Measuring the effectiveness of academic skills individual interventions on university graduate student writing: To what extent are we making a difference?

Abstract

Student engagement, retention and success are central to the university context, and an integrated, collaborative partnership between a university program and an academic advising service can be pivotal in facilitating positive student outcomes and a successful university experience. While there is some international research that examines the effect of course-based academic interventions, there is little evidence that measures the impact of individual advising on students’ writing performance outcomes. This article outlines research conducted in an Australian university Graduate program that measures the effect of one-to-one academic skills interventions on individual Teacher Candidates’ writing and presents data on grade and overall writing improvement from pre to post academic skills assistance, as well as students’ perceptions of the impact of the support on their ability to engage with the assessment task. It demonstrates that individualised academic skills interventions make clear and measurable positive differences to student learning outcomes and proposes that they should be retained as a key component of a larger suite of service provision.