FACT Forum

Last Friday, I gave a presentation to the the Faculty of Arts and Creative Technologies Forum.

The presentation was similar to one I have used previously in other faculties and schools, but with more opportunity for discussion.

We focused on university league tables, particularly on generating the understanding that league tables are not something that are done to us, but are just a reflection of our performance.

We looked at: why league tables are important; their flaws; what thy say about us now; how student information can influence them and what we could be doing to improve our position.

On this last point, of improvement, we looked at the work being carried out centrally on data returns, but the key area for development is in student satisfaction and attainment. They key question has to be “why do students here, entering with similar entry qualifications to elsewhere, have a lower chance of gaining a good degree?”

This is always a contentious issue, and inevitably there were comments about threats to academic standards, but also a recognition that if we could recruit better qualified students, so their attainment might improve.

I’m hoping that the discussion on improving attainment will gain traction over this year, in all faculties and schools, as this will be a central focus of Academic Development Unit Activity.

One quick win is to look at final year modules where, for whatever reason, students appear to under-perform, compared with on their other modules. An approach for considering this is offered by Graham Gibbs, as part of the TESTA project. We’ll be looking at this methodology as we look at the results obtained on all modules for the last 3 years.