Learner Support and Quality Enhancement

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Learner Support and Quality Enhancement

• Anne Gaskell and Patrick Kelly
• The Open University, UK

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Quality Assurance to Quality Enhancement

• QAA England safeguard standards and encourage
  improvement
• QAA Scotland enhancement led institutional
  review
• Two examples from the OU
• - learner support framework
• - using student feedback to enhance development

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Student Satisfaction UK Universities

• Institution 2005 2006
• Ranking
• 1. Open University 95 95
• 2. Buckingham n/a 94
• 3. St Andrews n/a 92
• 40. Sheffield 86 84
• 80. Salford 76 76
• 103. Thames Valley n/a 67

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Student Support
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Proactive Student Support

• 2 million student initiated contacts a year
• Those most in need do not make contact
• Retention pilots
• Early proactive contact with vulnerable students
• 5 increase in course pass rates

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Model of Proactive Student Support

• Between registration and course start
• - welcome
• - preparation
• 2. First assignment
• - encourage submission
• - follow up non-submission or low grades
• 3. Mid-course
• - motivation
• - support to complete
• 4. Between courses
• - review progress
• - look ahead to next course

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Developing tutors through student feedback

• Electronic questionnaire to students
• 18 core questions
• Questionnaire can be customised by adding up to
  20 further questions from a bank of 53
• Student feedback mediated by Line Manager
• Forms part of a dialogue about development
• Results aggregated at institutional level

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Aggregate ResultsOverall I was very satisfied
with the tutor
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National comparison
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Feedback for development

• Student comment My tutor's commitment throughout
  the course was evident. His tutorials were well
  prepared and comprehensive. I had never
  previously received such detailed and
  comprehensive feedback on my assignments.
• Line Manager comment This is very good feedback,
  your students obviously thought highly of you, in
  particular your assignment marking and student
  support. The area I expected to dip was the
  online tuition, but you will have learned a great
  deal from last year, Please use feedback from my
  visit and also your tutor toolkit on online
  learning to develop your online skills.

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Questions

• How do we ensure a commitment to continuous
  improvement?
• How do we ensure consistent standards across all
  media?
• How can we use electronic resources to enhance
  the student experience?

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Contact

• Anne Gaskell
• A.f.gaskell_at_open.ac.uk
• Patrick Kelly
• P.kelly_at_open.ac.uk