Development of methods for the improvement of performance and retention of postgraduate students.

Abstract

A problem had been identified with the intake of postgraduate students to MSc courses in SAS. The students became increasingly diverse in terms of origin and previous learning experiences. This presents challenges in terms of what can be expected in generic learning skills and methods, and also subject specific knowledge (genetics in our case). This has led to problems for students during their first semester as they adapt to the new learning requirements, resulting in poor performance. Therefore the team proposed to develop a project which assesses students’ basic genetic knowledge, generic scientific skills and learning skills before they start on the course by using formative assessment exercises that give intuitive feedback. We would then follow this up by giving students learning tasks based on their demonstrated knowledge of the subject and learning skills.