61 help to students regarding their academics of which I didn’t take full advantage of resulting in my failure for the previous year, taken responsibility for my academics, attending SI making use of the resources made available to us by the lecturer and the process has been coming around successfully.
Deconstruction
I had to learn to manage my time. Print and create schedules for my self during the week. Sacrificing and making provision for myself was not difficult but rather something that constantly fail to do. Procrastination.
Phase 2 (Re-authoring of narratives)
Doing something differently opposed to what you have done, slightly counts as regret not doing any research to what I wanted to, who I want to become. Choosing a career at this age is more complex to when I was just 9 years of age. I think the university should provide more depth to what is offered and how different faculties/
systems operate.
Phase 3 (Action plan)
I’ll be going to the career centre.
Getting a mentor
Interact in class often than not.
Take additional notes with the lecturers, ask for help.
Explain the function of SI in depth. It is important for student achievement.
62 Table 4.2: Verbatim quotes and emerging codes within the written narratives
Phase
Student
participants Verbatim quotes Coding
Phase 1
Blake “… my first year although I failed two modules …”
“… I had to adjust to managing my time.”
“… ADS has been very supportive …”
“I was summoned to ADS …”
“… attending SI classes my marks have improved quite well
…”
“… due to financial problems …”
“I applied for a NSFAS loan …”
“… no longer paying for my fees …’’
“I failed three modules financial aids are slim …”
“… make sure that the house is cleaned, cook do laundry, ironing and make sure her son is doing his school work daily.”
“… I tried to juggle everything but my strength is not enough …”
“… SI sessions have really helped me in terms of further understanding. Mostly accounting and management accounting …”
First year experience
Time management skills
Institutional support structure
ADS support programme
Financial problems
Balance between personal life and academic career(not enough support at home)
SI is discipline-specific
Shinji “… first year was a big success in …”
“… could not keep up with the jargon of commerce
First year experience
Academic text
63 subjects and new concepts that were being introduced. The
big failure was that I could not manage to pass accounting modules …”
“I would say stay out of residence …”
“… residence has turned me or made me lazy since everything is bus orientated by the schedule of the bus if you are late you have to miss class.”
Struggles with commerce modules (numerical)
Residence
Lazy
Time management
Mlilo “I felt scared other students are more to themselves it was hard to reach them.”
“Pressure of assignments and tests. I couldn’t do the time management …”
“I had a hard time when I wanted to take my assignments to the writing lab.”
“Financially it was difficult …”
“… met […] my mentor we talked […] she gave me ideas on how to handle the situation that I
face.”
“I find it difficult when lecturer is just showing slides and not give students a time to ask questions or see if they really get the work they supposed to do.”
“I started with History and Geography it was hard … to do, I did it because my aim was to do Education so I couldn’t do it.”
“SI help me to do summaries so that we can we meet again I can have notes that we can discuss.”
Academic and social integration
Time management
Institutional support structure (writing lab)
Financial aid
Institutional support
Peer mentoring programme at ADS the students
Placement of students
SI assists with learning strategies
Pepe “My experience with the university so far is complex …”
“University offers a variety of help to student …”
“… managing my time …”
First year experience
Institution support
Time management
64 Phase
2
Blake “… getting my own place to stay …”
“… put more hours and effort into my own studies.”
“… (peer mentor co-ordinator) she has been of great help in advising me about the problem which I encountered she was friendly and supportive …”
Move away from the home environment
Engage more with studies
ADS advisor is seen as supportive
Shinji “… would not be living in res…”
“… get a place closer to school …”
Residence (institutional structure) Mlilo “… make sure I socialise a lot with people …”
“… change the course in time …”
Social integration difficult
Career path
Pepe “Choosing a career at this age is more complex …” Career path
Phase 3
Blake “… focus more on my studies …”
“Attend student support structures …”
“… spending more of my time in the library after class …”
“… more time to form a study groups …”
Balance studies
Support structures (ADS)
Engage with studies
Time management
Peer learning
Shinji “Manage my own time …”
“… dedicated to books and social life instead of doing both and being lazy …”
“… spend more time studying than being lazy and distracted
…”
Time management
Engage more with studies
Balance between social life and academics
Mlilo “… more energy on my work assignments, activities.”
“having more peers …”
Engagement
Social integration
Pepe “… career centre …”
“Getting a mentor…”
“Interact in class.”
“Take additional notes …”
Career path
ADS peer mentor
Academic integration
Learning strategies
65 By coding the data and compiling the data as shown in Table 4.1, I was able to identify emerging themes. In addition, this process assisted me in making meaning of the responses within the phases of data collection. The main trends that I identified while I coded the data were financial aid, institutional support, ADS support, peer learning, engagement, time management, academic integration and social integration.
When reflecting on the above table, it became evident that the student participants used words or vocabulary that reflected what they experienced as constraints within the tertiary institution.
The codes indicated that the student participants were able to identify their own gaps in their learning. They were also aware of factors that contributed to their being successful and/or unsuccessful at a tertiary institution. From these codes, themes emerged and these are discussed in the next section.