Supporting Art and Design student transition into Higher Education

In 2007 the UK National Audit Office reported retention levels as an important factor in measuring university success. It also reported institutional variations in withdrawal themes concluding that some differences were likely to relate to how well individual institutions were helping students to deal with the challenges of study in HE. As a great deal of research has found retention to be related to student satisfaction, and this in turn to be primarily dependent upon student preparedness and their expectations many institutions have focused on enhancing this area of the student experience. This paper raises awareness of the predominant role of emotions and social interactions in art and design pedagogy and describes the development and implementation of an online portal designed to support a cohort of students about to undertake a BA (Hons) Fashion Design and Technology programme. Support was designed to promote early induction and engagement and to assist in student’s preparation, six weeks before arriving at university. The project followed the ADDIE development model and adopted a multi-phase sequential mixed methods research strategy. Evaluation of this project inter-mixed focus groups and semi-structured questionnaires over five key research phases targeted at appropriate stages of the ADDIE development model.