In early 2022, the University of Worcester began using StREAM to support the engagement, retention and wellbeing of its pre-registration nurses. As part of the University’s teaching and learning strategy, Worcester is striving to build a dynamic and supportive learning environment for staff and for students that is research inspired and digitally enabled.
Jenny Pinfield, Principal Lecturer in Nursing, and Elaine Swift, Head of Digital Learning and Teaching, at the University of Worcester, discuss how engagement analytics is helping pre-registration nurses and midwifery as well as nursing students moving into the NHS.
At the University there are currently more than 1,200 students studying across the University’s Nursing, Midwifery and Nursing Associate programmes. In July 2020, the University was granted the largest allocation of additional health training places in the country, with an extra 240 places for nursing and 70 places for midwifery.
Supporting pre-registration nurses, the next generation of NHS staff is paramount for retention and meeting the needs of the workforce in the years ahead. It is without question that our nurses and midwives perform a range of essential roles, and it is imperative to retain these highly skilled people. From March 2020, universities made course modules available online in a matter of days, with many increasing students support in the most challenging of times.
“During the pandemic, we had been putting strategies in place to increase student support – such as increased communication, particularly when students had been out on placement,” explains Jenny.
“As an institution we were looking into the benefits of learner analytics pre pandemic. Nursing and Midwifery is a large school at Worcester, and we have a strong focus on supporting our students in terms of their progression. When Covid came along, we decided now was the right time to invest.”
“Engagement analytics give us a real opportunity to meet two needs; it helps us support our large courses, such as nursing and midwifery, it also supports nursing students moving into the NHS, who we can all agree are a vital lifeline for us all,” adds Elaine.
Solutionpath’s StREAM platform translates complex transactional data into a simple visualisation of student engagement and provides early identification of students potentially at risk of withdrawal and aids the management and reporting of targeted interventions.
Elaine continues: “We want to support students to ethically engage with their own learner data and to use that in conjunction with our staff. Initial student feedback has been positive, and staff have found the system very easy to navigate.”
The platform uses a unique algorithm to collate student data that represents engagement in their academic learning and creates a universal measure of engagement – providing each student with an engagement score.
Jenny adds: “Student engagement analytics makes it easier to have meaningful conversations, empower students to better understand their own learning journey and inform tutors to get the right support, to the right student at the right time.”
The University of Worcester can now easily visualise engagement at a cohort, course, module, or individual level and activate intervention in a near real time, allowing them to be more personalised, proactive, and supportive.
Learn more about StREAM for Nursing or contact us on nursing@solutionpath.co.uk.
In early 2022, the University of Worcester began using StREAM to support the engagement, retention and wellbeing of its pre-registration nurses. As part of the University’s teaching and learning strategy, Worcester is striving to build a dynamic and supportive learning environment for staff and for students that is research inspired and digitally enabled. Jenny […]
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