If you\u2019ve ever felt frustrated by a product that doesn\u2019t seem to work for you, you\u2019ll understand the importance of\u00a0building opportunities for\u00a0feedback\u00a0into a\u00a0design process. It\u2019s\u00a0certainly\u00a0an essential part of our learning design process:\u00a0alongside various organisation-wide\u00a0evaluation initiatives whose insights we access as part of our work,\u00a0the learning design team\u00a0runs\u00a0the curriculum design student panel, which\u00a0provides opportunities for students to comment on a range of aspects of learning design.\u00a0These comments feed directly back to our\u00a0module\u00a0teams. Panel members have provided invaluable insights into their study preferences, motivations, environments and habits since the panel was set up in 2016.<\/p>\n
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As the panel approaches its fifth\u00a0birthday\u00a0in July, now\u2019s a good time to reflect on\u00a0what the panel has achieved and how it\u2019s evolved.\u00a0It\u2019s also a timely moment to highlight the importance of evaluation to the panel itself \u2013 in particular, how we\u2019ve been able to use feedback from students to develop the panel and students\u2019 experience of it.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0panel\u00a0started out as a pilot project with the aim of\u00a0helping module teams\u00a0access\u00a0students\u2019 views\u00a0easily.\u00a0As with most large organisations,\u00a0at the OU\u00a0there are\u00a0(rightly)\u00a0several\u00a0levels of sign-off usually needed before\u00a0anyone can contact students. The panel has these built in\u00a0\u2013 members give consent to be contacted and to share their\u00a0feedback upfront \u2013\u00a0so that\u00a0our module design\u00a0teams can\u00a0quickly gather student feedback and act on it.<\/p>\n
Five years on, the panel is\u00a0now part of our business-as-usual learning design process.\u00a0It\u2019s also grown: in 2016 we recruited around 500 student panel members; there are now more than 3,000.<\/p>\n
The large size of the\u00a0panel means that we now have students\u00a0representing every level (Access to taught postgraduate), and every faculty\/school (including Open Programme students). As a result, we can gather feedback\u00a0from\u00a0sample groups who represent the target audience\u00a0of a particular learning activity.<\/p>\n
In a typical student panel activity,\u00a0members of\u00a0a module\u00a0team\u00a0will\u00a0identify an aspect of their learning materials that would benefit from student feedback.\u00a0This could range from\u00a0comments on how easy\u00a0it is to\u00a0interact with a new tool\u00a0to\u00a0thoughts on\u00a0new source\u00a0materials. Students from a\u00a0particular subgroup of the panel membership (for example, students who have studied a level 2 science\u00a0module) will be invited to take part.\u00a0Behind the scenes, learning designers will be working with the module team, editors and designers\u00a0to\u00a0find an appropriate\u00a0feedback\u00a0methodology (from a simple survey to\u00a0a fully interactive sample learning activity) and create the required materials.\u00a0These are all tested before students are given access.<\/p>\n
Once students have\u00a0provided their feedback,\u00a0the module team can access\u00a0it in an\u00a0anonymised\u00a0format and build it into their ongoing learning\u00a0design.<\/p>\n
We\u00a0aim to replicate the student experience as closely as possible. For example, all our sample activities are hosted on a site that\u2019s very similar to the student VLE as we know they\u2019ll be familiar with its layout and functionality.\u00a0We also design\u00a0any\u00a0sample learning activities\u00a0needed so that they\u2019re as close to the live experience as possible\u00a0so that feedback can easily be applied and acted on.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s essential that the panel continues to evolve so that it can serve both students and staff well, so every year we seek feedback on the panel itself from its members as part of our evaluation approach. The most recent evaluation\u00a0led to some changes that we\u2019ll monitor and seek feedback on in due course.<\/p>\n
For example, students told us\u00a0that they\u2019d\u00a0like to receive feedback about how their comments have contributed to module development.\u00a0In response to this, we\u2019ll be including this information\u00a0in our regular newsletters and our student-facing site. Similarly,\u00a0students told us that time was the biggest barrier to taking part in panel activities, so we\u2019ll be\u00a0monitoring this as we design activities to make sure we\u2019re making the most of students\u2019 time.\u00a0Panel members also mentioned that they\u2019d like more opportunities\u00a0to comment in their own words, so we\u2019ll build these into future activities.<\/p>\n
As part of our evaluation, we asked panel members\u00a0about the skills they felt they’d gained from their involvement.\u00a0Students told us they\u2019d built\u00a0educational knowledge, critical thinking and confidence\u00a0\u2013 all attributes that will\u00a0serve them well\u00a0in their studies and beyond.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just\u00a0panel members\u00a0who\u00a0benefit from the panel \u2013 of course, our module teams benefit too.\u00a0Students\u2019 comments\u00a0provide\u00a0them\u00a0with focused feedback on new activities, tools, resources and\u00a0formats. They also offer\u00a0insights into students\u2019 study habits and preferences, which enables module teams to\u00a0tailor materials to meet students\u2019 needs so that ultimately, future students also benefit.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll be marking the panel\u2019s fifth birthday in July with a range of online activities, including quizzes (with prizes!).<\/p>\n
\u2022 Numbers of students on the panel have risen from\u00a0461\u00a0in 2016 to\u00a03,138\u00a0in 2021.
\n\u2022 Since then, panel members have contributed feedback via surveys, interviews, user and developmental testing, workshops and critical reading.
\n\u2022 Curriculum design student panel members have provided feedback and insights via\u00a083\u00a0different activities.
\n\u2022 They\u2019ve also responded to\u00a022\u00a0quick questions of the month, with some of these responses feeding into wider research and recommendations.<\/p>\n
*All statistics from Curriculum Design Student Panel 2019-20 Evaluation.<\/p>\n
Practical tools for developing student-centred learning<\/a><\/p>\n