Abstract
The First Year Student Success Project at Macquarie University Business School supports students transitioning into a Bachelor of Commerce or Bachelor of Business. Integrating transitional pedagogy, data-driven early intervention, and collaboration between academic and professional staff, the project enhances student success, retention, and belonging.
Recognizing the emotional challenges of transition, educators play a crucial role in fostering success, belonging and inclusion (Puroila et al., 2021). The first pillar of our approach integrates transitional pedagogy to centre the in-class experience with transparent expectations about engagement, clear instruction about assessment, and academic support. By working as a cohort across the core first-year units, the student experience has greater consistency, reducing the complexity of navigating university and creating a sense of belonging and unity.
The second pillar of our approach uses weekly engagement data, such as class participation and assessment submissions, which serves as an indicator of academic risk (Foster & Siddle, 2019). This data is available early in session, allowing for timely intervention which can help students access support and improve success (Linden, 2022). The data is analysed by professional staff to flag high-risk students with issues across multiple units. This cohort is contacted by the professional team as these students have complex needs which require detailed discussions about university support services and administrative processes. Academic staff are informed of at-risk students, to provide visibility and help differentiate students with global issues and single-unit struggles, allowing the design of targeted interventions.
Our third pillar involves collaboration between professional and academic staff. Through triangulating data sources and layering interventions, the partnership creates a supportive framework that provides personalized guidance for students in their transition. This partnership, which feeds data and support into and out of the classroom on a weekly basis and maximises the expertise of both academic and professional teams in supporting at risk students, extends prior work by creating a more holistic first year support ecosystem.
Recognizing the emotional challenges of transition, educators play a crucial role in fostering success, belonging and inclusion (Puroila et al., 2021). The first pillar of our approach integrates transitional pedagogy to centre the in-class experience with transparent expectations about engagement, clear instruction about assessment, and academic support. By working as a cohort across the core first-year units, the student experience has greater consistency, reducing the complexity of navigating university and creating a sense of belonging and unity.
The second pillar of our approach uses weekly engagement data, such as class participation and assessment submissions, which serves as an indicator of academic risk (Foster & Siddle, 2019). This data is available early in session, allowing for timely intervention which can help students access support and improve success (Linden, 2022). The data is analysed by professional staff to flag high-risk students with issues across multiple units. This cohort is contacted by the professional team as these students have complex needs which require detailed discussions about university support services and administrative processes. Academic staff are informed of at-risk students, to provide visibility and help differentiate students with global issues and single-unit struggles, allowing the design of targeted interventions.
Our third pillar involves collaboration between professional and academic staff. Through triangulating data sources and layering interventions, the partnership creates a supportive framework that provides personalized guidance for students in their transition. This partnership, which feeds data and support into and out of the classroom on a weekly basis and maximises the expertise of both academic and professional teams in supporting at risk students, extends prior work by creating a more holistic first year support ecosystem.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Publication status | Accepted/In press - 30 Jun 2025 |