Parallel Session A: Short Oral Presentation; Supporting Students Evidence that ‘Boot Camps’ can help student retention and progress – the S282 story To improve student engagement and retention at the very start of S282 we have created a dedicated ‘Boot Camp’. This presentation should illustrate how specific activities were tailored to better engage students with the module material through recordings and forum posts. The success, and challenges, will also be demonstrated.

S282 Boot Camp; background and aims S282 (Astronomy and Cosmology) is a Level 2, 30 credit, ‘J’ presentation (October start and June exam). Aims: To prepare S282 students with the background materials. To successfully study S282 by passing OCAS (3 x TMAs with 40% threshold pass mark) and OES (25% TMA2 and 75% exam)

S282 Boot Camp rationale Many students are “new” rather than “continuing” students. Many study backgrounds are outside of the recommended pathway(s) (S104/S111 + S141 + MST124). To cover: basic Maths and Physics skills general OU study skills using the S282 VLE early exposure to Adobe Connect (AC) One week ‘live’ at start of module (29/09/17 to 06/10/17) (then access as reference material throughout presentation).

S282 Boot Camp before start (1) Content defined by the current and previous Chairs of S282 Development of a dedicated landing page with resources and dedicated forums https://learn2.open.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=205887&cmid=1195780 28 AC recordings and 6 initial forum entries designed and delivered by Tom Wilks (AL). Two CAMEL mailings sent up to 3 days before the BC start.

S282 Boot Camp before start (2) Advertised on the S282 module-wide VLE. All S282 tutors advertised the event through their welcome emails, news items and posts. Specific encouragement to attend for the following ‘at risk’ students; studying S282 alongside other modules “new” to the OU with previous records of deferral or failure with non-standard pre-requisite module passes prior to S282

S282 Boot Camp web page

S282 Boot Camp background material

Resources tab

‘AYRF’ S282?

S282 Boot Camp Forum posts Direct links Direct link to AC room

S282 Boot Camp Forum posts

S282 Boot Camp Forum posts SSA Analytics show that student numbers accessing the S282 background resources in 2017 J doubled in the boot camp week, compared to the past 3 years. students re-engaged with boot camp resources around TMA01 (week 5)

S282 Boot Camp Forum posts per day Flat line = forum was closed to new posts Students redirected & encouraged to participate in the main S282 forum

S282 Boot Camp Forum; subscribers and most read discussions 114 individual forum contributions to the forum by students and tutors!

S282 Boot Camp AC; recordings (1)

S282 Boot Camp AC; recordings (2)

S282 Boot Camp AC; recordings (3)

S282 Boot Camp AC data 102 students (42% of those registered at the start) watched one or more of the 28 recordings. The AYRF recordings attracted 632 viewings in total! AYRF S282 Question 2 attracted the largest number of viewings (103). 2 students watched one recording 16 times! (AYRF S282 Questions 2 and 6 respectively) The average number of viewings per student was 10; one student notched up 57 viewings! 20 students attended the live welcome session, 14 made an entry into the dedicated forum post and 54 watched the recording.

AYRF S282; Question 2 Wave equation A simple but important equation in S282 is c = fλ, which relates the speed of an electromagnetic wave (c, in metres per second) to its frequency (f, in hertz) and its wavelength (λ, in metres). The speed, c, is the speed of light which is 3.0 x 108 m s-1. (a) Rearrange this equation to make λ the subject. Use the rearranged equation to find the wavelength of a radio wave of frequency 100 MHz.

AYRF S282; Question 2 Wave equation A simple but important equation in S282 is c = fλ, which relates the speed of an electromagnetic wave (c, in metres per second) to its frequency (f, in hertz) and its wavelength (λ, in metres). The speed, c, is the speed of light which is 3.0 x 108 m s-1. (a) Rearrange this equation to make λ the subject. Use the rearranged equation to find the wavelength of a radio wave of frequency 100 MHz.

AYRF S282; Question 2 Wave equation

AYRF S282; Question 2 Wave equation A simple but important equation in S282 is c = fλ, which relates the speed of an electromagnetic wave (c, in metres per second) to its frequency (f, in hertz) and its wavelength (λ, in metres). The speed, c, is the speed of light which is 3.0 x 108 m s-1. (b) Rearrange this equation to make f the subject. What is the frequency of a light wave of wavelength 0.5 μm?

AYRF S282; Question 2 Wave equation A simple but important equation in S282 is c = fλ, which relates the speed of an electromagnetic wave (c, in metres per second) to its frequency (f, in hertz) and its wavelength (λ, in metres). The speed, c, is the speed of light which is 3.0 x 108 m s-1. (b) Rearrange this equation to make f the subject. What is the frequency of a light wave of wavelength 0.5 μm?

AYRF S282; Question 2 Wave equation

S282 Boot Camp conclusions (1) 243 students registered at start of S282 on 1st October 2017. 30 students left S282 by 14th December 2017. 97% of remaining students submitted TMA1 (>91% in 2016J) After TMA1, tutors referred students with study issues directly to the boot camp website enabling the tutors to focus their TMA feedback comments on the Astronomy aspects. 37% of the initially registered students visited the Boot Camp forum (all of these students are still registered on S282).

Evidence Beyond the Bootcamp of ‘knock-on’ Effects SSA Analytics showing student numbers access to the S282 2017 J Bootcamp forum by (a) upper panel 25% registered students and (b) lower panel all registered students at start. The lack of any discrepancy between these two numbers suggests that those students who engaged with the boot camp were unlikely to withdraw from S282 early.

S282 Boot Camp conclusions (2) Excluding fee-related withdrawals, most S282 withdrawals to date cite ‘personal reasons’ or study intensity These withdrawing students are most likely to be; new students, or continuing students without the standard background, and / or studying S282 alongside other courses, and / or either aged between 30 and 39 or older than 55. Perhaps these students could have benefitted most by attending the boot camp but they didn’t engage despite the profiling at the start?

S282 Boot Camp; student feedback Key excerpts from 7 student responses; ‘an excellent … resource for more general study skills. I'll certainly be using it as a resource throughout the year’. ‘I have printed off several of the pdfs for future reference … Having worked my way through AYRF S282, I did not get it all right but I now understand better where I went wrong.’ ‘I feel the boot camp is an excellent way to get your brain in-gear before the start of the module’. ‘(boot camp) boosted a lot of confidence in a subject which would be all to easy to run away from … I was very scared I would be left behind with the maths’. ‘(I’m) rusty on the core science and its communication (for example including units in equations)’. ‘Just what I needed to wake the maths part of my brain up!’ ‘Totally agreed, could not put into better words’.

S282 Boot Camp forum to using spreadsheets forum (1)

S282 Boot Camp forum to using spreadsheets forum (2) Access to the “Using Spreadsheets” tutorial forum by S282 students, immediately after the boot camp end, and during week 2 of the module.

The S282 Boot Camp 2018J and beyond?! Proposed compulsorily earlier engagement with the “potential” drop-out students. Earlier student-tutor engagement (ringfenced tutors to identify early issues?)