‘It’s been a challenge finding new ways to learn’: first-year students’ perceptions of adapting to learning in a university environment

ABSTRACT

The first year of university is a challenging period of academic and personal development for students. Through phenomenographic analysis of 27 interviews with students who had just completed their first year at university, this study provides valuable insight into students’ perceptions of adapting to learning in a university environment. Four themes emerged: (i) incoming students were not prepared to be self-directed learners; (ii) students began to develop self-directed learning skills during their first year; (iii) peers supported students’ transition to learning at university; and, (iv) at the end of first year, students were still figuring out how to be effective learners in a university context. Our findings can inform strategies to support students in their transition to university studies. In particular, our results underscore the importance of supporting first-year students’ development of self-directed learning skills and facilitating their access to communities of peers who can provide academic and social support.

KEYWORDS:

• First-year experience
• self-regulated learning
• social support
• college student development
• higher education
• qualitative

Acknowledgements

We thank our interview participants for their openness in sharing their reflections on their first-year experience and gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by a University of British Columbia SoTL Seed Grant.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the University of British Columbia Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Seed Fund.