UCLAN's TAG project - visit to Birkbeck

Today Lucy Nelson from the University of Central Lancashire came to Birkbeck to present their TAG website to members of Birkbeck's Student Services Forum.

The UCLAN TAG website has successfully provided prospective and current students with realistic information about what it's like to study at UCLAN and what support services they can access. The key different to this site, however, is that the vast majority of the content is generated by UCLAN students.

At Birkbeck we are often told by our students about great experiences they have had at the College and how studying here has changed their lives. We are now looking at other ways in which we can engage further with our students and find ways in which they can pass on their ideas, tips and experiences to other students.

Lucy's presentation outlined how they have achieved this at UCLAN and it has certainly given our members of staff a lot of ideas and inspiration, particularly for our Get Ahead: Stay Ahead project.

First steps to developing our interactive materials

Today a group of  staff members from different teaching and support areas within the College gathered to discuss ideas for the Get Ahead: Stay Ahead website. This was the first meeting of this particular group and the aims were to:

• give an outline and objectives of the Get Ahead: Stay Ahead project
• brainstorm content ideas
• gain an introduction to the Xerte software which will be used to design the interactive materials.

There was a real buzz about the meeting and there lots of great ideas flying about. But importantly, it was a chance to identify the parameters of this particular project and make clear what would be achieveable by our April go-live deadline.

Everyone was impressed by how simple the Xerte software material is to create and use, and we all felt inspired to get cracking. We decided to reconvene in a month's time, each having prepared a Xerte file to show to the group.

A great start!

Get Ahead: Stay Ahead presentation to College staff

On Tuesday 7 September we presented proposed changes to the My Birkbeck website and also our plans for the Get Ahead: Stay Ahead project. Despite a tube strike that day, around 20 members of staff from various academic and administrative departments attended the presentation.

The response from the audience was very positive and supportive. Suggestions about how awareness of the Get Ahead: Stay Ahead initiative could be raised amongst the academic staff were made. Other staff members said that they appreciated the presentation as they were unaware that such a worthwhile project was underway.

Given that many weren't able to attend the presentation that day, we will be running a follow up presenation around the beginning of the new academic term.

JIF (JISC Innovation Forum) July 2010

Angela found the following sessions particularly useful for our Transition into HE project (Get Ahead: Stay Ahead):

•  The role of the change manager within institutions http://www.jisc.ac.uk/events/2010/07/jif10/virtualgoodybag/roleofchangemanager.aspx, following a case study by the University of Derby, which looked at student transitions, resulting in a blueprint for service design. We are currently considering how we could use Derby’s methodology to develop our communication strategy with first year UG students more effectively.

• The accessibility of online content, looking in particular at the use of Xerte, http://www.techdis.ac.uk/getxerte, a tool to develop learning objects relatively easily and speedily, which we aim to use to develop interactive material for our Get Ahead: Stay Ahead website on My Birkbeck. Xerte is one learning technology tool available through JISC TechDis, http://www.techdis.ac.uk, which offers many more interesting apps that we can possibly utilise for our project. There is also a wealth of advice available ensuring that learning technology is accessible.
• Responsibility for sustainability and impact http://www.jisc.ac.uk/events/2010/07/jif10/virtualgoodybag/sustainabilityandimpact.aspx which made me consider what we will need to do to ensure that our project is sustainable beyond its completion date as well as having a measurable impact. Sustainability will be an issue for us as we will have a product (Get Ahead: Stay Ahead web pages) that will need to be regularly reviewed and updated in order to still have currency and be relevant to students’ learning. We will be particularly interested, of course, in impact, needing to know whether interventions of this kind will result in higher retention rates.
• Weathering the storm – finding solutions, http://www.jisc.ac.uk/events/2010/07/jif10/virtualgoodybag/weatheringthestorm.aspx was an energetic session that highlighted possible solutions to the current ‘thunderbolt’ issues previously identified in a session that most effect institutions at the moment. We had some interesting discussions in my group as to what the learning experience may look like in a few years time, in particular in view to using online resources.

Lawrie Phibbs, Programme Manager at JISC and responsible for the Building Capacity projects that ours is one of , introduced Angela to Jeremy Benson, Cumbria University where a project team is currently working on a Building Capacity project http://83.137.214.22/whatwedo/programmes/bcap/cumbria.aspx that is looking at support for students at the beginning of their journey from the point of being offered a place.

As part of the project the team looked at ways of engaging applicants by allowing them to communicate with each other through social networking such as Ning, which was successfully used at the University of Bradford. Cumbria attempted to use Ning as an aid to start conversations amongst unconditional firm applicants thereby helping students to build social networks prior to study.

Our focus groups last year showed that Birkbeck students weren’t very keen on engaging in social network sites – the argument being that our students have too little time for an activity they deem to be superfluous to their study – but we will be following Cumbria’s use of Ning with applicants with interest to see whether can pilot this next year with a small group of applicants.

(virtual good bag available here http://www.jisc.ac.uk/events/2010/07/jif10/virtualgoodybag.aspx)

Enhancing Induction Symposium

Angela Dierks and Darren David attended a symposium at Goldsmiths, University of London on 7 July 2010. The symposium, entitled Enhancing Induction: Priniciples for Improving the Student Experience, aimed to enhance understanding of the issues relating to induction, stimulate debate, share good practice and facilitate change. The programme included the following presentations:

• Growing (with) the students? Induction as an ongoing process
• Student Transition
• Inducting students into assessment and feedback
• Goldsmith's student lifecycle service design project 'GoSlurp'

Particularly relevant for Birkbeck's Get Ahead: Stay Ahead project, was the Goldsmith service design project (GoSlurp). GoSlurp, funded by JISC, aimed to review the experience of students from their very first point of contact with Goldsmiths, through to application, enrolment and their first few months at the institution. The project engaged with students during the pre and post enrolment stages and the student lifecycle to review service expectations and experiences.

The feedback was analysed and used to identify pilot initiatives that could be implemented to improve the overall student experience and more specifically, students' preparedness for study. Kevin Thomas, project leader for the GoSlurp initiative, also demonstrated at the presentation how they had extensively mapped the student services provision at Goldsmith, including academic, college and peer support, any tangible evidence at each stage, back office support and systems support.

Full details of the project at Goldsmiths can be found on the JISC website

Welcome to Birkbeck Transition into HE Project blog

The Transition into HE project (called Get Ahead : Stay Ahead) is a new development in the My Birkbeck services provision and is designed to aid both the recruitment and retention of students.

Get Ahead : Stay Ahead will boost the information, advice and support available to year one undergraduate students from their first point of contact with the college. The aim is to provide increased support for our students as they start their course and to help them survive the challenging first term. We have attracted funding from JISC to support the online element of the Get Ahead : Stay Ahead project.

Angela Dierks will lead this work and will consult with schools and student support services to create a co-ordinated, cross-college approach.

The four main pre- and post-entry strands of the Get Ahead : Stay Ahead project are:

• Support website. A new interactive website designed to help students find out what it's like to study at Birkbeck, how they can prepare themselves for a degree programme and where they can find support throughout their first term.
• Face-to-face pre-entry preparation. A free summer programme of talks, tours and workshops, called the 'Get Ready to Study at Birkbeck' programme, for all undergraduate applicants and enrolled students, and designed to help prepare students for study at Birkbeck.
• Orientation and induction week. A series of talks and tours towards the beginning of the academic year, designed to help students become familiar with Birkbeck and the support services available to them.
• First term support programme. A range of talks and support initiatives designed to help student through their first term and deal with issues and concerns that arise, such as assignments, time commitments, financial support.

Through this blog we will keep you informed of the progress and developments in the Transition to HE project and we welcome any thoughts or comments on any aspect of these initiatives.

Get Ready to Study at Birkbeck

The first Get Ready to Study at Birkbeck programme, a two-week programme of talks, tours and workshops, took place between 14 and 25 June 2010. The programme was designed to help undergraduate applicants and enrolled students prepare for their degree course in October.

The sessions ran every evening over the two week period and all day Saturday. Participants were able to pick and choose the talks, tours and workshops that were most relevant to their needs. Subjects included:

• How to fit studying into your busy life
• Discuss your expectations and concerns
• Find out what support will be available to you
• Find out what study skills you will need
• Meet other applicants and get to know Birkbeck
• Discuss your professional and personal aims

Approximately, 2000 students were invited to attend. 370 students registered for the programme and over the course of the two weeks, there were over 350 participants during the two weeks. We took a quick five-minute survey at the end of each day (a more extensive evaluation survey will be emailed to students at a later date). Here are some of the comments that were made:

• “This is a vital workshop for any student, so productive and effective.”
• “This has really helped calm me down after the shock at first viewing of my reading list.”
• “Very informative and reassuring.”

We also captured a few students' feedback on camera:


The feedback has been very positive. There is clearly a demand for this kind of support service. Our next task will be to track the students that attended the programme to see if this kind of intervention made a difference to retention. We'll also be following those students who didn't attend or register in order to make a comparison.

Links:
Birkbeck's JISC project page
Get Ready to Study at Birkbeck programme