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Conference theme: Support Systems and Programs
Title: Look before we leap: investigation before implementation when addressing student drop out.
Janice Catterall, Betty Gill, Ros Martins and Edda
Simeoni
Abstract
Faced with designing and providing a support solution to a high student attrition
rate in one undergraduate course, lecturers from UWS’s Bachelor of Health
and from the Student Services Division collaborated in a research project to
explore retention strategies and their effectiveness. Focusing on first year,
the study used a variety of data collection methods: discussion groups, questionnaire,
focus groups and telephone interviews, over a period of a year.
The general expectation was that dissatisfaction with the course and poor academic
skills among students would be central factors. To our surprise, this was overturned
by the findings. Prior to initiating an academic support program to aid transition,
therefore, it seems that investigation can bring to light more complex factors
for which conventional solutions are not necessarily the answer.
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