JISC

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. Short presentations with linked discussions will engage participants with issues relevant to their own contexts.

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.  The project aims to support students from pre-entry through induction into the first year by increasing students’ “confidence, knowledge and scholarship skills to alleviate the 'shock' or anxiety often associated with early experiences in Higher Education (HE) and the impact of the first assessment.”  The development of the Shock Absorber learning and teaching ‘toolkit’ is being informed by institutional national and international research into common causes of student drop out  in the early stages of undergraduate programmes and will “include mechanisms to embed strategies for student retention and success into formal quality enhancement procedures”.

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.  Delegates will be invited to put questions to the panel with the outcomes from this session feeding into the day’s discussions. 

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.

Outline Programme

Registration booking form

Email this page Bookmark & share this page