ADAPTATION TO UNIVERSITY LIFE: METHODOLOGICAL, MOTIVATIONAL AND EMOTIONAL TUTORING. EXPERIENCES OF A TUTORIAL ACTION PLAN

The objective of this contribution would be to present the Tutorial Action Plan (PAT) developed in the Department of Art History of the University of the Basque Country (Vitoria, Spain) in order to improve the adaptation and accommodation of our new students to the university system.

Through this system, we aimed to address a number of issues: first of all, we aimed at targeting potentially motivated students who, for different reasons, would not be aware of the existence and the professional possibilities offered by the Art History Degree. Secondly and very importantly, we wanted to analyze the adaptation process in the transition from secondary to higher education, which proved complicated for many. Thirdly, we wanted to establish a tutorial relationship that would support these students through their academic life.

Regarding the second point, along our investigation we discovered three types of gaps in the transitional process from secondary to higher education: we have defined them as methodological (problems accommodating to advanced research and working strategies), motivational (frustration due to the difficult prospect of finding a job, or just related to a difficulty to choose a career) and emotional (first steps into a less monitored system in which the student is treated as an autonomous adult).

The objective of what we have called Tutorial Action Plan was to:
a) identify these gaps when they existed
b) tackle them with the student and
c) set a map of actions to help overcome them.

Thus, we elaborated a series of protocols and documents, together with specific actions, that we would like to share.

For the first objective, we established a series of presentations and introductory talks for potential students, trying to make the bond between secondary and higher education stronger and to attract more motivated students. For the second one, in which we will concentrate for this presentation, we allocated tutors to all students in first year and scheduled two mandatory meetings, with questionnaires and interviews prepared accordingly, in order to identify the possible gaps and establish a direct relationship with the students. Thanks to the analysis of the documentation produced in these meetings, we were able to elaborate a process-mapping that should help students to better navigate the transition between secondary and higher education.

In its third year of implementation, we have witnessed a better accommodation to university life from our students that we would like to share and discuss with other participants of INTED 2017.