The first cohort at a new campus: Who are they? What do they bring? Where are they going? Why did they come?

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Research and Development in Higher Education Vol. 23: Flexible Learning for a Flexible Society

July, 2000, 755 pages
Published by
Lesley Richardson & John Lidstone
ISBN
0908557477
Abstract 

In this paper we report on the findings of a survey of first year students at the new UQ campus at Ipswich, west of Brisbane. We asked students about their reasons for enrolling in their respective degree programs, their reasons for studying at university, their information technology resources and literacy, their study and paid work commitments, domestic living arrangements and educational qualifications, their learning preferences and their intentions after completion of the degree. Ipswich campus is designed to be, and is promoted as, an innovative, learner-centred and technology-rich learning environment. We focussed on two themes; (1) the match between the pedagogical assumptions underpinning the curricula at the new campus and students’ learning preferences, their information technology resources and literacy and their reasons for choosing their respective courses; and (2) respondents’ reasons for choosing to do university studies, and their reasons for choosing the particular course in which they were enrolled.