URB@N Project: University 101' for the University of Northampton

The School of Science and Technology, University of Northampton has funding from URB@N for three projects. URB@N stands for ‘Undergraduate Research Bursaries at Northampton’. It is a bursary scheme offering opportunities for current undergraduate students to participate in a pedagogic research project taking place at the university. Details of one of these projects is included here.

  University 101' for the University of Northampton 

Staff involved:

Nigel Freestone

Sindy Banga - Health

Overview

The project aims to develop and evaluate the on-line Northampton University

101 transition course. This course has been written to help new students

and International students to make the transition to The University of

Northampton successful, easier and effective. It is an on-line course that

addresses the UK HE academic culture that is new to many students.

The non-credit bearing course aims to:

• To increase student engagement, retention and academic performance

• To familiarise students with the UK degree structure, programmes

and academic expectations e.g. learning outcomes and assessment

strategies

• Foster a sense of belonging

• Familiarise students with the University of Northampton’s academic

practices including plagiarism and the grading criteria.

• Introduce the resources and facilities available to students

• Promote engagement in the curricular

• Help students develop and apply study skills, such as essay structure

and writing, critical analysis and referencing.

Students would be required to complete Northampton 101 before they

commenced their programme of study. It is anticipated that Northampton 101

will run for the first two weeks after enrolment, on-line. This is important in

order to meet the demands of International programmes such as students

based in India. There will be a number of academic activities, such as; The

Learning Styles Questionnaire, Turnitin, and a written activity linked to their

first module.

Student will only be allowed to move on to the next stage once they have

passed the previous stages.

For more information about this project go to University 101' for the University of Northampton

More details about URB@N can be found at: http://www.northampton.ac.uk/urban