Evaluating the Access Covenant at a post-92 university All about the numbers? Dr Rachel Spacey  Research Fellow rspacey@lincoln.ac.uk  Evaluating the Access Covenant at a post-92 university Rebecca Sanderson Research Assistant rsanderson@lincoln.ac.uk 

Access Covenant “…a particular emphasis on students from rural, coastal and dispersed communities in South Lincolnshire”

Evaluation of the Access Covenant Mixed methods Interviews with staff Survey of all students Interviews with students (hopefully longitudinal)

Recurring concerns about data

They don't see the full story I don't have the data to answer that Anonymity and all that "It's the ones that don't walk in through the door that I worry about..."

Assumptions GDPR problems It's for their own good Data informed is the future There's no other way GDPR problems It's difficult to ask Informed consent Stigmatising

Solutions? Practical Problems Better training? Transparency? Ethics and Information compliance Willingness to collect/ provide data Systems Practical Problems Better training? Transparency? Robust ethics process? Investment in IT systems? Student engagement?

Questions?

References Askinadze, A. and Conrad, S. (2018) Respecting Data Privacy in Educational Data Mining: An Approach to the Transparent Handling of Student Data and Dealing with the Resulting Missing Value Problem. In: 2018 IEEE 27th International Conference on Enabling Technologies: Infrastructure for Collaborative Enterprises (WETICE), Paris. Available from https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8495927 [accessed 20 February 2019].  Department for Education (2017) Greater Lincolnshire Area Review. Final Report. Available from: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/634571/Greater_Lincolnshire_Area_Revie w_Report_FINAL.pdf  [accessed 20 February 2019].  Harrison, N. and Hatt, S. (2010) “Disadvantaged learners”: Who are we targeting? Understanding the targeting of widening participation activity in the United Kingdom using geo-demographic data from Southwest England. Higher Education Quarterly, 64(1), 65-88.  Holland, N., Houghton, A-M., Armstrong, J. and Mashiter, C. (2017) Accessing and assessing appropriate widening participation data: an exploration of how data are used and by whom.  Studies in Continuing Education, 39(2), 214-233.  Lincolnshire Research Observatory/ Lincolnshire County Council (2008) Lincolnshire: A Changing and Challenging Landscape. Lincoln: Economic Regeneration Department.    Morgan, M. (2019) We need more big data now [WONKHE]. Available from: https://wonkhe.com/blogs/we-need-more-big-data-now/ [accessed 20 February 2019].  Open Data Institute (2018) ODI survey reveals British consumer attitudes to sharing personal data. Available from: https://theodi.org/article/odi-survey- reveals-british-consumer-attitudes-to-sharing-personal-data/  [accessed 20 February 2019]. Sela K. (2018) GDPR and ethical challenges to evaluating widening participation activities: A case study. Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning, 20(3), 14-26.   Stevenson, J., O' Mahony, J., Khan, O., Ghaffar, F. and Stiell, B. (2019) Understanding and overcoming the challenges of targeting students from under- represented and disadvantaged ethnic backgrounds. Report to the Office for Students. Available from: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/media/d21cb263-526d-401c-bc74-299c748e9ecd/ethnicity-targeting-research-report.pdf[accessed 20 February 2019].  University of Lincoln (2016) University of Lincoln Access Agreement Academic Year 2017/18. Available from: https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20180511113017/https://www.offa.org.uk/agreements/University%20of%20Lincoln%201718.pdf [accessed 2 0 February 2019].