Subject: Art History. Course: Involves all courses in the second semester. Study level: First year of study. Size of class: Approx. 45 students (may be used for all class sizes).
The motivation behind study process meetings is to provide the students with a space where they can address their own study practices and study situation. The meetings give the students an opportunity to reflect on and become more aware of their own life as a student with a view to changing things that do not work well for them and enhance/maintain things that do. The study process meetings should emphasise that:
The activity takes place across all courses in the second semester of Art History and involves all teachers. The study process meetings create a space for the students to reflect on several different aspects of their student life.
The study process meeting is conducted in groups of four to five students from different classes and study groups. A member of the academic staff or a student counsellor is present and facilitates the meeting. The study process meetings are advertised as compulsory, and the times and combinations of students are announced well in advance by the teachers in Blackboard. All the meetings are conducted on one day mid-March in the second semester, when the students have completed all teaching sessions and exams of a semester and therefore have a basis for comparing the first and second semesters.
It is important that the day is planned well ahead of time, so that the date will be included in the semester plans in order to send a clear signal that the meetings are mandatory. To ensure maximum participation the meetings should be scheduled for a day where the students have class before or after the meetings so that they are already on campus.
During the meeting, the students are asked to address how they plan their studies during a week, what they find challenging, and how they like their “new” life as a student in general. In addition, topics such as study groups and educational specialisation are addressed. The academic member of staff and the student counsellors listen and take notes, and as facilitators of the meeting, they can use a pre-designed question sheet to ensure that all relevant issues are addressed.
The purpose of the meetings is to give the students a space where they can discuss issues to do with the degree programme. The output of the day is a written summary for the head of section, and the initiative has given rise to several changes as regards communication in the website regarding what it means to study art history and the planning of students’ teaching sessions during a week.
Facilitators of the meetings must be aware that the students should be speaking, and if they get stuck, the facilitator should only make sure that the meeting proceeds. It may therefore be an advantage to use pre-designed questions, see examples of this in 'Handout 1', which is a checklist to ensure that all relevant issues are addressed. In addition, the facilitator should make sure that all students get a chance to speak and should listen actively during the meeting. The meetings must be planned well in advance so that the date appears in the semester plans and signals that this is a compulsory activity. To ensure maximum participation, the meetings are scheduled on a day when the students have classes before or after and are therefore present at the university anyway.
This example of practice is developed in connection to "Projekt 1. studieår", where initiatives for retention at the faculty of arts at Aarhus University was mapped.
