Framework for PupiltoStudent Transition, Learning Environment and Semester Start for FirstYear Students. For several years, the Department of Informatics at the University of Oslo has welcomed large student groups: over 450 new students at the start of studies in August, divided into five study programmes. This is a demanding job involving many people and challenges with coordination of information. Over the past three years, we have worked systematically on various measures to promote a good learning environment for students throughout their first year. In this paper, we present a framework that has evolved through several years of work on semester startup and other measures during the first year of study. Using an evaluation form and interviews through several semesters, we have collected data for semester startup. We highlight in what way the measures contribute to (1) increased collaboration among students, (2) improving study progress and (3) reduced dropout.

An exploration of STEM freshmens attitudes, engagement and autonomous learning in introductory computer programming Programming skills and computational thinking are fundamental concerns in professional training in Science, Technologyxe2x80x99 Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines. In spite of this, in the Chilean higher education system, as in most parts of the world, teaching programming is a challenging endeavor, partly because the majority of freshmen students in STEM undergraduate programs have not been introduced to the fundamentals of the discipline and its applications in K12 education. Therefore, studentsu0027 attitudes, engagement, and autonomous learning can make a difference in how students in STEM disciplines in higher education face their first programming course. In the present study, we carried out measurement of variables associated to these constructs involving a sample of 1694 freshmen of seventeen STEM programs in a Chilean research university. Relevant differences were found among different STEM programs, and by student gender. Implications of the results obtained and future research avenues are discussed.