Counselling and Psychological Services (CAPS) UNSW CAPS offers students a confidential counselling service via one-on-one consultations with qualified a psychologist. CAPS also run a number of workshops for students including: Mindfulness Mediation; Sleep Smart – which highlights the benefits of healthy sleep patterns; Student Minds@UNSW – a mental health awareness initiative; the Phoenix Rising Workshop – which supports the academic goals of underachieving students and assists them back on the path to success; and a variety of wellbeing seminars during orientation and throughout semester. Educational Support Service The Educational Support Service provides one-on-one appointments to students with Educational Support Advisors (ESAs) (known as Student Participation Advisors prior to 2015) who offer personal and study support. Issues addressed by the service include: academic performance; goal setting; time management; support with settling-in; and navigating UNSW processes such as special consideration, grade appeals and course withdrawal. The Educational Support Service was established under HEPPP funding to provide targeted support to students from low SES backgrounds, students entering UNSW through alternative entry schemes and students identified as being at risk of attrition. However, the one-on-one appointments and workshops offered are open to all students. Methods An integrative methodology was utilised to address the aims of the project. This involved drawing from multiple methods in an iterative process of design, implementation and analysis in order to satisfy the project aims. The methods used in this project can be grouped into three main applications: a database study, a questionnaire, and an in-depth interview. These are discussed in the following sections. Database A quantitative-based research project with sufficient statistical power is identified in the literature as necessary to informing the role of support initiatives in contributing to student success, where small sample size has been referenced as an issue for a number of previous studies (for example McNaught and Beal, 2012; Denny et al., 2014; French et al., 2014). The use of large datasets to analyse student engagement with multiple university support initiatives has not yet been approached in this context at UNSW. Data Sources UNSW Student Information Management System A major source of information for this study was the UNSW Student Information Management System (SIMS). SIMS contains the demographic and academic information for all students to have ever enrolled at UNSW from 1960 through to the present day. Manipulating SIMS for use in the study effectively enabled population-level conclusions to
Counselling and Psychological Services (CAPS) UNSW CAPS offers students a confidential counselling service via one-on-one consultations with qualified a psychologist. CAPS also run a number of workshops for students including: Mindfulness Mediation; Sleep Smart – which highlights the benefits of healthy sleep patterns; Student Minds@UNSW – a mental health awareness initiative; the Phoenix Rising Workshop – which supports the academic goals of underachieving students and assists them back on the path to success; and a variety of wellbeing seminars during orientation and throughout semester. Educational Support Service The Educational Support Service provides one-on-one appointments to students with Educational Support Advisors (ESAs) (known as Student Participation Advisors prior to 2015) who offer personal and study support. Issues addressed by the service include: academic performance; goal setting; time management; support with settling-in; and navigating UNSW processes such as special consideration, grade appeals and course withdrawal. The Educational Support Service was established under HEPPP funding to provide targeted support to students from low SES backgrounds, students entering UNSW through alternative entry schemes and students identified as being at risk of attrition. However, the one-on-one appointments and workshops offered are open to all students. Methods An integrative methodology was utilised to address the aims of the project. This involved drawing from multiple methods in an iterative process of design, implementation and analysis in order to satisfy the project aims. The methods used in this project can be grouped into three main applications: a database study, a questionnaire, and an in-depth interview. These are discussed in the following sections. Database A quantitative-based research project with sufficient statistical power is identified in the literature as necessary to informing the role of support initiatives in contributing to student success, where small sample size has been referenced as an issue for a number of previous studies (for example McNaught and Beal, 2012; Denny et al., 2014; French et al., 2014). The use of large datasets to analyse student engagement with multiple university support initiatives has not yet been approached in this context at UNSW. Data Sources UNSW Student Information Management System A major source of information for this study was the UNSW Student Information Management System (SIMS). SIMS contains the demographic and academic information for all students to have ever enrolled at UNSW from 1960 through to the present day. Manipulating SIMS for use in the study effectively enabled population-level conclusions to
30_UNSW_MerylStone_Accessible.docx