1. A Flexible / Early start : M140
With thanks to
Gaynor Arrowsmith- Senior Manager ( teaching)
And
Colin Fulford (AL)
Mark Hobbs(AL)
Luay Salman(AL)
Tricia Terndrup (AL)
eSTEem conference April 2018

2. M140: Introducing statistics
What problem ?
M140 satisfaction rating from students 93%-94%
M140 pass / completion rates 72%-74% and comfortably above Faculty average ( calculated from 25% fee point)
External examiner happy
Gated review process resulted in no changes to be made

3. Understand the problem
Students reserved, they registered and then they dropped out even before module start and definitely before the 25% fee point
Table 1
2015
2016
Registered
1074
1026
25% fee point
919
885
Difference
155
141
So the problem is that students register but do not
make it to the first fee point- well before the first assignment
AND
The second problem is that students registered early have a poorer retention rate than those registered later

4. Figure 2: The percentage M140 students at “PA/registered status” by period of registration
So a third of the students are registered by 1st July

5. Figure 3: Data for 2016J M140 students registering early compared to those who registered later.
Solid blue shows the percentage on a few variables of early registered students
Red outline shows the percentages on same variables of those not registered early
MST124 is another Maths modules often taken with M140
Only real difference in the percentage already having some credits
Pass rate is calculate from the 25% fee point

6. + + And finally in “Understanding” Lots of early registered students
Table 2: comments from students successful against the odds
Lots of early registered students
Start early!  
Get networked! Join a Facebook group. Pair up with a study buddy. Make good use of forums;  
Don’t be scared or threatened by it at the beginning, it is not as bad as it looks!  + +
A good infrastructure
A great set of ALs
And
Excellent teaching materials

7. Make a plan: Let students start early
- Looks like the actual experience but just starts earlier so students can start at a slower pace
Devil in the detail
Materials – create a new web site with units,screencasts, access to software,quizs etc
Tutors – finance, finding them, briefing them,agreeing who does what tutorials
Students – identifying them, contacting them, answering their questions, allocating them to tutors
Collecting student feedback – in programme and 6months afterwards
Interface / transition to main module start in October
Evaluation plan- decision too long to wait until July 2018, so partial evaluation
Dissemination plan – well……………..

8. Do the plan
Identified students registered by end May,end June and end July. In total around 400 offered the offered and 200 accepted
Recruited more tutors. Ran tutorials, forums, added extra units, considered requests for early submission of TMAs.
allocated students largely to tutors involved in early start

9. Check solution
2015
2016
2017
Registered
1074
1026
1042
25% fee point
919
885
935
Difference
155
141
107

10. Extension
Students who decline a place do less well than those never offered a place
Weakest 25%

11. And of course some student quotes
“I do feel more confident, as it was my first ever OU module I was anxious and didn't know what to expect until early start opportunity. “
“I have been an OU student for a great many years. During that time I have seen some good ideas come and go. But being able to start the course this early is quite simply the best idea I have seen in a very long time.”

12. Thank you
Questions
More info :