“Integrated, Collaborative, Engaging, Balanced, Economical, Reflective and Gradual” is the way that van Ameijde et.al (2018) frames the key factors for student retention. A topic that interests me a lot and during the Pandemic has the interest has increased even more. As described in the article (van Ameijde et. al 2018) , the retention has not only economical consequences for the institution it has also grave consequences for the student. For some students the study path choosen is simply not the right one and dropping out is a good option. But for many it is an unwished state and due to different reasons like low self-efficacy, insufficient study skills, economical issues, can not relate to the university/studies etc.

Integrated – of everything in this model I might love this concept the best as van Ameijde “A well-integrated curriculum constitutes a coherent whole where all the parts work together in a meaningful and cohesive way”. It is something that I try to convince our head of educatin programme about. But it is quite easy to hide behind “Academic freedom” and “students like to make choices”. But I think it is our responsibility to make the programme easy to take and that students do not need to postpone their graduation due to one course that is given every second year. It is not so hard to design a well-functioning programme. 

Collaborative – Through active learning make sure that the student feel part of the student community is such an, in my view, easy fix to get students to engage in the academic sphere. Of course, you also need to acknowledge that not all students like to work collaboratively so you might need to vary your style of collaboration. I just heard from a colleague that she lets her students prepare a presentation on different writing styles and when the meet in class they presented the subject that they had chosen in a small group of 3-4 students. It is a great example where students work on their own and then present, discuss and process the content together.  

Engaging – To just grab your overhead slides or your power point slide from 4 years back is not anymore, a doable way of preparing for class.  Now a days you need to plan for engaging activities in class. In my view point it is much easier, if you have a power point you need to (not as my exaggerated example) always update your material and power point, and usually in quite a short time span before the class itself. If you plan an activity, you can reuse exactly the same activity year after year and just update the material that they will study (or let them look for it themselves). The finding of suitable material, you can do long time in advance.  

Balanced – I just discovered that our university has 2 periods in the autumn that is 7 weeks each and 2 periods in spring that is 9 weeks long. Both students and teachers are stressing like maniacs in the autumn and the spring is much more relaxed. Balancing is really something, when you start looking in to it, where you can find a lot of gains and quick fixes. Of course the classic of distance courses to chop up the course in suitable chunks with examination all the way makes it also easier.  

Economical – Of course it doesn’t fit with the ICEBERG acronym, but I would like to say focused. Based on the learning goals/competences, what should the student learn. And remember we humans do not never do anything that we do not must do (if it is not our hobby) so do not add, good to know, more interesting reading and you can also look at this movie stuff. Instead try to focus on what the students need to know and what they should remember after 5 years. Is it the things your are teaching in the course? 

Reflective – Is maybe the hardest to get students to reflect on their own learning. But I think, if you succeed to move the responsibility of learning from the teacher to the student you will also get them to reflect. It is so easy that you will just steer a bit and a bit say what kind of things should be in their essay etc. Instead, put faith in their ability to learn! 

Gradual –There is a lot of talk in Finland that students do not have enough study skills to stud in higher education. To be mean the gymnasium in Finland is a sausage making factory with a test in the end. No wonder that the do not have the skills. (sorry for being so mean, might be that I will erase it). But the gradual thought really gets me excited. I usually also try to tell our teachers that you can think of the students as an empty box, and we have the privilege to fill this box. If we notice that something is lacking, we need to make sure that the practice this skill in order to be able to function as a professional in society. It is our quality stamp! 

The only thing I think that Covid has brought on that is positive is that teachers think much more about how they design their courses. And that they are aware that they have an impact on students’ well-being and student success. I hope that this will lead to better teaching in my own university and world wide.  

Literature list:

Learning Design for Student Retention
Jitse van Ameijde, Martin Weller and Simon Cross, The Open University, UK, 2018 Journal of Perspectives in Applied Academic Practice