In February 2022, STEER began to work on an evaluation of the Postgraduate Certificate (PGCert) and Master’s (MA) Student Engagement in Higher Education at the University of Winchester. The programme team commissioned an evaluation to find out what impact the PGCert / MA has had on the practitioners studying on the course and within their organisations of employment, and to explore how the design and processes of the course, including its blended delivery, have contributed to the outcomes being achieved. This blog post presents: 1) the experiences of the practitioners on the course who co-designed and participated in the evaluation; 2) the reflections of the programme team about what they learnt from the project; 3) the perspectives of the evaluation team from STEER.
A recent review of access, retention, attainment, and progression literature written by a team from Sheffield Hallam (Austen et. al. 2021) discussed the evidenced relationships between interventions and student outcomes. Knowing and understanding the demographics of a cohort and tracking outcomes over time were concerns, as was the description of how and why change occurs. At Sheffield Hallam, we recommend that all interventions which aim to impact of student outcomes are accompanied by a Theory of Change. An exploration of the context, assumptions and outcomes for these interventions is crucial for designing effective interventions. This evidence was used to commission, design and test an ‘Interventions Dashboard’. The dashboard contains demographic data, including trends in frequency of participation over time, and outcomes data, which compares the intervention cohort with the general population at Hallam and displays withdrawals (retention) and reasons for leaving, good honours, degree classifications, average module marks and if possible, graduate outcomes.
In December 2021, STEER colleagues (Liz Austen and Alan Donnelly) and the Teaching and Learning Portfolio Lead in Art and Design (James Corazzo) came together to design an approach to course enhancement. The aim was to support the BA Fine Art course team in an exploration of what was currently outstanding about their course and how this was evidenced, and design changes through evidenced-informed decision making. STEER recommended the Appreciative Inquiry approach for this work as it provides a supportive environment to consider enhancement, design realistic actions and outcomes, and share good practice.
Building on the success of last year’s bursary funding The Directorate of Student Experience, Teaching and Learning (SETL) is delighted to share with you this call for proposals for Evaluation Bursaries 2022-2023. The bursaries are open to all staff who are implementing an intervention (activity/initiative) that aims to enhance any part of the student life cycle (access, retention, attainment, and progression). These Evaluation Bursaries run in parallel with the College Teaching, Learning & Student Experience Enhance Projects, and colleagues may apply to both Schemes.
Sheffield Hallam has committed to using and supporting the use of a Theory of Change to design interventions and underpin robust evaluation planning. The aim of the blog is to highlight the utility of a Theory of Change in a range of contexts and to outline some of the work that has been developed and completed at Hallam. The examples included in this blog showcase the use of a Theory of Change at different stages in the evaluation process. Some are used during intervention design and some after a period of implementation, while many of the examples are complex and the Theory of Change is being drafted for multi-activity programmes.
A team of researchers from the University have recently published ‘Access, retention, attainment and progression: a review of the literature 2016-2021’ as part of the Advance HE Connect Benefit Series 2021-22 on Student Success. Drawing on the findings from this review, the research team (led by Dr Liz Austen and Dr Rebecca Hodgson) are holding a Symposium Series that focuses on Student Retention and Success (What works and how do we know?). In this three-part Symposium Series, the research team will cover the following key topics: 1) Exploring Evidence for Change; 2) Constructing a Theory of Change; 3) Evaluation Planning and Implementation.
SETL/STEER are delighted to announce that they will be funding a total of nine projects this academic year across all three Colleges of Business, Technology and Engineering, Social Sciences and Arts, and Health, Wellbeing and Life Sciences. Both the team and the panel were pleased to see such a variety of initiatives around key themes including the degree awarding gap, HE-industry partnerships, employability and careers development, digital teaching and learning platforms, and apprenticeships
The Directorate of Student Experience, Teaching and Learning (SETL), incorporating Student Engagement, Evaluation and Research (STEER), are delighted to share with you this call for proposals for Evaluation Bursaries (aligned to the Course Improvement Plan) 2021-2022.
STEER supports the development of evaluation practices across access, success and progress areas of the student experience at Hallam. We also have an external profile and are connected to a number of sector organisations. Colleagues may be interested in the work of NERUPI. We regularly attend and present at group meetings and events, some of which may be...
This is a fifth blog post, in a series contextualising the various sections of the Office for Students’ Evaluation Framework, which focuses on the implementation of the evaluation. The post explores evaluation planning, data collection and the appropriateness of data collection mechanisms, ethical practice and resourcing.