Transition to higher education and assessment: a one year longitudinal study

Abstract

Higher education students need to be more autonomous when they change to this new learning environment. This is one of the reasons why many students find the transition to higher education a challenging experience, also shown by the high dropout rate in the first year of higher education. Researchers in this area have pointed out different academic, sociodemographic, psychological, and sociocultural variables that may explain students’ adaptation to higher education. In this line of investigation, there have been calls for more longitudinal research to understand how students adapt to their arrival at the university. In this longitudinal study, 148 participants filled out a learning diary/survey on a weekly and bi-weekly basis during their first university year, reporting their satisfaction, challenges, emotions, motivation, and learning strategies. Three main conclusions can be extracted from the data. First, satisfaction levels and challenges fluctuated throughout the year, showing that students experience their transition through different phases and that there are variations within the year. Second, assessment activities (e.g., exams) are the major emotional and motivational triggers decreasing positive emotions and increasing negative emotions. And third, participants reported the use of strategies mostly for processing or memorizing the content in contrast to an extremely low number of more advanced self-regulatory strategies. We recommend some actions to improve students’ transition to higher education, such as reconsidering assessment practices and designing intervention programs to help students in this new environment.