of over 60 students obtained diverse narratives of their learning journeys. Personal goals play a critical role in student persistence. Students from a wide variety of backgrounds and disciplines overwhelmingly cited strong goals and aspirations as the key factor that sustained them when they were tempted to withdraw from study. Did teaching staff share the students' perceptions? No! Very few staff we surveyed showed any awareness of the influence of goals, and most were surprised by the significance of students' personal desires in contributing to their success. Information pamphlets to inform teaching practice, based on the project's outcomes and informed by current research are available as part of the display.
Location
Concourse
Recommended Citation
Kinnear, Adrianne, "Succeeding at University: The Centrality of the Students' Personal Goals " (2009). SoTL Commons Conference. 81.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/sotlcommons/SoTL/2009/81
Succeeding at University: The Centrality of the Students' Personal Goals
Concourse
What helps successful progression through university? We surveyed over a thousand students about the factors they believe contribute to their success at university. Focus groups and interviews of over 60 students obtained diverse narratives of their learning journeys. Personal goals play a critical role in student persistence. Students from a wide variety of backgrounds and disciplines overwhelmingly cited strong goals and aspirations as the key factor that sustained them when they were tempted to withdraw from study. Did teaching staff share the students' perceptions? No! Very few staff we surveyed showed any awareness of the influence of goals, and most were surprised by the significance of students' personal desires in contributing to their success. Information pamphlets to inform teaching practice, based on the project's outcomes and informed by current research are available as part of the display.
