Post on 05-Feb-2016
description
The ‘Otago Experience’:Insights Gained from the Otago
Millennium Graduate Project
Rachel Spronken-Smith, Nell Buissink-Smith, Gabrielle Grigg and Tony Harland
Higher Education Development CentreUniversity of Otago
Outline• Aims and rationale• Research methods• Background• Otago as a positive
experience• Views on the purpose of higher education• The ‘Otago Package’• Implications • Conclusion
The Otago Millennium Graduate Project
Aims - to explore:
• Views on the purpose of higher education
• Educational experiences at the University of Otago
• The impact of a higher education
The Otago Millennium Graduate Project
Rationale:
• Graduates today experience “a new kind of higher education and come and go into a new kind of society,” and the expectations students have of higher education are undergoing radical change (Scott, 1997:44)
• Paucity of qualitative research into the perceptions of graduates on their higher education experience and its impact on their life post-university
• What is the Otago experience?
Quality learning at UO(Teaching and Learning Plan 1996)
“The University of Otago is committed to scholarship through excellence in teaching, research and service to local, regional, national and international communities and to providing a stimulating campus environment in which students students from all sections of the community may develop lifelong learning skills” (Mission Statement, Annual Report 1996)
Four dimensions of quality learning for a rounded educational experience:
Disciplinary and interdisciplinary knowledge, skills and attitudes Understanding Ethical and social implications Lifelong learning
Research Methods
Cohort - Science and Humanities graduates in year 2000 = ‘Millennium Graduates’
Mixed methods– Surveys– In-depth interviews
Longitudinal study– Re-contact every 5 years
Surveys Would you recommend the
UO experience to others? Please discuss what
experiences you found positive or negative while at UO
Please describe and explain the UO learning experiences that impact on your life now
Overall, did you find attending UO worthwhile?
Using hindsight, if you could go back to UO and do your degree again, what would you do differently?
Graduated lately?
Got something to say?
Interviews What do you think is the
purpose of a university education?
What were your experiences at Otago?– What aspects of teaching
and learning stand out for you?
– Can you give me a specific example of a classroom experience?
Did your experiences meet your expectations?
How do you think your university experience has equipped you for work and life?
NZgrads2000(%)
UOgrads2000(%)
Sample(% /1111)
Response(% /134)
Interviewees(% /24)
Female 60 55 64 75 67Male 40 45 36 25 33NZ students 91 90 - 92Internationalstudents
8 10 - 8
Mature 22 17Schoolleavers
78 83
Demographics of survey respondents and interviewees
Sample(% /1111)
Response(% /134)
Interviewees(% /24)
BA 29.4 29.3 23.3BMus 0.4 0.6 3.3BDiv 0.25 - -BTheo 0.9 1.6 -BEd 14.8 17.3 13.3BTeach 0.33 - -BLaws 11.1 10.1 13.3BPhEd 11.6 9.6 6.6BSurv 3.7 1.6 -BSc 27.3 21.5 26.6BCom * - 8.4 13.3
*Not included in original sample but features due to double degree graduates
Types of degrees
Background to the Millennium Graduates
Survey results: Otago as a positive experience
Almost unanimous in positive view of Otago
96% would recommend Otago (same as Graduate Opinion Survey, 2001)
92% thought their education was worthwhile– Education gained (32%)– Friendships made (23%)– Life experiences (17%)– Student lifestyle and campus (14%) – Qualification gained or resulting
career (14%)
What graduates chose to say…Positive experiences Negative experiences
Social life, friendships (45%) No negatives (26%)Staff (knowledgeable, supportive,approachable, friendly) (38%)
Fees & cost of living (15%)
Campus & Dunedin environment(35%)
Poor teaching (12%)
Student lifestyle/community/culture(24%)
Cold and poor quality flats (10%)
Quality of education (20%) Poor career/course choice advice(9%)
Halls of Residence (14%) Bad weather (9%)Resources & facilities (14%) Rundown/cramped facilities and
resources (7%)Variety of courses & papers (14%) Student drinking culture (5%)Events and entertainment (13%)
Areas identified by graduates to describe the impact of their University education
Gained transferable skills(41%)
Learned life’s lessons (20%)
Research skills gained(19%)
Gained self-confidence andself esteem (12%)
Led to a job or career(19%)
Critically aware/ critical thinking(11%)
Socialising/friendships(18%)
Changed outlook on the world(9%)
Education gained (17%) Stimulated interest in topics(8%)
What would they do differently?
Only 9% were happy with their choices and would make no changes
Of the others:– Study different subjects (26%)– Do a different degree (15%)– Study harder (20%)– Socialise more (8%)– Seek better careers guidance (7%)
Interviews: Views on the purpose of higher education
JOB- ORIENTATED
CredentialismTransferable skills
(e.g. communication)Less self-fulfilled
‘Narrow’ benefits to society
Degree as ‘external’
‘Craig’ ‘Steve’
‘Sam’
‘Nick’
LEARNING- ORIENTATED
CredentialismTransferable skills plus
liberal values More self-fulfilled‘Wider’ benefits to
society Degree as ‘internal’
“The night I got [my degree] I dropped it down the back of the fireplace, and I was distraught, so I really did love that piece of paper. So I pulled this fireplace out and luckily it had slipped back down, and I got it. Along with a button that said: vote for Nixon. Which was kind of cool.” [Craig]
Purpose of higher education - job-orientated
Craig: “I think basically a degree should just be physical evidence that you’ve done these courses and you’ve obtained this knowledge and you’d be a useful person to employ”
Julie: “nowdays [the purpose of a university
education] it’s a big foot in the door to get a job… in the back of my mind a degree meant you got a job at the end of it.”
Purpose: job learning-orientated
Sam
“So at 18 it was purely a bit of paper. Everyone else was doing it and I’d get a job… When I was 24, it was well I’m here to learn so I should actually apply myself…and hey, I’ve got some pretty good skills now that I can cross over into, anything specific.”
Purpose: learning job-orientatedNick - initially thought that higher education: “should exist to serve some higher understanding and
knowledge and the outcomes that come from that should be self-fulfilling.”
- But now sees the purpose of higher education as:“keeping up [with] the pack because nowdays an
undergraduate degree is a commodity…employers would expect that.”
Purpose - learning-orientated
Steve
“(university is about…) growing as an individual, the way a person thinks and how they process information and look at the outside world…The breadth of knowledge instilled by the Arts department truly prepared me for anything. More importantly, they taught me to think, to question and to criticise: those are some of the most important aspects of my professional life”
Barbara: - “to open up new worlds of ideas and study… to show people
how studying can actually be rewarding in itself and for its own reasons, not for any particular job or anything like that… it will prepare me for being a lifelong student.”
Kiri: - has two distinct views on the purpose of higher education: to
gain a qualification that is relevant to obtaining a job; and to give something back to society.
She related a Maori saying “He mana e matauranga, with education, you’re able to have prestige and some may say, power, but you also have a duty, perhaps, to give back as well, to use your education for the benefit of other people.”
Why the variation in views? Of the 24
interviewees: 6 117
none moderate high
Job-orientated Learning-orientatedJob-orientated Learning-orientated
Parental cultural capital
Socio-cultural context
Cultural capital (parental)
Expectations of a university education
Curriculum & learning experiences
Sam, Craig
Sam
Nick, Steve
Nick
Craig SteveNick, Sam
Job-orientated Learning-orientatedJob-orientated Learning-orientated
Strong Otago Strong Otago identity & loyaltyidentity & loyalty
Positive experiencePositive experience
Positive educational Positive educational outcomesoutcomes
Social experience Social experience can outweigh can outweigh short-comings short-comings in curriculumin curriculum
The “Otago Package”Jamie “It’s unbelievable how good it is. It’s just an automatic
interest as soon as you mention that you’re an Otago University [graduate] and there’s an automatic warmth towards you that I just experience all the time. It’s sort of on the same level as you experience about being a New Zealander overseas. People tend to like New Zealanders and I get exactly the same experience from people in New Zealand about Otago.”
Implications for teaching staff and management: Best aspects
UO can provide a quality education and social experience that is highly valued
Student lifestyle Halls of Residence ‘Town and gown’
relationship Quality of teaching
Implications for teaching staff and management: Areas of concern
Differing views on the purposes of a higher education (meeting needs or changing expectations)
Not all graduates are exhibiting evidence of the four dimensions of quality learning - loss of liberal values
Lack of quality guidance Fees and burgeoning student debt ‘Town and gown’ issues
Conclusions• Otago offers an educational package that is highly valued.• However, the situation is extremely complex:
• Surveys - showed satisfaction • Interviews - showed the individual nature of the experience
• Broadly, graduates were orientated along a continuum from a job-focused to a learning-focused orientation. These views were based on experiences at Otago and five years of life post-university.
• Are we happy that we are producing some graduates with a very narrow educational experience? What are academics’ views?
• What do we do about cultural capital? • Need for improvement in quality guidance so students are clear about
what a university degree can offer them• Need to provide extra-curricula activities and peer support
• How can we ensure curricula embrace both liberal values and develop transferable skills?