Keele University Innovation Projects Day 22 May 2003

1. Keele University Innovation Projects Day 22 May 2003 Student profiling Peter G. Knight School of Earth Sciences and Geography

2. Today’s 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?

3. Today’s Talk: • Background • Aims • Profiling • Evaluation • Recommendations

4. 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 they’re doing stuff. • Not planning their option choices logically. • Not knowing what they’ve achieved at the end of the course. • Generally being dozy wombats.

5. 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

6. Aim: what were we looking for? A way of helping students learn to “manage their own learning” (FHEQ)

7. A possible answer: Student profiling a career-long procedure whereby students develop and maintain a documentary record of their learning experiences

8. 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

9. Profiling – the idea • Profiling Provides: • Motivation to engage with learning experience • Framework for structuring reflection/recording

10. Profiling – in practice • The profiling pack • An introductory lecture / tutorial • Recording, reflecting, planning (form filling) • Semesterly meetings with tutor check out the profiling pack….

11. Profiling – in practice • 5 principal courses • 2000-1 onwards • approx 150 students per cohort • approx 450 students “rolling” after 3 years

12. 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.

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

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

15. 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 “doesn’t count to my degree”

16. Solutions (discuss!) 1. • Too much form-filling, especially for dual-honours students • simplify and reduce forms • single profile to cover dual-honours program

17. 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?

18. Solutions (discuss!) 3. • Some students are hard to convince of its value if it “doesn’t count to my degree” • add an element of assessment to the process • include profile in final-year portfolio

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

20. Conclusion: This seems like a useful and workable idea. Let’s polish off the rough edges and get it working properly!