June 23rd, 2009
Supporting Progression and Pedagogy: the role of technology in enhancing student retention (Birmingham)
The Lakeside Centre, Aston Business School Conference Centre, Aston University, Birmingham
The Higher Education Academy and JISC are delighted to be able to offer a workshop to highlight the use of technology to support students at key times in their HE experience to enhance both retention and progression.
The event will draw on the work of both Academy and JISC funded projects focusing on the use of data tracking systems and processes as well as pedagogical and motivational interventions during students’ transition and induction into HE and the critical first year. A student panel and a mix of short presentations with linked discussions will engage participants with issues relevant to their own contexts.
Workshop aims:
- to consider how technology can be used within different stages of the student lifecycle to enhance retention;
- to provide an insight into the methods and technologies being used across the sector and different discipline communities to enhance student retention;
- to identify the challenges and affordances presented by different technologies;
- to increase understanding of the support needs of institutions and their staff to enable the effective use of technology to enhance student retention.
Who should attend?
The workshop will be of interest to all teaching and non-teaching staff concerned with enhancing the student learning experience, including admissions tutors, educational and staff developers, learning technologists and staff involved in widening participation, registry and admissions, information library services and student support.
National Teaching Fellow, Kate Kirk will provide the context for the event drawing on the Shock Absorber project, a collaborative student-centred project between Manchester Metropolitan University the University of Liverpool and Stockport College. Aaron Porter, Vice President (Higher Education) National Union of Students will chair a student panel convened to consider the role of technology in enhancing student retention.
Speakers:
- Stuart McQuaid, University of Gloucestershire – Simplifying learner admissions process
- Geoff Ramshaw, Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) – Matching applicants to the best courses – UCAS Entry Profiles and student feedbackÂ
- Becka Currant, University of Bradford – Support Me! Develop Me! Retain Me! – A multi-pronged e-approach to retention and transition.
- Kyriaki Anagnostopoulou and Deeba Parmar, Middlesex University – Managing Connections: using e-learning tracking data to improve retention rates in higher education
- Samia Oussena, Thames Valley University – Using a Mining Course Management System to identify: ‘at risk’ students, hidden factors which enable successful and independent learning and students and courses that might benefit most from e-learning
- Rachel Butterfield, Writtle College – Supporting transition into Higher Education: comparing Level 3 and Level 4 vocational students’ experiences of technology enhanced learning
- Chris Crane, University of Leicester – IMPALA4T a model for capturing undergraduates’ informal knowledge and experience (‘hot knowledge’) into accessible podcasts for the benefit of learners in the first yearÂ
- Marija Cubric, University of Hertfordshire – Developing transferable and digital literacy skills with wiki-based learning activities
Please note that while the workshop is free to participants the Academy reserves the right to charge a fee o £50 in the event of non-attendance by registered delegates.