Cutting the cloth to fit new needs and communication preferences
Abstract
Improving communication with first year students can be at the heart of enabling them to experience a successful transition to university, to prosper and succeed. They need encouragement to engage with the social, institutional and academic cogs which operate together to drive universities and teaching and learning. However, in large universities, students can find transition difficult because each cog seems to work independently of the others. In addition, there is dissonance between the transmissive nature of communication at university compared to the socially interactive nature of Web 2.0 approaches, such as wikis and blogs, with which an increasing number of our Net Generation students have become accustomed. At the University of South Australia, academic staff in Learning Connection are exploring the potential of Web 2.0 approaches to actively engage with our more digitally-savvy students and enhance their first year experience. This paper will discuss early outcomes of several initiatives involving communication with first year students, academic and professional staff and new technologies.
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References
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