Keele University Innovation Projects Day

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Keele University Innovation Projects Day 22 May
2003
Student profiling Peter G. Knight School of
Earth Sciences and Geography
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• Todays Talk
• What was the problem?
• How did we try to solve it?
• How successful were we?
• What are we going to do in the future?

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• Todays Talk
• Background
• Aims
• Profiling
• Evaluation
• Recommendations

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• Background what was our problem?
• Students on auto-pilot
• Lacking engagement, motivation and self
  awareness.
• Drifting through their courses without
  reflection.
• Expecting to be spoon-fed.
• Not knowing or caring why theyre doing stuff.
• Not planning their option choices logically.
• Not knowing what theyve achieved at the end of
  the course.
• Generally being dozy wombats.

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• Aim what were we looking for?
• The always on button in the student psyche.
• A task or mission to force students to keep
  thinking about
• what they are doing,
• why they are doing it,
• what they are getting out of it,
• what else they want, and
• how they can achieve it within their course
  framework

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Aim what were we looking for?
A way of helping students learn to manage their
own learning
(FHEQ)
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A possible answer
Student profiling
a career-long procedure whereby students develop
and maintain a documentary record of their
learning experiences
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Profiling the idea

• Students
• Assume ownership of their own learning
• Identify strengths, weaknesses and targets
• Steer a course through curriculum options
• Assemble a portfolio of documented experience

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Profiling the idea

• Profiling Provides
• Motivation to engage with learning experience
• Framework for structuring reflection/recording

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Profiling in practice

• The profiling pack
• An introductory lecture / tutorial
• Recording, reflecting, planning (form filling)
• Semesterly meetings with tutor

check out the profiling pack.
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Profiling in practice

• 5 principal courses
• 2000-1 onwards
• approx 150 students per cohort
• approx 450 students rolling after 3 years

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Profiling project outcome
A template for undergraduate student profiling
that could be adapted for use in any Keele
undergraduate programme, facilitating the
adoption of profiling throughout the University.
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Evaluation

• Feedback from students
• Profiling meetings
• Tutorial groups
• SSLCs
• Informal discussions
• Feedback from colleagues
• Informal discussion
• Course management committees
• Learning and Teaching committee
• LT Away Day
• Formal invitation at close of project
• Feedback from external assessors
• Internal and external quality audits

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• Evaluation
• Excellent in theory
• external auditors love it
• Sometimes excellent in practice
• works well with high staff-student ratios
• works well with committed students

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Problems Too much form-filling, especially for
dual-honours students Arranging individual
tutorials with 450 students every semester Some
students are hard to convince of its value if it
doesnt count to my degree
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• Solutions (discuss!) 1.
• Too much form-filling, especially for
  dual-honours students
• simplify and reduce forms
• single profile to cover dual-honours program

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• Solutions (discuss!) 2.
• Arranging individual tutorials with 450 students
  every semester
• make serious staff time commitment
• make profiling optional
• meet less frequently (annually?)
• peer profiling?
• group profiling?

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• Solutions (discuss!) 3.
• Some students are hard to convince of its value
  if it doesnt count to my degree
• add an element of assessment to the process
• include profile in final-year portfolio

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• The way forward
• integrate (skills) profile with curriculum
  outcome mapping.
• streamline profiling student-friendly,
  staff-feasible.
• encourage better student take-up stick or
  carrot?

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Conclusion This seems like a useful and
workable idea. Lets polish off the rough edges
and get it working properly!