Funded RM Projects 2011-2012: Strand 2

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This section has information about the Strand 2: Student progression, retention and non-completion projects of the JISC Relationship Management Programme: Phase 2, which ran from 1st March 2011 to July 2012 and includes links to project blogs, websites, Twitter feeds, videos, and outputs, where available. There are 8 projects in this strand.

The other Strands of the Programme are:
 * Strand 1: Good Practice in CRM (Customer Relationship Management) (1 project, run jointly)
 * Strand 3: Alumni engagement (7 projects).

Strand 2: Student Progression, Retention and Non-completion
Demonstrator projects delivering service innovations that improve the quality of the student experience, specifically to enhance progression and retention to minimise non-completion.

Loughborough University
Project: Pedestal for Progression Start: 1st March 2011 End: 31st August 2012 Blog: Pedestal for Progression Blog Website: Pedestal for Progression Website Case Study: Case Study of the Pedestal for Progression Project (PDF Format, 13.36Mb) Video: Pedestal for Progression Project

Summary (From JISC website): The purpose of this project is to increase the HE community’s understanding of the different operational processes and use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) systems that can be deployed to support the student lifecycle from post-registration to graduation, in order to enhance the student experience and identify ‘at risk’ students thereby reducing non-completion rates and improve progression. The intended outcomes are to make recommendations and provide a Service Design to inspire other institutions to enhance their capabilities in relationship management, underpinned by strong evidence of effective practice in the relationship management processes. Loughborough University currently has a staff and student relationship management system ‘Co-Tutor’ in use across the university which has over 10 years worth of data relating to personal tutorial meetings, attendance and progression. This data will be analysed to form a set of learner profiles to help inform a series of Service Design workshops. The project will pull together more information about students from additional ICT systems including; coursework hand-in systems (both physical and virtual), online activity within the VLE, interim marks and final module marks. Additionally, we intend to show our students information on their progression and attendance and give them more choice in methods of communication and involvement with their tutors. This project will identify key features of the systems that improve the quality of the relationship between staff and students and also provide a research base that connects the use of targeted ICT systems and interventions to support learners and improve their retention and progression.

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North Glasgow College
Project: Support for All Start: 1st March 2011 End: 31st August 2012 Blog: Shared Student Progression, Retention and Non-completion Blog: North Glasgow College Website: Support for All Website Case Study: Support For All (PDF format, 1.84Mb) Video: Support for All Summary (From JISC website): North Glasgow College is a Further Education college in the North of Glasgow. This places it at the centre of a number of districts which, individually and in combination, present a range of issues demonstrated through indicators of multiple deprivations, young people leaving school and heading to negative destinations, literacy and numeracy issues among the wider population and a need for interventions which improve the employability prospects of the local population generally. The College moved into a brand new building at Christmas 2008 with state of the art ICT infrastructure. Much of the focus of energy on the part of college management and staff over recent times has been focussed on the change management process associated with this development and many policy documents pre-date the move to the new facilities. It is now time to readdress the learning and teaching priorities of the College and a process of review of policies is under way. The importance of this review is increased by the particular combination of restrictions in the availability of resources in the current climate and the opportunities presented by continuing developments in technology alongside the development of a more technically literate client base.

The aim of this proposal is to address issues felt by students who need support through their course of study in a manner that is appropriate, effective and efficient. Being based in an area which has traditionally had low uptake of Further and Higher Education, with many school leavers heading for negative destinations, many students have already had to overcome barriers on coming to college and rely on the support of Learner Services staff to maintain their studies due to pastoral and educational issues. The desire is to focus on ways of developing communication with and addressing the learning and support needs of the young people including those who fall into the More Choices – More Chances (MC-MC) group who are – or are at risk of becoming – Not in Employment Education or Training (NEET). This group is a particular focus of Scottish Government and local Council action plans and was until recently supported by funding from the Scottish Funding Council. These funds have now been withdrawn but there is a desire that colleges should maintain engagement and serve the needs of the local communities. There is a great deal of partnership activity in place but we must question how effectively we engage with the client groups involved. This is particularly true in the current economic climate when those who are coming from a challenging background need the maximum support available to sustain positive activity.

If it were possible to use the potential of the always developing MIS systems, the expertise of subject staff, the links with partner agencies such as Careers Scotland and the knowledge and experience of Learner Services staff to develop a programme which puts the necessary knowledge at the fingertips of those dealing with the issues of these young people, then this would be a great opportunity to ensure the continued development of a supportive environment for those needing support. The college is in the process of reviewing its Learning and Teaching Strategies and in particular the way in which the various systems within the college link in order to develop or demonstrate maturity in the embedding of technology into service delivery. The ultimate aim would be a 24/7 facility to respond to student issues as required, but in the short to medium term to move to develop a system which would allow the college to state that it had a fixed period within which the student would be guaranteed a response on the issues that matter to them.

The ability to react sensitively and knowledgably would allow staff to provide appropriate support at key stages in a student’s journey and reduce stress or provide the answers which may make the difference between sustaining a course of study or not. This is a particular need for those who are following a course of study at National Qualification level and are not as mature as some of the other students at the college, or who are studying Scottish Vocational Qualifications in the workplace and do not have the ability to just drop in for a chat or discuss issues with a group of their peers.

The aim would be to re-examine the existing service design in consultation with learners, College Course Teams, Vocational Assessors, Student Services staff, Careers Scotland partners and College administrators. From this consultation we would look to develop an impression of:


 * where bottlenecks in the current system occur which may need to be addressed
 * what are the issues which cause problems for the learners,
 * what are we currently doing right
 * what processes and systems does the college have which may need to be refreshed to be fit for purpose here and now
 * what are the preferences on the part of learners based both in and out of the college environment
 * what developments in data management and communication tools have come about which may not currently be fully utilised.

From this review it is hoped that a blueprint can be produced for a process centred on support of the individual and the reduction of specific issues they may have which may have an impact on their propensity to sustain their course of study.

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Roehampton University
Project: Project fulCRM Start: 1st March 2011 End: 31st August 2012 Blog: Shared Student Progression, Retention and Non-completion Blog Website: fulCRM Website Case Study: Project fulCRM Case Study (PDF format, 602Kb) Video: Project fulCRM Summary (From JISC website): This project will explore a number of complementary innovations aimed at improving student retention and feedback as part of an integrated Student Lifecycle Relationship Management system. Existing student activity data e.g. assessment, financial and welfare data will be augmented with data automatically collected from Library turnstiles; attendance monitoring bio-metric readers in classrooms as well as participation within the VLE. These data will be aggregated into a CRM and then passed via web services to a cloud based analytical and interpretative engine within a services orientated architecture. The cloud based engine is provided by a supplier (Sungard: Course Signals) whose systems are in direct competition with the University’s existing management information systems. Therefore the project will additionally explore the interoperability challenges of disaggregated systems architectures within a shared services framework.

The outputs from the analytical engine will be reflected back to students and tutors as a traffic light warning system identifying vulnerabilities and issues that require attention. This project will therefore transform existing relationship management from passive recording of interaction and contact into a more proactive and interventional form. Furthermore, some of these interventions will be through automated use of social networking technologies and others facilitated through automated scheduling of meetings.

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University of Derby
Project: SETL (Student Engagement Traffic Lighting) Start: 1st March 2011 End: 31st August 2012 Blog: Shared Student Progression, Retention and Non-completion Blog Website: SETL Website Case Study: Student Experience Traffic Lighting (PDF Format, 1.27Mb) Videos:  Personas Student Experience Traffic Lighting - Engagement Analytics Summary (From JISC website): The project will apply service design and enhancement techniques to the learning and teaching and pastoral care of students in order to improve retention, progression and completion. The outcomes will be of value to anyone designing and enhancing services to students; seeking to engage students, academic and support services to co-design services or developing approaches to identify and support students at risk. We will increase understanding of operational processes as well as the application of ICT systems to support student engagement and will inform wider policy discussions regarding efficiency, quality standards and student perceptions of value added.

Using service blueprinting, we will map contacts with students, focusing on expectations, rights and responsibilities; achievement and progression; and those at risk. We will identify fail and wait points which can lead to inefficiency, student withdrawal or non-progression, and the interdependencies which make up the felt student experience. The relationship between student expectations and university-led interventions will be explored as well as early warning systems and their operation from an academic tutor perspective. We will scope out the introduction of a data warehouse and traffic lighting system and will make proposals for service innovations.

Anticipated outputs and outcomes:
 * Blueprint of ‘as is’ service to students focused on their expectations, mapping of standard communications with students about achievement and progression; and those deemed to be at risk.
 * Evaluation of the student experience of the services mapped in the blueprint with fail and wait points.
 * Service enhancement plan and ‘to be’ service blueprint: a vision for the future design of services.
 * Scoping study of how data on student engagement could be used to create a ‘dashboard’ for staff use.
 * Case study including fictional profiles (personas), storytelling and other service design scenarios.

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University of East London
Project: Students FIRST (Finance Interventions to aid Retention and Student Transitions) Start: 1st March 2011 End: 31st August 2012 Blog: Shared Student Progression, Retention and Non-completion Blog Website: Students First website Case Study: Students FIRST Financial Interventions to assist Retention and Student Transitions (PDF Format, 930Kb) Videos: Summary (From JISC website): Students FIRST will explore the impact of a unique and innovative way of delivering student bursaries at two universities. Eligible students will be issued with SMART cards that carry credit to purchase learning tools in place of cash bursaries. The targeted bursary specifically enhances the student’s learning and teaching and improves employability prospects, thereby enhancing the student experience. A by product is the creation of institutional efficiencies.
 * JISC Students FIRST Student Views on Bursary Provision
 * Service Mapping JISC Video
 * Students FIRST Main Project Video
 * Students FIRST Tech Providers

Students FIRST will:
 * use service mapping at more than one site to understand the intervention’s impact and regional versus sector wide relevance
 * consider whether technology can support widening participation and student retention
 * demonstrate the effectiveness of incorporating information technology in support services
 * explore whether student completion of more likely if targeted interventions are employed
 * cost the savings and retention value of electronic bursary support

Project outputs will include:
 * model maps for holistic student support, aligning financial advice with learner needs
 * tools for incorporating technology into traditionally paper based advice roles
 * lessons learned and case studies for change management and support services IT needs
 * Students FIRST will be coordinated and assured by a national sector body, increasing its relevance and dissemination opportunities.

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University of Nottingham
Project: ESCAPES (Enhancing Student Centred Administration for Placement ExperienceS) Start: 1st March 2011 End: 31st August 2012 Blog: ESCAPES Blog Website: ESCAPES Website Case Study: ESCAPES Case Study (PDF Format, 825Kb) Video: ESCAPES video

Summary (From JISC website): Policy developments around increases in student fees, tougher Access Agreement requirements and the sharpening of employability agendas require institutions to respond by demonstrating they have excellent processes in place for supporting high quality placements and work experience, to optimise students’ chances of progressing to good graduate jobs. This project aims to maximise both student satisfaction and administrative efficiency in the placement experience and to make a significant contribution to students’ readiness for career progression. The technology that already exists to support placement management is largely designed to meet administrators’ needs. This project will research and represent in a blueprinting and service redesign process key features of what students regard as an enhanced experience of placement, bringing benefits to learning, personal development and employability. Process analysis carried out with the main stakeholders (including strong representation of the student voice) and across a variety of scenarios and current technological solutions will inform design of a generic process. This will be piloted and evaluated using existing and new IT tools to provide a University of Nottingham Relationship Management 13/10 2 modular, service-driven demonstrator, fully consistent with University strategies for Information Services and Learning & Teaching and championed by senior managers, to maximise the potential for institutional change and embedding. Consultation and dissemination will have national reach through active collaborations with national sector bodies. The service design and technical outputs will provide a useful resource and reference point for the whole sector.

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University of Sheffield
Project: Digital communication and student mental health Start: 1st March 2011 End: 31st August 2012 Blog: DCSMH Blog Website: Digital Communication and Student Mental Health website Case Study: Well Connected – Digital Communication and Student Mental Health (PDF format, 988Kb) Video: Well Connected Summary (From JISC website): This project proposal focuses on SLRM stage viii – pastoral care - with a specific emphasis upon student mental health. Our customers and partners in this context are primarily the students who use our services and the university staff who support them.

Though our student mental health services work to high clinical and managerial standards, we are aware that there is a distinct difference between the way we use modern communication technologies and the ways that students do. We believe that by closing this gap we can both communicate more effectively with students and improve and make more efficient access to services and information. Both these interventions will improve the quality of the student experience for a group which is known to be both at academic risk and risk of non-completion.

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University of Southampton
Project: Southampton Student Dashboard Start: 1st March 2011 End: 31st August 2012 Blog: Student Dashboard Blog Website: SLE Dashboard Website Case Study: Ninjas and Dragons (PDF format, 4.35Mb) Summary (From JISC website): The Southampton Student Dashboard will integrate information from a number of sources into a single CRM interface in order to provide student services’ staff, tutors and other academics with appropriate information about the student and allow staff to update that information as the result of new interactions. The students will also have access to a view of their information.The value of this dashboard is that relevant staff will have all the available information at hand when interacting with students, and this will enable those involved in tutoring and counselling to spot early signs of the patterns of problems that may lead to drop-out or failure to progress.The work on the Student Dashboard will build upon and extend existing enterprise modelling that has been carried out as part of the Curriculum Innovation Programme at Southampton and provide a Blueprint for change in other universities.

Image by lusi.

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