The motivation for organising a transition meeting is to ensure a good end to the first semester and a good start of the second semester. When students begin their second semester, they are still new students and will encounter teaching and exam types that are different from those experienced in the first semester. It is therefore important to have a meeting that creates space for questions and clarification and ensures that new students are well prepared for a new semester.
Between the first and second semesters, teachers from the second semester and one teacher from the first semester organise a meeting for all students in the year group; this is to prepare them for the new semester and create cohesion between the subjects in the first year of study. Before the transition meeting, coordination must take place between one teacher from the first semester and the second-semester teachers. They must plan who should talk about which topics, compile an agenda and invite a student counsellor and a mentor to come and speak about their options available to the students. If new study groups are formed by the academic environment for the second semester, these must be in place before the meeting.
At the transition meeting, the students have the opportunity to reflect on their first six months as university students, including their study strategies. The students meet and are introduced to their future teachers and may align their expectations and receive a briefing about the teaching activities in the second semester. Finally, information regarding options from the degree programme and the mentor scheme are reintroduced to the students, and the successful launching of second-semester study groups is ensured.
The activity is seen to be efficient in that it ensures a good transition from the first to the second semester. University staff may easily forget that after six months of study, the students are still newcomers to the university world, and that they are not used to the semester structure and working methods of the university. The transition meeting is considered to be an important initiative which prepares the students well for this structure and their encounter with new experiences each semester.
The meeting content may be adjusted according to the information it is relevant to convey to the students at their transition from one semester to another, e.g. information about new types of examination, different ECTS credits or different types of instruction.
Consider planning the meeting already at the beginning of the first semester so that it may be scheduled in the teaching plans. This will ensure that the students know of the meeting well in advance and that all relevant parties are able to participate.
Faculty: Arts
Degree Programme: Art History
Course: Joint event for all courses in the first and second semesters
Study level: BA (First year of study)
Course size: 45 students (may be used for all class sizes)
Teaching method: Lecture / Small class teaching
Extent: Activity
How the case was conducted: Campus teaching
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.
