What changes do second-year students notice?

A central objective of the OH2BH project is to understand and ameliorate student experiences in the Lakehead Faculty of Education. The annual questionnaire is a robust tool that elicits feedback, ideas, and recommendations from students that will be considered for both long-term and short-term improvements. Over the past few years, numerous changes have been implemented in the faculty of education in Orillia, including the creation of ESTA (the Education Student Teachers Association) in Orillia [LINK], lunch and snack services to campus, and a paired down and more targeted suite of Professional Development sessions, and embedding opportunities for mindfulness in various aspects of the program.

In the 2022 questionnaire, second year students were asked what changes they had noticed between first and second year. Almost two thirds of students who responded to this question noted one or more positive changes in their experiences (see Figure 1).

Figure 1:

Q63. If you are a second-year student, please name any positive or negative change(s) that you have noticed during your enrollment in the program.

Orillia Campus, 2022

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Of those that reported positive changes, three major themes emerged. One of the most common responses of positive changes was that students felt that instructors were providing more flexibility and accommodations. As students shared:

The professors were very accommodating and understanding and considerate of our needs.

When the workload was too heavy at the beginning of first year, changes were made fairly quickly to accommodate the reality of online education and the pandemic.

Scaling back the lesson plan workload while on placement

Another area of positive adjustments that students noticed was that certain instructors were partnering to build curriculum and assignments from two courses into one. This was notable to several students:

It was great to have integrated course work in Aboriginal Education and Environmental Education.

Less asynchronous sessions, large assignment that is used for 2 courses,

A third area of positive change that was appreciated was that students noticed having more voice in the program:

Positive change: More input is taken from students.

I have noticed better communication from professors in the second year. Online classes have also been much more organized.

By comparison, in 2021, just over half of second-year Orillia students reported a positive change, and a third of students spoke of a negative change.

Figure 1:

Q63. If you are a second-year student, please name any positive or negative change(s) that you have noticed during your enrollment in the program.

Orillia Campus, 2021

second year students noted that student voice (“Listening to students voices is amazing!”), student input in second year cohort designations, and widespread responsiveness of staff & faculty to respond to student concerns.

Positive Changes: The faculty make an attempt to listen to student concerns and Food and Beverage machines were added to the HP library!

having parking passes accepted at both campuses, allowing students to change cohorts where desired, giving the girls more bathroom access. I believe that people here want what's best for the students and just need help on how.

However, as each figure suggests, in each of the past two years, students also reported negative changes, or no changes at all. …

These responses are interesting for us as the OH2BH program is designed to provide the type feedback that allows our faculty to not only address longer-term, institutional changes, but also for us to be nimble enough to make adjustments that might enhance the experience and inspire better future teaching.

• It shows that students are very aware of changes being made

• It shows that students are very conscious of whether their feedback is taken into consideration.

• Although we strive to continually improve our program, there are changes that we fail to make between each year, and the changes from year to year aren’t always positive. (i.e. we can do more)