Places, spaces and friendly faces: Energising the orientation experience for first year engineering students

Abstract: It is well recognized that a smooth transition to university leads not only to better student satisfaction, but to stronger, deeper learning outcomes. The Quest for the Engineering Discipline (QED) at the University of South Australia (UniSA) was a new approach for the common first year in engineering in 2009. It was designed to foster strong links for first year students to the social, institutional and academic aspects of university life. To achieve this, the QED provided a labyrinth of engaging activities – complex in planning but simple in execution – to create a new orientation experience. The QED relied on strong, cross-institutional and cross-disciplinary collaboration among staff. It also piloted a new learning space and portfolio building software. Evaluation data shows the QED paved new pathways to understanding university life, learning and relationships as students took their first tentative steps toward becoming engineers. Backgroun