Firstyear Paper

An Experiential Approach to Teaching First GenerationStudents in the

New Democracy ofSouth Africa

Vidius Archer, Cape Technikon, South Africa

School of Electrical Engineering

Email: [email protected]: School of Electrical Engineering

P O Box 652Cape Town. South Africa. 8000

Telephone: 27 021 460 303427 021 945 179227 082 887 1020

This paper gives a brief resumé of the profiles of first generation students enrolling for the undergraduate course in the field of Electrical Engineering. Itexamines an experiential approach to helping the students to acquire the skills needed to be successful. The advantages and disadvantages of the use of group work, co-operative learning, incentives, the use of tutors, extending first-year initiatives beyond the first semester etc. are presented. The details of the implementation of the programme are discussed, including the “first lecture” activities which includes a unique system whereby the students take ownership of the syllabus, the use of peer help during tutorial and practical sessions, group discussions and field trips. Actions taken to extend first year activities beyondthe first term will be discussed, techniques used to emphasize developing technological literacy in first-year students will be highlighted. Activities to stimulate critical thinking will be outlined. Illustrative examples will be givenduring the session. Conclusions with lessons learnt during the last four years will be shared.The concern about the high attrition rate of under-prepared first generation

Columbia, South Carolina. February 1999

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mailto:[email protected]

students at the school of Electrical Engineering at the Cape Technikon resulted

in a launch of a special Academic development programme in 1995.

INTRODUCTION

Given the historical and political background of South Africa,

a number of students will be under-prepared when enrolling for

the undergraduate course in Electrical Engineering. The

schooling system of the majority of these students was of such

a nature that many were not exposed to the areas of study

chosen for tertiary study. Many of the students are first

generation students which means that parents are unable to

offer the necessary emotional support so important to the

young student. This is an international phenomenon (Clark &

Crawford, 1992).

In Electrical Engineering the ability to solve and interpret


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the results of engineering problems is one of the key problem

areas. Students must be able to prove their understanding of

materials learnt by showing their ability to synthesize, to

think critically and analytically. These higher order skills

must be developed during the formative academic activities,

and especially during the freshman semesters.

The first free democratic elections in 1994 opened the doors

to tertiary education to the vast majority of under-privileged

students. But it will take more than a generation for these

students to truly benefit from the winds of change, as a major

shift in the strategies for secondary education will first

have to be tested and implemented. First generation students

will always be with us, but at this stage in our country’s

history there is a rapid increase in these students in the

profile of our first year intake.


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The theme of this paper is to examine and share the

experiential approach adopted to helping students to acquire

the skills needed to be successful. The merits and demerits of

the use of co-operative learning, peer counselling and

incentives are presented. The conclusion of this paper

comments about the successes and failures of this approach.

THE MAIN STREAM STRUCTURE OF THE COURSE

The undergraduate diploma to which these students are allowed

is a three year full time course. Each semester consists of

six credits. Full details of the selection procedure is beyond

the scope of this paper, but a few details are worth

mentioning. Students who did not have the normal matric (grade

12) entrance qualifications were required to have passed

mathematics on a standard grade with a C, D or E aggregate.


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During 1997 the B symbol for mathematics was added.

During the first semester of study the students are exposed to

four of the possible six subjects, excluding mathematics.

During the second semester they then pick up mathematics and

the other credit of semester one, and three of the semester

two credits. The rest of the three year course is then

staggered accordingly, so that they qualify for graduation

after four years.

It is interesting to note that some of the students who really

excel, pick up some credits from the parallel evening school

to qualify after three years.

THE FIRST GENERATION SCENARIO IN THE SCHOOL OF ELECTRICAL

ENGINEERING AT THE CAPE TECHNIKON


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The profile of first generation students at the School of

Electrical Engineering at the Cape Technikon is unique, and so

because of various factors.

The background to the problem is that students entering higher

education experience considerable problems adjusting to the

demands of the new environment. Higher education is

characterised by larger classes, greater freedom (both within

and outside the classroom), greater responsibility and a

greatly increased need to manage time effectively. Added to

this, for many, a move away from home and family and the

social adjustment of making new friends and establishing new

patterns of behaviour.

These problems have always been present, to a greater or

lesser extent. But in recent years additional aspects has


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entered the picture. As the number of students entering higher

education has increased, a growing number of students

represent the first members of their family who have more than

a secondary education. They come with no background or limited

exposure to the demands of higher education. They do not have

the role models within their immediate family circle.

Sometimes they have unrealistic expectations in terms of the

ease with which they will cope with the new context.

In South Africa, as in many other parts of the world, the

problem of increasing numbers of students entering higher

education for the first time (the so-called “massification” of

higher education) is compounded by the changing nature of the

student body. Instead of being institutions for particular

racial, linguistic or cultural groups, higher education

campuses are increasingly experiencing a multiplicity of


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cultures, languages and belief systems, all of which need to

co-exist and foster a common culture of learning. Increasing

numbers have strained the resources of the education

institutions themselves. In the past classes were small,

contact time was high and staff could give attention to the

needs of individuals. Now that most numbers are higher and

financial resources strained, classes are large. Contact time

has been reduced and students are expected to do more work on

their own. The support systems are not able to cope adequately

with the needs of individual students.

There is also evidence that standards in the secondary sector

are not as high as they were previously. Whatever the reasons

for this, the result is that students entering higher

education from all secondary backgrounds are generally weaker


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in language and mathematical skills.

“They haven’t been prepared in the same sort of ways... students are not readers in the same ways as we were.” (Mary Barrett, quoted by Chris Johnston in Campus Review 5:29 July 27 1995).

“This multi-pronged strategy should enable South Africa to increase its higher education participation rate to approximately 30% (as a percentage of the 20 to 24-year-old cohort) over the next decade. This will see an increase from about 800 000 students in 1995 to about 1 500 000 in 2005.”(NCHE, 1996)

The “first generation” concept at the School of Electrical

Engineering is vastly different than in most other cultures.

The question “Who are first generation students?” is answered

by the US Department of Education: National Centre for

Education Statistics, as follows:

“First-generation students are defined as those whose parents’s highest level of


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education is high school diploma or less. In cases where parents have different levels

of education, the maximum education level of either parent is determined how the

student is categorized. In this analysis these students are compared with two other

groups: those whose parent(s) have

attended some college, but have attained less than a bachelor’s degree; and those

whose parent(s) have attained a bachelor’s or an advanced degree. Almost half

(about 43%) of first-time beginning students in 1989-90 were identified as first-

generation . For students not classified as first-generation, 23% had parents with

some college experience, and 34% had parents who attained a bachelor’s or higher

degree.”

Many of the first generation students at the School of

Electrical Engineering at the Cape Technikon use English as


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their second or third language. They come from a secondary

education where one or two teachers taught the grade one and

grade twelve learners in the same classroom. Many of their

parents have limited reading and writing skills and in some

cases the parents view tertiary education with scepticism.

Hence many of these students arrive on day one with a

highlighted fear of failure etc and with no support at home.

Some of the students have to study on campus as no electricity

is available in their homes.

DETAILS OF SOME OF THE EXPERIENTIAL APPROACHES WHICH WERE

FOLLOWED IN THE CLASS ROOM

The primary objective of the programme is to provide an

opportunity to students who would not normally be allowed to

register for the main stream programme and for first

generation students. The programme consists of two main


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sections. Section one was an experiential orientation

programme and section two consisted of formal class work. At

the end of the orientation period students were expected to

have achieved the following objectives:

To be physically orientated to the

campus

To have received some subject

specific instruction

To have received some practical

exposure in mechanical and electrical

engineering.

Skills built into the programme included communication skills,

group skills, planning initiative and basic computer usage.


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The activities of the programme were structured in such a way

that the various skills were built into the programme. For

example when an attempt was made to encourage group work, the

students were divided into groups to complete a group

orientated project. Initiative was facilitated by giving a

general instruction without the detail. An example of this was

that students were told to design and produce a brochure. The

design and structure was left up to the student. The subject

specific exposure consisted of introductory mathematics

lectures and the practical consisted of a mathematical and

electrical engineering practical project. Incentives in the

form of prizes for the project were offered. The programme was

conducted over one week.

The formal class work consisted of the following. The normal 6

credits were reduced to 4 and students were given a lighter


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academic load. Nine extra tutorials were built into the time-

table. Extensive use was made of peer helpers (all students in

their final year of study) to help with and conduct the

tutorials.

The class contact periods were reduced to 5 per week which

were complimented by the 9 extra tutorial sessions. Regular

group discussions were held with “TV type quiz shows” dealing

with different sections of the syllabus. At least 1

comprehensive tutorial was conducted for each of the 10

sections of the work over a 17 week period. Assessments took

the form of competitions with the winning group being treated

to a continental breakfast at a local hotel. Each section of

the work was prefaced by the group and their peer helper

working out a detailed lecture plan of how they would like the

work covered. The practical laboratory work was skills based


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with the skill to be mastered first being discussed and then

practised. A pass rate of 85% was needed for this section of

the work. Classroom activities constituted 50% of the final

examination mark.

The first two days of formal lectures consisted of mainly a

library assignment. The students were divided into co-

operative groups of three, each group deciding on a group name

(this is quite a fun activity). The groups were then given a

copy of the existing syllabus, and then they were off to the

library to compile a comprehensive book list on each chapter

of the syllabus. They had to “treasure hunt” for three books

per chapter. Upon their return to the class, they then had to

consolidate the list, and hand it to their peer helpers for

evaluation (as mentioned before, the peer helpers are all

final year students). This list was then extensively used


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throughout the semester during projects, assignment work and

tutorials.

The syllabus also has an open ended chapter “New

Technologies”. During the first tutorial session of the

semester, and after the orientation towards the syllabus was

completed, the groups were then asked to compile their own

additions to the syllabus. The input of each group was then

presented to the class, and with the lecturer and the peer

helpers “chairing” the session, interesting topics were added

to the syllabus (the equivalent of one week of lecturing is

included). In this way the students had “ownership” of the

work covered in class. These topics are then also included in

the final examination.

RESULTS OBTAINED FROM THE PROGRAM


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The programme looked exciting on paper but the result achieved

by the students were disappointing. Table 1 is a summary of

the examination results of the group. Factors which could have

affected the results were the fact that most of the students

received the formal basic education in their “mother” tongue

with English as a second language and sometimes even as a

third language. The majority of these students that enrolled

since 1997 were first generation students as in the South

African context. Students struggled with the understanding of

the technical terminology. Most of the students expressed a

fear of failing.

95/1 96/1 97/1 98/1

Full EZ Full EZ Full EZ Full EZ


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Passed All 46 (39%)

22 (43%)

69 (52%)

18 (46%)

49 (36%)

2 (11%)

59(39%)

12(29%)

Failed Some

49 (41%)

26 (51%)

40 (30%)

19 (49%)

55 (40%)

12 (63%)

51(34%)

22(50%)

May not repeat

24 (20%)

3 (6%)

23 (17%)

2 (5%)

32 (24%)

5 (26%)

40(27%)

8(19%)

119 51 132 39 136 19 150 42

Still continuing

21 26 12 26

EZ = Extended Curriculum Students Full = Three


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year diploma students

Table 1: EXAMINATION RESULTS

PROFILES OBTAINED FROM THE CLASS

Further investigations were done in an attempt to interpret

the unexpected results. Mr George Savage, head of the Academic

Development of the Cape Technikon looked at the students’

basic coping strategies, level of test anxiety and their

approaches to learning. Coping was assessed by using the

Strategic Approach to Coping by Hobfoll. Test Anxiety was

assessed by using the Test Attitude Inventory of Spielberger.

The approaches to learning was assessed by using the

questionnaire on Approaches to Learning by Entwistle et al. In

tables 2, 3, 4 and 5 below the results are summarised.


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Ass.Act

n

Sos.Jn

g

Ssoc.S

U

Cau.Acc

t

Inst.A

ct

Avoid Ind.Ac

t

AntsocAc

t

AggrAc

t

29 16 25 22 19 16 13 20 15

31 14 23 18 20 20 13 21 19

32 18 23 21 22 23 12 18 16

27 14 30 23 21 20 10 16 11

28 12 25 18 25 19 12 18 16

30 16 21 23 24 24 13 17 17

29 9 18 14 20 21 13 24 19

34 15 24 20 22 16 15 18 15

26 12 18 18 20 24 12 13 13

35 16 32 20 19 13 18 14 19

33 16 29 19 16 22 13 18 16

30.4 14.4 24.4 19.6 20.7 19.8 13.1 17.9 16.0

Table 2: COPING STRATEGIES USED BY STUDENTS


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Ass.Act Assertive Action 30.4 Active, Pro-social

Ssoc.Su Seeking Social Support 24.4 Pro-social, Active

Inst.Act Instinctive Action 20.7 Active, Antisocial

Avoid Avoidance 19.8 Passive, Asocial / Antisocial

Cau.Act Cautious Action 19.6 Passive, Pro-social

AntsocAc Antisocial Action 17.9 Active Antisocial

AggrAct Aggressive Action 16.0 Active Antisocial

Ind.Act Indirect Action 15.9 Indirect

Sos.Jng Social Joining 14.4 Active Pro-social

Table 3: HIERACHICAL RATING OF COPING STRATEGIES

43 53 45 42 54 30 26 50 33 37 46

AVERAGE: 41.7


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Table 4: TEST ANXIETY SCORES

DEEPAPPROACH

SURFACEAPPROACH

STRATEGICAPPROACH

LACK OFDIRECTION

SELF CONFIDENCE

META-COGNITION

37 27 32 6 18 19

27 26 34 16 7 18

41 29 47 7 16 23

39 32 40 7 13 24

41 35 36 9 15 22

44 28 46 8 16 24

45 33 42 8 16 24

34 25 30 7 13 16

46 23 39 5 17 24

40 42 37 8 16 29

34 36 37 7 12 27

41 29 35 6 17 24

42 34 41 4 13 26

43 35 44 8 14 22

39.6 31.0 38.6 7.6 14.5 23.0

Table 5: APPROACHES TO LEARNING SCORES

INTERPRETATIONS OF RESULTS

The result of the coping strategies can broadly be divided

into three groups. Students who were high on strategies, where


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help is asked for from others but the work is done on an

individual basis (Assertive action, seeking social support and

instinctive action). The second group which comprise mainly of

an antisocial nature which tend to isolate the individual

(Avoidance, cautious action, antisocial action, aggressive

action and indirect action). The group score was the lowest

for the strategy requiring working method of instruction i.e.

group activities being incongruent with students’ coping

style. The whole group scored high on general test anxiety.

This score indicates that students have a fear of failure. The

area to be addressed here is the method of assessment.

The approaches to learning questionnaire revealed that the

group scores can be interpreted as medium for deep, surface

and strategic learning approaches. Low scores were also

recorded for lack of direction, self confidence and meta-


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cognition. Students will tend to adopt the same learning style

in tertiary education that they learnt in earlier years unless

serious attempts are made to teach then more meaningful

alternative methods (Van Schoor, 1993).

THE NEXT STEP: OUR INTEGRATED FIRST YEAR EXPERIENCE (IFYE)

PROGRAMME AS AN INTERVENTION?

The traditional approach to the problems outlined above has

been to introduce remedial programmes into the first year of

study. This “deficit model” implies that individual students

come to higher education with deficits in certain areas that

can at best be compensated for by adding on to the curriculum

courses in study skills, communication or time management.

While this approach may have limited success for some


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students, it generally fails to assist the majority of

students. One of the major reasons for this is that studying,

communicating, or managing time are all undertaken in terms of

content and context. When these skills are divorced from the

content of the subject and context of the academic course,

students have great difficulty in making the transfer. In

other words, they can carry out the demands of the study

skills course, but cannot apply the principles to their

academic course of study.

An additional problem is that these courses have to be taught

by specialized staff. They are generally offered in addition

to the regular academic programme - which puts additional

pressure on students who are already not coping.

In general, such “add-on” remedial programmes, while meeting


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with some success, have not been able to deal with the wide-

spread problems experienced by ever increasing numbers of

students. While much of the material that has been developed

for such courses is of a very high standard, in recent years

an alternative method of delivering these skills has come to

the fore.

“Academic staff need to develop a greater awareness of the hidden nature of much of the institution’s culture, of the difficulties faced by newcomers, and of their own assumptions about students and the level of their skills.”(Landbeck, R. and Mugler F. 1995. The transition from high school to university at the University of the South Pacific. Paper delivered at the Third Improving Student Learning Symposium, Exeter,September 1995)“Academic staff must be convinced that it is part of their brief to help acculturate the students to the university setting. They should...be prepared to teach students not onlysubject content but the conventions of their discipline and the skill required for effective learning in that discipline. Since conventions and skills needed vary...this requires morethan a general course in academic English or study skills.”Landbeck, R. and Mugler F. 1995. Ibid.)


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During 1999 the IFYE programme will be extensively used in the

course. It may provide a solution to both the problems

experienced by students and the problems of add-on courses by

integrating the necessary academic skill into various aspects

of the existing curriculum. Aspects integrated into the

subject content would include:

writing skills

information

literacy/retrieval

study skills

group work skills

industry exposure (visits

or guest speakers)

cross-cultural awareness

approaches to learning in

higher education


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problem solving skills

time management

expected work load

requirement

laboratory skills (where

appropriate)

note taking

reading for understanding

(where appropriate)

effective test/exam

preparation

“These suggestions can only be implemented with the co-operation of teaching staff...who must be persuaded that helping students to adapt to university is part of their job and who must agree to make time to implement suggestions in their teachingLandbeck, R. and Mugler F. 1995. Ibid.)


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“Barrett said the problem was largely preventable if tackled from several directions at once and not just in the classroom or lecture theatre.”(In Chris Johnston, Concern that first year students being neglected, Campus Review 5:29, July 27, 1995)

The profile of the intake to the course has changed

dramatically. The majority of the 1999 intake are first

generation students. We hope that the IFYE program will create

an upward curve with respect to the pass rate of the group.

CONCLUSIONS

The basic rational of the approach is regarded by the author

as one which has potential. However the low pass rate and the

drop-out rate would seem to indicate areas where adjustments

are required. No structured integrated attempt was made in

previous years to ascertain the level of proficiency in the

basic skills needed for success. These skills include time


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management, reading, note taking, problem solving, examination

writing, oral presentations and report writing. With the high

percentage of first generation students in the classroom,

integration of these skills throughout the first year of study

seems a logical journey to engage upon. In the results of the

profile of a class, the coping strategies used by the group is

biassed in favour of working within a group context. Coping

can be seen as the way an individual responds to a particular

concern. They will deal with the situation either by solving

the problem or by some form of accommodation without finding a

solution to the problem (Fryenberg & Lewis, 1993).

The value of group work must be taught. When students

experience an increase in stress/anxiety they will resort to a

coping strategy that they found useful in the past. Students

must be exposed to a range of copying strategies.


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By integrating a range of these skills mentioned in a structured way throughout the

first year, the pass rate will improve and hopefully the dropout rate will be reduced.

At the dawn of the new millennium in December 1999, the author

will be able to report on whether this hypotheses became a

reality.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Chris Johnston, Concern that first year students are being neglected, Campus Review 5:29, July 27, 1995

Landbeck, R. and Mugler F. 1995. The transition from high school to university at the University of the South Pacific. Paper delivered at the Third Improving Student Learning Symposium, Exeter,September 1995

NCHE, 1996

Mary Barrett, quoted by Chris Johnston in Campus Review 5:29 July 27 1995.

US Department of Education: National Centre for Education Statistics, June 1998NCES 98-082


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US Department of Education: National Centre for Education Statistics, October 1997NCES 98-094

Clark, S.B. & Crawford, S.L.(1992). An analysis of African-American first year college students attitudes and attrition rates. Urban education, 27(1), 59-79.

Entwisle, N. (1996). Personalised Advice on Study Skills. Centre for Research on Learning and Instruction, University ofEdinburgh. EH8 9JT.

Frydenberg, E. & Lewis, R.(1993). Boys play sport and girls turn on others: age, gender and ethnicity as determinants of copying. Journal of Adolescence, 16, 253-266.

Hobfoll, S., Dunahoo, C. & Monnier, J. (1994). Primary Test Manual: Strategic Approach to Coping (SACS). Psychology Centre, Kent University, OH 442-001.

Spielberger, S. (1977). Test Attitude Inventory Manual. Consulting Psychologists Press, Inc. Palo Alto, CA 94303.

Van Schoor, W.A. (1993). The relationship between the value structure of three stakeholders in a university setting as an indication of organisation climate. South African Journal of Higher Education, 7(1) 152-161

Savage, G. (1997). Why are they failing?: An Experiential Approach to Teaching an Academic Development Programme.


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

George Savage, Head: Academic Development, Cape Technikon

Philip Parsons, Head: TDU, Cape Technikon

Ian Robertson: Cape Technikon

Ryan Archer, research assistant, Cape Technikon

Marié Archer, research assistant, Cape Technikon


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Firstyear Paper

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