Evaluation and improvement of print packs use for Open University Environmental Science students

There is a legal requirement (Equality Act, 2010) to provide students who have declared disabilities with reasonable adjustments which address their learning needs. An Advance HE report on making reasonable adjustments in Higher Education (Falsinger and Bryford, 2010) includes ‘resources available’ as a reasonable adjustment that needs to addressed.  One way that the Open University does this is through producing print packs of materials for students who can’t access on-screen resources as a result of their disability or being in a secure environment.

The use, utility and efficacy of print packs as a way of providing reasonable adjustments to some of the Open University's disabled students on environment modules, and more broadly in the Faculty of STEM, has not been formally evaluated. Anecdotal evidence suggests utility and efficacy are variable, a problem which has been compounded by delays to print pack distribution for recent presentations.

Project team: Fiona Aiken and Christopher Hutton 

This project is studying students who use print packs on a range of Environmental Science modules on the BSc Environmental Science.

The first phase investigated (through a student questionnaire) how students used this resource, and the problems and benefits associated with the print packs. The aim was to identify ways to improve the utility and efficacy of print packs for students. In a complementary investigation, Educational Advisors in the OU's Student Support Team, and tutors who work regularly with students using print packs, took part in focus groups to gain an insight into their perceptions.

Based on the results of the first phase, we have designed an intervention for the academic year 22/23, which has included training tutors to act as 'champions' on two modules. They are providing support to the other tutors to help them to improve the advice that give to their students on the effective use of print packs to support their studies.

Following this intervention, we will review and evaluate its efficacy for comparison before and after its use.

References

Equality Act 2010. The Stationery Office, London, www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/contents.

Felsinger A. and Byford K. (2010). Making reasonable adjustments in Higher Education, Advance HE, https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/managing-reasonable-adjustments-higher-education.