Aine McKillop and Abbie Walker,
School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Ulster Cromore
Road, Coleraine, N. Ireland, BT52 1SA
(Click on the title to access as a PDF document)
SUMMARY
The School of Biomedical Science runs a Pg.Dip/Msc in Biomedical Science
entirely though distance leearning. Prospective students accept places
on this course from March and enrol in the following October. In 2003/4
approximately 9% of students who had accepted places subsequently failed
to enrol. In response to this a newletter was introduced which kept those
students who had already accepted a place on the course in contact with
the University and updated them about the expectations of the course and
the history of some of its past graduates. In 2004/5 only 2% failed to
enrol. Students responded very positively to the distribution of the newsletter
and felt it prepared them well for the course to come.
Keywords: Student retention, distance learning, e learning
INTRODUCTION
The University of Ulster offers a Postgraduate Diploma/ M.Sc. in Biomedical
Science through distance learning. It is marketed to those working in
medical laboratories across the globe and is delivered through e-learning.
Over the course of three semesters students normally take 6 of the 12
modules on offer to achieve the Postgraduate Diploma and a further laboratory
based research study to qualify for an M.Sc. Each taught module represents
15 credit points, equivalent to 150 hours of student effort. The course
thus represents a significant commitment for prospective students who
are normally in full time employment.
Students are accepted from March to May but not enrolled until the following
September/ October and prior to the changes described in this report there
was no formal contact with students between acceptance and the preparation
for enrolment. A small but significant number of students (about 6%) leave
the course early and approximately the same number take a leave of absence.
Many of these students cite the workload as the reason for their problems.
A possible solution to these problems is to use the time between acceptance
and enrolment for a pre- course induction. This might also have the added
benefit of maintaining contact with students and reducing the numbers
who fail to enroll after having been accepted on the course.
RELEVANCE TO THE STAR GUIDELINES
The STAR project researched, produced and published a set of guidelines
based on the causes of student attrition and which suggested good practice.
The STAR guidelines relevant to this case study are:
1.1 Student expectations of the campus and the course on which they enter
should be accurate.
1.3 Where potential problems in transition are predictable, support should
be available prior to study.
Cook et al 2005
THE PRACTICE
Students are offered places on the MSc Biomedical Science course as early
as March for the September intake and in October for a February intake.
Students are sent an offer letter and not contacted again until the month
prior to entry. A number of students was potentially lost during this
period. Feedback from past students also indicated that many had had little
knowledge of the course prior to entry.
The staff teaching the course aim to provide a supportive e-learning environment
for postgraduate education and professional development in Biomedical
Sciences. The course is primarily taken by early/mid-career Biomedical
Scientists who wish to specialise in their chosen discipline of pathology
and who aspire to reach specialist/advanced practitioner status. These
students are normally in full-time employment with family commitments
and some have not studied for many years.
A monthly newsletter was introduced to encourage these distance-learning
students to be better integrated into the university e-learning community
by giving them more information on enrolment and on the course before
the start of term. The first edition was sent to students in June 2004
and monthly until Sept 2004 (inclusive). Newsletters were then sent out
monthly from Nov 04 for the Feb 05 intake. As we then began accepting
students for the Sept 05 intake, we began the newsletter cycle again,
sending out newsletters from June.
Student views were sought using two web-based evaluation surveys, through
discussion boards and Student Staff Consultative Committee meetings and
this was used to modify the approach taken in subsequent cycles.
The challenge in producing a newsletter is to ensure that it is informative,
interesting, and eye-catching. Each month the newsletter incorporates
as many details about the course as possible to ensure that future students
develop realistic expectations. An indicative content of the newsletters
produced between June 2004 and September 2004 is given in Appendix 1.
As we have been though a few cycles of enrolment, we have successfully
established standard items that are included in the newsletter each month.
We also try to ensure that prospective students know what current students
are doing that particular month e.g. as May is examination time, we give
details of the examination procedure for distance learners, and as July
is graduation time, we select some graduation photographs for the newsletter.
Items included in the newsletters are:
· Welcome from the Course Director, Associate Course Director,
and Virtual School Programme Manager
· Contact details
· Details of course team
· Aims and objectives of the course
· Course structure
· Course plan for those students enrolling in February
· Details of professional body recognition
· Recommended reading lists
· Details of on-line enrolment
· Examples of student profiles and experiences
· Details of aims and learning outcomes of modules
· Details about the flexibility of the course and the different
routes through the course
· Graduation photographs from previous ceremonies
· Areas of the world where students are undertaking the course
· Details of on-line tutorials for study skills and internet
use
· Tips on how to prepare for the start of term
· E-learning and frequently asked questions.
· Understanding plagiarism
· WebCT induction training
The newsletter has not been difficult to generate, since its content arises
naturally from the activities of previous cohorts. In addition there is
much course information such as the flexibility of the course, course
structure, recommended text etc. already available. The greatest challenge
of this project was in the emailing of the newsletters. Student email
addresses can change before enrolment and therefore a few students (5-10%)
had to be contacted by phone to obtain their new addresses. Even though
this was one of the challenges of the initiative, it was a bonus to discover
non-active addresses since enrolment emails have to be sent out before
registration. Feedback from the students indicated that 42% would have
liked to receive the newsletter by post and email.
EFFECTIVENESS
We began Issue 1 of the newsletter in June (2004) for the September intake.
35% of students who answered the questionnaire, had been offered a place
on the course before the end of June. Students not offered a place on
the course until July, Aug or Sept, often missed one or more editions
of the newsletter. We therefore asked all those students who did not receive
previous issues to contact us and they were sent copies of the editions
they missed. Additionally, there is a newsletter archive in a Biomedical
Science Resource Area on WebCT to which students have access once they
enrol.
The effectiveness of the practice in achieving the project outcomes was
evaluated using qualitative and quantitative data gathered using a web-based
questionnaire. In addition, student enrolment numbers from previous years
were also compared with numbers during the introduction of the newsletter.
Positive student feedback has been received through Student-Staff Consultative
Committee Meetings and on-line discussion boards. An evaluation survey
also indicated that 96% of students found the newsletter to be informative
and 71% believed it prepared them for the course before enrolment. In
addition, 80% thought that it allowed them to be part of the student experience
at the University of Ulster before enrolment. One student stated:
it was very informative and it was also nice to be included
in the college before enrolment”.
In the second on-line questionnaire completed by students in October 2005,
feedback indicated that 79% found the newsletter to be informative (21%
had no opinion) and 71.4% believed it introduced them to members of staff
in the School of Biomedical Sciences (21.4% had no opinion).
Of the 159 students accepted onto the course in 2003/2004, prior to the
introduction of the newsletter, 8.8% (14 students) subsequently failed
to enrol. After the introduction of the newsletter in 2004/2005 only 1.9%
of the 155 students accepted failed to enrol (3 students).
The newsletter initiative has been beneficial to students as indicated
by discussions and the web-based questionnaire feedback. It has also been
helpful to both administrative and academic staff. 88% of respondents
agreed that the newsletter introduced them to members of staff prior to
the beginning of the course. There have also been fewer general course
queries received than in previous years. This initiative has also been
adopted by Campus One (the
University of Ulster distance learning campus) which intends to produce
a newsletter for all students prior to enrolment. Thomas et al.
2005 have stated that induction programmes are most effective if started
before enrolment to smooth the transition.
The newsletter also aided prospective students to access the literature
prior to starting the course. Thus, 82% of respondents agreed that the
information about the recommended reading lists was helpful and only 46%
searched for more literature related to the course. In general, 75% of
students understood more about the topics covered in the course and attributed
that to the newsletter.
The cost benefits of this practice in year one were that about 11 students
enrolled who in previous years might not have done. Clearly it will never
be possible to relate cause and effect with any precision. Nevertheless
the total cost of producing the newsletter and distributing it electronically
outweighs the fee income from even a single student who enrols and completes
the course (about £3,000 at 2006 fee level). Thus the estimates
of Simpson (2003) that pre-course contact whilst effective is also expensive
have not been borne out in this example.
PROPOSED FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
This initiative received start up support from the STAR project. The benefits
in terms of increased student enrolment and student preparation has resulted
in the embedding of the practice into the routine office functions of
the Virtual School. The newsletter will be distributed monthly.
REFERENCES
Cook A, Rushton BS, McCormick SM, Southall DW 2005 Guidelines for
the Management of Student Transition. University of Ulster, Coleraine.
Also at:
http://www.ulster.ac.uk/star/resources/star_guidelines.pdf
Simpson. O. (2003) Student Retention in Online, Open and Distance
Learning. Kogan Page. London.
Thomas L, May H, Hatt S and Elliott T. (2005) Smoothing the Transition.
The Higher Education Academy Exchange Issue 1, HEA York also at
https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/documents/Exchange_Issue_1.pdf
Appendix 1
BIOMED NEWLETTER: Indicative content
Issue 1 (June 2004)
· Welcome message from the Course Director
· Aims and objectives of the course
· Professional body recognition
· Map of the locations of past students
· Course structure
· Advice on getting help to set up a PC for e-learning.
Issue 2 (July 2004)
· Welcome message from the Programme manager
· Descriptions of core modules including book lists
· Pre-graduation reception
Issue 3 (August 2004)
· Welcome message from course director
· What to expect from on-line enrolment
· Assessment timetable for the coming semester
· An interview with a past student emphasising the benefits of
the course but also the necessary commitment in terms of time and effort.
· How will I manage without coming on campus?
· Introduction to the course team
· Setting up you PC
· On line tutorials to support the development of e learning
study skills.
Issue 3 (September 2004)
· Welcome message from Course Director
· What happens after I enrol?
· A profile of a past student- laying emphasis on the use of
the discussion board to maintain contact with other students
· Reminder of the support available for study skills development.
