Theme
'From me to we – Building first year communities' is the theme for EFYE 2024
From me to we – Building first year communities
Communities in higher education refers to a variety of groups and networks that students and staff are a part of. Communities not only play a crucial part in upholding the individual’s sense of belonging, need for relatedness and learning but they also serve as a place where they can engage in and contribute to something larger than their own needs, learning and development.
Communities hold a key potential for the student to participate and thereby integrate and contribute. By shifting the main purpose of the communities from a scene for individual development to collective contribution, we can enrich the First Year Experience (FYE) – fostering not only a sense of belonging but also a sense of shared responsibility and interconnectedness with each other, with the educational community and with the surrounding world.
Connecting with communities that resonate with us can be a powerful catalyst for change, moving students to take action and make a difference in the world as they progress through their time in higher education.
At University College Copenhagen we want EFYE 2024 to provide space to explore how the many FYE communities focus on community participants can leave more than they take away – where they are not just consuming but also contributing.
Sub-themes
We are interested in:
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The Why?
- Why are first-year communities important?
- Why is fostering a shared responsibility and contribution to communities crucial?
- Why should we focus on staff communities as part of our FYE practice?
- Why is meaningfulness important in relation to first-year communities?
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The What?
- What is the DNA of your communities which promotes sustained meaning and mattering.
- What should we focus on in communities to enable positive growth?
- What strategies can we use to create inclusive and welcoming communities that encourage commitment from all members?
- What is the evidence that suggest these activities work?
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And the How?
- How can first-year students contribute to their communities in ways that promote global citizenship and social responsibility?
- How can we activate a sense of being in a valued member of a community?
- How can we measure the impact of our activities?
- How can we motivate students to contribute so the communities grow more in effect of their arrival?
These subthemes for the conference thus enlighten how first-year communities can build, sustain, and enable students to contribute not just consume.