Student Profiler – an introduction

What is the Student Profiler? Interactive tool for staff Allows them to reflect on potential cohort for a

course/module ‘Who are my students?’ Student Profiler lets staff experiment with

potential scenarios – ‘what if’ Aim – to think about course, student perspective

Potential benefits of tool Reflective tool – student-focused Alerts staff to opportunities/risks of potential

cohorts Lets them personalise courses – tailoring the

course experience to the cohort Matching course with the student experience

Initial development of concept Tool in beta – initial concept, prototype May change in look/feel, content categories,

potential outputs Looking for feedback – all aspects of tool

Development – visual concept (1) From OU idea – spider diagram – needed to be

more generic/prompting

Development – visual concept (2) From CETL R&R project – Life and Health

Sciences – ‘Wheel of Life’

Rationale for visual design

Good starting point for reflection Can drill down for more information/hints Straightforward visual output for staff Generic but still gives useful picture of student

group

Simple, easy to understand visual concept – at-a-glance view of cohort in wheel

Slider easy to use/amend

Demo of Student Profiler

Potential student profile categories Cohort size Range of student abilities Independent Study Skills Diversity Prior subject experience First choice of course Professional/vocational focus of course Practical/skills based focus of course Need for tutor support Need for flexible pathways Peer interaction Ratio of tutors to students

Task – evaluation of categories (1) Potential categories on sheet Task – which categories do you think are most

important? 10 dots – highlight student profile categories you

think are most important More importance – use more dots in one

category if you wish – spread how you like E.g. 5 dots in most important, 2 in less important

Developing the tool Question in survey to staff (what factors are

important when planning for your teaching) - sent to 21 staff, 4 responses to date

JISC Curriculum design cluster Working groups in Ulster Focus groups within the University Selected students

Moving it forward

Ask groups to feedback on the following:

Usability Usefulness Accessibility Content Potential outputs Identifying where tool could be used

Areas for discussion Are these the right categories? Is the wheel the right approach? How to word the outputs – opportunities/risks or

hints/tips Where to get feedback information for staff Is there anything missing?