A View of the Contents of the Typical First-Year Virtual Uni Bag: Helping Staff and Students Develop a Pedagogy for Successful Transition

Abstract

In this chapter, attrition among first-year students, especially those students who have not been groomed for university, also known as equity students, is addressed. Recommendations for focusing on what they can already do when they start their studies are made. Ways to enhance the transition process are recommended, including mandatory collaboration between academic advisers and academic subject teachers who tend to function separately. Case study research is presented that shows that new students, including equity students, already have some academic literacy skills such as higher order thinking skills, academic writing skills, and academic discourse skills when they commence. These skills are contained in their virtual uni bags – a construct used to suggest that all students have skills as well as life experience when they start their studies. This chapter discusses existing skills and missing skills and suggests ways in which they can be developed and enhanced in co-curricular activities, created in collaboration between academic advisors and academic subject teachers. This process is explored by using the constructs of the virtual uni bag and pedagogy for transition. The emphasis is on ways in which academic advisers can collaborate with academic subject teachers to embed development of the missing skills in the first-year curriculum in the classroom (which includes face-to-face and online teaching) and in co-curricular activities.