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Inspired by a recent Twitter post by our new Vice Chancellor ‘My first 50 days as Vice Chancellor at the OU’, I thought I’d reflect on my own first 50 days in my new role as Staff Tutor (ST) Open and Access. I’ve coveted the role of ST for many years, in fact, I first applied to be a ST 8 years ago. I wasn’t shortlisted but was deemed to have enough experience to cover the post for 6 months. It was useful experience and I was advised I needed a Masters. So, I did one, in Online and Distance Education and graduated in 2013. Fast forward several years, at least 6 applications later and, here I am: The first ever ST for the Open Programme (Certificate, Diploma, Degree and YXM130 Making your learning count) and also ST for the Access module Y032 People, work and society – which just so happens to be the module I teach on and have done since I joined the OU (and its predecessor).
The term Staff Tutor (ST) is unique I believe to the OU and is classed as a ‘Regional Academic’ role. A ST’s job ‘is half academic, and half management’ (Douce, 2015). A comparable role in another HE institution is a Lecturer.
The ST role has 3 main areas of responsibility:
· Associate Lecturer (AL) line management
· Student Support
· Academic work
As ST Open and Access, this means I’m responsible for:
· line managing 104 ALs
· supporting the student experience of approximately 11,000 students (5,000 Open Programme students and 6,000 Access ones) (WOW)
· conducting research and scholarship aligned with the curriculum and keeping my own subject specialism up to date
But, what have I done in the last 50 days (give or take a few)?
AL Line management
This is where I’ve spent most of my time these last 50 days as there was an explosion on what is currently the only module the Open Programme ‘own’s: YXM130 Making your learning count (a module is a unit of study which goes towards a Qualification like a certificate or degree). It’s an ‘open box’ module which means that learners can put learning from formal or informal sources such as Open Educational Resources (e.g. OpenLearn and FutureLearn), and/or CPD courses, into their box and count 30 credits at Level 1 (L4 in brick uni’s) towards an Open degree. The module was run as a pilot in October 2017 and 2018 and went into ‘business as usual’ in 2019. It has generated lots of interest from partnership organisations and a young students scheme from the OU in Scotland which accounts for a huge increase in student and tutor numbers. The module went from 46 students and 3 ALs to over 400 students and 27 ALs! I’ve spent a lot of time liaising and supporting the ALs on this new module, whilst also trying to get to know the module myself. We’ve had weekly module team meetings to discuss whether the module guidance is fit for purpose and to ensure the assessment and materials meet the needs of the students.
I’ve also spent some time inducting ALs new to Y032 by delivering module briefings and supporting existing ALs with getting students to submit their second tutor marked assignment (TMA). I analysed a load of data, quantitative and qualitative (I asked ALs why they thought there had been a change and looked at student feedback for the module) and wrote a paper identifying trends and patterns. Using this data, I’ve designed a staff development session which I’ll be delivering this week with Y032’s Module Chair.
As the new member of the recently renamed Tutor Support Team (TST), based in Manchester, I’ve initiated a review of some of our processes to ensure we’re fully supporting ALs and students as best we can. I went up to Manchester for a productive day to discuss how the Staff Tutor and Tutor Support Manager roles fit together as there are blurred lines. Tutor Support Managers (TSM) are ‘Faculty’ staff based in Manchester and support Access and Open. They are unique to us as other Faculties may have Faculty Managers or Assistants who do similar work, but they aren’t quite the same. This means we’re immensely lucky as TSMs are our frontline support for all tutor and student queries. We determined at our meeting that the Staff Tutor is strategically responsible for AL line management and student support, whilst the Tutor Support Manager delivers and implements it. We’ve got a series of follow up meetings to continue discussing how we work together but also to explore how we deliver staff development, manage tutor performance and the way we communicate with tutors too. I came away from Manchester feeling incredibly grateful to be working with professional, intelligent and student focused colleagues.
Student Support
This has been the trickiest part of the job to get my head around. Student Recruitment and Support Centres (SRSCs) were approved by Council in November 2015 following the reconfiguration of the University. They consolidated the University’s regional operations (due to closure) in England into four, Faculty aligned Student Recruitment and Support Centres (SRSCs) based in Manchester, Milton Keynes and Nottingham (Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland having their own SRSCs):
· SRSC STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics and Access), Manchester
· SRSC FASS (Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences), Milton Keynes
· SRSC FBL (Faculty of Business and Law), Milton Keynes
· SRSC WELS (Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies), Nottingham
SRSCs bring together all staff involved in supporting students throughout their OU journey including Student Support Teams (SSTs). SSTs are aligned with a School (Faculties are made up of Schools) e.g. School of Social Sciences and Global Studies or the School of Languages and Applied Linguistics – one SST per School means 17 SSTs! An SST has a Senior Manager Operations and one for Information, Advice and Guidance. Reporting to them are Educational Advisors, Senior Advisors and Advisors. Also, in the SST there may be additional, smaller teams looking after Students in Secure Environments, Careers and Employability Services, Proactive calling and students with Credit Transfer. There are Module SSTs and overarching Qualification SSTs.
And this is where it becomes a complex area for the Open Programme (please note a correction here, it's so confusing!). Support for Open Programme students needs to be explained in terms of Open Qualifications (certificate, diploma and degree) and Open modules, as these make up the Programme. The Open module (only one currently but there’s another one on its way and in production) YXM130 Making your learning count, is supported by our Student Recruitment and Support Centre (SRSC) and Student Support Team (SST) in Manchester (STEMA) which is also where Access students are supported. You will have noticed that it isn’t labelled to reflect the Open Programme - yet - but that's because the exact title is still TBC. This is something I’ve been working on since starting my new role – making sure the Open Programme modules have their own identity and are recognised as a separate entity requiring support from the SRSC.
Students are allocated to a Qualification SST based on the first module they're studying e.g. a student registers on Psychology, they will be in the Psychology Qualification SST and School of Psychology and Counselling Module SST. For the Open Qualifications part of the Programme however, support isn’t provided by one single Qualification SST. So, when a student decides to switch disciplines and study Maths or Education modules, for example, as part of their Open Qualification (students can choose different subjects to make up their certificate, degree or diploma), their Qualification SST no longer reflects their study choices and the student doesn't have the overarching support other qualifications have. As SSTs were set up to be discipline specific, even at Qualification level, this means an Open Qualification student may not get the advice and guidance they need about a broad range of subjects or which modules complement each other or might not be counted in an Open Qualification (although of course there are benefits in having discipline specific Qualification SSTs). Keeping SST staff up to date about the Open Programme across 17 SSTs is quite a challenge. This is compounded by SRSCs having a continual ‘churn’ of staff (mainly at advisor/senior advisor level) due to the nature of the role. Each time a student changes module, they change SST so they receive module specialist advice but may lose out on continuity.
Ensuring staff in the SRSCs are kept up to date with all things Open Programme is another of the challenges I’ve been working on. I’ve met with the network of Open Programme Champions based in each of the SRSCs who’s role is to keep up to date with the Open Programme and disseminate information back to their SST and with the Director for Academic Services (or Student Services). We’re looking at how best to support students and how to implement the findings from a piece of research I’d carried out in my previous role in to the training needs of this cohort of staff. I’m hopeful that this piece of work will be taken forward together. with the Open Programme Champions. So, watch this space for an Open Programme week/month coming to you in February/April 2020!
Academic
This is the newest part of the role for me and I’m very much working on developing an academic identity and curating this part of my story. I’ve written a scholarship plan which has helped focus my interests and I just need to work on the how part now. I’ve got my first bit of study leave booked for this week as I need to write my proposal for the Doctorate application by the end of January. I also attended an Open Day run by the Research degrees unit at the OU where I was given feedback on my suggested title (‘a really valuable piece of research’) and met a potential supervisor. This was a bit of a flamingo moment as I bumped into her a couple of days later on the train back into London. We chatted about my research ideas; she was positive and gave me some suggested reading. I’ve also attended module production team meetings for the new Open Programme module YXM830 ‘Advance your independent learning’ which is a Masters module, discussing the learning outcomes, assessment and tuition strategy. I attended a conference about ‘Improving equality, diversity and inclusion for women in HE and research’ where I listened to some insightful presentations and participated in useful discussions.
It’s been an incredibly busy but rewarding 50 days where I am already making a positive contribution and having an impact. Roll on the next 50 days and the 50 after that…
What do you want to achieve in the next 50 days?
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