Using an online environment to predict student enrolment and aid transition to postgraduate education

Dr Sally ChappellSchool of Life SciencesUniversity of Nottingham

MSc Admissions – less regulation than UG ProgrammesStudents apply

online to individual

universities

Applications considered by course teams

Student responds to offer

How many?

Or do they?

Deadlines?Interviews?

Transition into PGT needs to be rapid

Assumptions about knowledge

Not always that clear!

◦ Some students accept, then don’t turn up

◦ Some students don’t register a decision – some of these will turn up

How do we get a better idea?

Which students will start the MSc?Offers made to students – conditional/unconditional

Students firmly accept or reject the place

List of students starting the course

Self-registration is a good predictor of starting the course

Email in June – invitation to register

Reminders in July/August

Course starts at the end of September

All possible students (those with an offer irrespective of decision)

48% started the course

Those students who registered for the background material

91% started the course

Students appreciate the resources

I found ATutor fantastic to

use as a preparatory

system for the course.

I strongly recommend the establishment of

ATutor in other courses, as I found it very informative and

personally I came well prepared for my MSc.

I had a year out before attending the masters

course so found it useful to revise basic

knowledge.

It is a great idea and should definitely be done for future students, because I think the

students who did not use it found the first few weeks

more difficult because they had forgotten some rather

basic concepts.

Students appreciate the forums

The forums are a really good idea. It was nice to have everyone introduce

themselves before moving up to Nottingham.

I did talk to other students and had the opportunity to meet them before the

start of the course.I didn't use the forum to ask questions

about the background material because I didn't have any problems, however I think this is a very useful way to start

studying and be prepared for the course.

What else would they like to be included?

Having additional links on the site, for example including links to the

school, background reading textbooks and links on the

Nottingham university (such as accommodation, funding,

academic support services)

I could add some information about the modules of the

MSc. I found it difficult to find in UoN web page detailed

information about assessments or topics that will be covered in

the modules.

If I had the opportunity I think I would make it compulsory when logging in to include a photo of yourself and some background info (where are you from, what have you studied, where are you living in Nottingham?)

Does providing an online space aid transition to PGT courses?

Improvement in the teaching sessions after the provision of background material◦ No real change in assessment grades

Enables students to get to know each other prior to the course start◦ Encourages early working relationships◦ Useful for International students moving to UK

Do we need to include more problem-based learning, rather than just a set of resources?

Can we use the same VLE for pre-course and in-course learning?

Where should we go next?

It would be good to use only one system, so students can start to get used to

Moodle from the very beginning of the course because Moodle is a platform that

we have to use during the entire year.

Dr Paddy Tighe (School of Life Sciences) MSc students from 2014/15 and 2015/16

Acknowledgements