Getting Ready for your College
Review
Welcome and introduction
Eve Lewis, Head of sparqs
Aims & Objectives
Aim: to introduce college presidents to the Learner Engagement
Questionnaire and get them ready to complete it at their college
Objectives:
 To develop a greater understanding of the college review process
 To understand the role of the Learner Engagement Questionnaire
 To develop skills to enable effective engagement with learners
 To be able to plan for involvement in a college review
sparqs
Student Participation in Quality Scotland was created in 2003
and is funded by the Scottish Funding Council
Work with:
• All colleges and HE institutions throughout Scotland
• Students’ Associations
• Individual students
• Other sector agencies
Aim to enhance the involvement of students in their learning and
institutional decisions through…
sparqs

training and support
→ provide training for student representatives; workshops for staff and
production of resources for students and staff

events
→ national conference on student involvement; workshops, seminars and
events for staff and student officers

sharing practice
→ publications on student involvement; benchmarking of representative
systems and learning from other countries & sectors

consultancy
→ 5 days support offered to each institution across Scotland
Improving Scottish
education
Learner Engagement
Questionnaire
28th September 2010
Improving Scottish
education
I will cover...
• Learner engagement
• The role of the managing
inspector
• The important part played by the
Learner Engagement
Questionnaire
Improving Scottish
education
Learner Engagement
The process of college
managers and staff working
closely with learners to make
improvements is known as
learner engagement
How well are learners engaged in
enhancing
• Their own learning?
• The work and life of the college?
Improving Scottish
education
Role of Managing Inspector
(MI)
• Scope of the review
• Liaison with the college before,
during and after the review
• Manages the review team
• Constructs the report
Improving Scottish
education
Learner Engagement
Questionnaire
•
•
•
•
An important part of the college review
Informs HMIE of the views of learners
regarding how well the college is
meeting their needs
Informs HMIE how well the college
actively seeks out, listens to and acts
on learners’ views
Helps determine the scope of the
review activities
Improving Scottish
education
The completed questionnaire will be
considered by the Managing Inspector
and the STM. It will assist them to
identify areas on which to focus during
the external review.
Improving Scottish
education
Learner Engagement
Questionnaire
Learners’ views are very
important and will greatly inform
significant aspects of the review
of the college. We ask you to
use this opportunity to provide
us with a clear, accurate and
comprehensive picture of
student life in your college.
Improving Scottish
education
Learner Engagement
Questionnaire
•
•
designed to capture and reflect
the collective views of the whole
student body across the college
not your own personal views
Improving Scottish
education
Learner Participation
Involve
– as many learners as possible
– a cross-section of the learner
population e.g. learners from access
and NC/HN programmes, full-time and
part-time; day/evening/flexible
learning and any outreach activity
– student representatives (perhaps in
running focus groups)
Reflect
Improving Scottish
education
The questionnaire
•
•
•
•
Questions
Prompts
Pro-forma
Additional information
Improving Scottish
education
Questions about high quality
learning
•
•
•
Guidance and Support: Is the
information, guidance and support
you receive meeting learner
needs?
Programme of Study: Do the
programmes of study you are
undertaking suit learners’ needs?
Relationships: Are all learners
treated equally?
Improving Scottish
education
Questions about learner
engagement and quality culture

Learner Engagement: To what extent are you
enabled to express your views on aspects of
college life and how the college operates?
 Students’ Association and learner
representation
 Action and feedback
Improving Scottish
education
Please make further
comment, on behalf of
your peers, if desired
Improving Scottish
education
Any questions?
What does the Learner
Engagement Questionnaire look
like?
Alison Fleming, HMIE Student Team
Member
Important things to remember

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Need to say how you’ve consulted and how many with
Need to ensure that you engage with a range of the student
body
Need to generalise feedback
Learner voice needs to be central throughout
Use the prompts that are outlined in the LEQ
Activity: Learner Engagement
Questionnaire
In small groups:


Look at the examples of responses and highlight what you
think are effective responses and not as effective responses
Think about why some responses are more effective than
others
BREAK
Developing skills for effective
engagement
Iain Delworth, sparqs
What skills are needed?

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Research
Project Management
Leadership
Listening
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Communication
Time Management
Team Work
Please now rate yourself using the scale in the workbook (1
meaning you need to work hard at improving this skills and 5
meaning you don’t need to do much).
Development of these skills

How do you think you can improve/develop these skills?

A useful website to that will give you some hints and tips to
improve and develop your skills is www.mindtools.com.
Getting student responses for the
Learner Engagement
Questionnaire
Alison Fleming, HMIE Student Team
Member, and Sareta Puri, sparqs
Consultation tools
Survey/questionnaire: online, paper, face to face or telephone
 Focus group
 Individual interview
 Paired interview
 Poll
 Interactive games
 Comment cards
 ‘Food for Thought’

Activity: consultation tools
Split into four groups and list the pros and cons of the following
methods:
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Group one: focus groups
Group two: interactive games
Group three: surveys
Group four: interviews
Important things to remember
Use methods that you feel comfortable with
 Use methods suitable for your student body e.g. online
surveys for part time learners
 Use at least two different methods
 Make sure you have enough time to carry out the research
 Don’t do it on your own: get other students to help gather
opinions

Activity: surveys and focus groups
Split into two groups and look at blank copies of the Learner
Engagement Questionnaire. Think about how you would use
either surveys or focus groups to get responses for the
Learner Engagement Questionnaire

Group one: work through the survey activity

Group two: work through the focus group activity
The A,B,C,D of Effective feedback
Accurate
Depersonalised
Effective
Constructive
Balanced
Open and closed questions

An open question requires a longer, more detailed response
→e.g. how have you been supported throughout your programme?

A closed question can be answered with one or two words or
a short phrase
→e.g. how supported did you feel throughout your programme?
(on a scale of 1-5, 1 being not at all and 5 being extremely)
Collating closed questions
How supported did you feel throughout your
programme?
(on a scale of 1 – 5, 1 being not at all and 5 being very)
Scale
1
2
3
4
5
Number 2
of
responses
4
9
16
14
Activity: collating open responses
In pairs:

Group the response cards in bundles relevant to their
meaning
Name each bundle with an overall heading

What conclusion can you draw from the results?

Important things to remember
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It is important to consult across the college
Leave adequate time for each stage of the research
There is no right or wrong way to collate responses
Keep feedback accurate, balanced, constructive and
depersonalised
Get help from the student body or support staff
The Student Team Member is available for guidance
LUNCH
Planning for your review
Sareta Puri, sparqs
Consultation Toolkit

Aim: what do you want to to find out and why?
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Target population: who do you want to consult with and why?

Methods & approaches: what tools are you going to use and
how?
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Partners: who would you involve?
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Timescales: what do you need to do and by when?
Activity: timescales
In small groups:

Sort the activity cards into time order and write on them:
→Who you would involve in each stage
→How long you would need for each stage
Activity: contacting students
Split into two groups:

Group one look at how you would market a focus group and
what the challenges might be

Group two look at how you would circulate a survey and
what the challenges might be
Important things to remember
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Consider the challenges at the start
When planning think about what you want to achieve
Ensure methods are relevant to the student body
Utilise other students and staff members
Utilise methods already being used
Using the review as a catalyst
for development
Heather McKnight, former President of
Jewel & Esk College Students’ Association
Understanding the review
A Typical College Review
Timetable
Monday
1030 hrs
1100 hrs onwards
Tuesday
1645–1730 hrs
0900 hrs onwards
Wednesday
1645–1730 hrs
0900 hrs onwards
1645–1730 hrs
Thursday
0900–1730 hrs
Friday
0900 hrs
1100-1300 hrs
Review team meets principal, senior managers and student association
representative(s)
Observations of learning and teaching; professional discussions and
meetings with learners, staff and managers
Review team meeting – share initial findings
Observations of learning and teaching; professional discussions and
meetings with learners, staff and managers
Review team meeting – update on initial Findings
Observations of learning and teaching; professional discussions and
meetings with learners, staff and managers
Review team meeting – share findings Arrangements for Thursday and
Friday
Review team evaluation, writing, moderation – in HMIE office space or
hotel space
MI, one colleague and STM remain. Prepare for discussion of findings with
the college
MI, one colleague (normally TM1) and STM discuss findings with principal,
senior management team and student association president; Share
provisional confidence statements with the principal
Feedback Session with College
Management
A chance to
question and
comment
Feedback
from Student
Team
Member
Feedback
from
HMIE
The Report
Available on HMIE website after the review
 Will get a summary at the end of the review week and have a
good idea what it will say
 Report will include summary
and further details on
each area

The quality framework
Learner
Engagement
High
Quality
Learning
Quality
Culture
The Quality
Framework
Understanding the importance of using the
review as a catalyst for change
What is so important about this
review?

Agreement between SFC and HMIE

Annual Engagement Reviews from HMIE to check on progress

Tool for identifying areas of risk and change
Students’ Association – what
feedback?
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What can you improve directly?
How can you use any positive statements to promote the
Association within and out with college
How any negative statements can be used to generate change
and additional support – be reflective
College Feedback

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Have a look at some example report summaries.
What do you think should be the priority for students?
(discuss in groups 10 mins)
Activity – Create an Action Plan
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Check the summary and action points
Identify who in your college would take these changes
forward
Suggest goals/actions/changes
“Showcase of Excellence” read examples
→Identifying committees which will be guiding actions
→Discussions at Board of Governors Meetings
→Report Summary will give points for action
…. (10mins in groups)
Activity - Informing the Students

In groups discuss how best to communicate the information
in the HMIE report and planned action to students…. (5mins)
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Learner Report
College VLE
Class Reps and SRCs
Focus Groups
Posters/Leaflets
Tutor Time
Conclusions and close
Eve Lewis, Head of sparqs