How your voice has made a difference
This page provides an opportunity to see the valuable feedback received from students across a wide range of communication channels, and to see what the OU has done in response.
Please note this video is now a couple of years old so some people no longer have the same title. The current Students Association leadership can be seen on their website.
Choose a topic from the drop-down list below to see how students can have an impact on their university experience and be empowered to help shape the University. Next time you are asked to give your opinion, you know that the OU is taking this feedback seriously and will respond.
You said...
In April 2023, the University asked students signed up to the Curriculum Design Student Panel about their experience of assessment at the OU. Of the 287 respondents, 85% had studied more than one module while 47% had sought advice or support to understand a module assessment strategy. 61% either strongly agreed or agreed that it would be beneficial to simplify the various assessment strategies across different modules at the OU, mainly to prevent confusion and to increase consistency.
We did...
In response colleagues at the OU reviewed the way we plan our assessment strategies, and considered how we could make our assessment delivery across all modules more consistent. A new Assessment Framework was approved and launched in January 2024, which will ensure that as students progress through and between modules they will experience more consistency in assessment strategies. This change will be implemented over time, as we will review assessment plans for specific modules as part of our normal processes.
The OU Students Association was closely involved in the development of this new framework, welcoming it as “a really good common-sense approach”.
OU Wide
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You said...
You wanted to see where student voice was being heard or acted on.
We did...
We developed the student voice icon and we are using it in module VLEs (Virtual Learning Environment) to highlight where modules have changes in response to student voice.
Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)Posted on:
You said...
You said you wanted chapters on our training video recordings to help you navigate to sections relevant to you.
We did...
We added chapters to three of our most popular training session recordings: Introduction to Library Services, The Why and How of Referencing and Improving Your Experience Accessing Online Resources - all on our YouTube channel.
Read morePosted on:
You said...
You said you thought the 'News' button on the top navigation bar of the Library website contained national and international news, not OU library news.
We did...
We moved 'News' to 'About the library' on the website, making it clearer that the news button is about the OU Library.
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You said...
When using Library Search, you said you expected tool tips when hovering over icons.
We did...
We added tool tips to Library Search. Now when your cursor hovers over icons, you are presented with a description of its purpose.
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You said...
When using Library Search, you said you expected to go to the Library Search homepage rather than the Library website when you clicked the 'Library Home' button.
We did...
We changed 'Library Home' to 'Library Website' so you knew exactly where the button would take you. The 'New Search' button takes you to the Library Search homepage.
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You said...
Online cluster day schools don’t support meaningful interaction in the way that face-to-face do; they lack the variety that face-to-face sessions did
We did...
The Director of Teaching has spoken to the Assoc Dean (Teaching and Students) to emphasise the student interest in continuation of face-to-face provision and the need for a diversity of online tuition.
Social Sciences and Global Studies
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You said...
Some final TMAs are very near the EMA deadline, reducing the time you have for the latter
We did...
At the module production stage module teams will be advised to ensure that there is an appropriate gap between the final TMA and EMA This will be reviewed at the various approval stages.
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You said...
Some final TMAs are very near the EMA deadline, reducing the time you have for the latter
We did...
At the module production stage module teams will be advised to ensure that there is an appropriate gap between the final TMA and EMA This will be reviewed at the various approval stages.
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You said...
You were unsure about the different options available if you were unable to finish a module
We did...
The DoT will liaise with the Assoc Dean (Teaching and Students) and Student Support Team (SST) concerning the visibility of the Student Home pages on ‘changing your study plans’.
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