You Said, We Did
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...
Thank you to those students who take the time to give us feedback on our modules and qualifications via the Student Experience on a Module (SEaM) survey and the National Student Statistics (NSS) survey.
We did...
We are using your comments to plan significant changes to our current Stage 2 modules (S206 and S209) for 2018 and to inform the production of the two new Stage 3 environmental science modules starting in 2018 (SDT306 and S397).
Please keep talking to us via the surveys but also on our qualification forums. We really value your ideas and creativity thoughts.
Environment, Earth and Ecosystem Sciences
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You said...
Tutorial provision has become an area of heightened concern because of the introduction and implementation of the Group Tuition Policy.
We did...
The Board of Studies is reviewing the presentation of every module in each qualification in order to identify improvements that can and will be made under this policy for the next presentation of each module, as well as providing feedback to University-level reviews of the policy.
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You said...
An ongoing concern continues to be the provision of online and printed materials and the balance between them on individual modules.
We did...
While online delivery permits greater use of internally produced interactive materials we recognise that printed resources are also highly valued, and many students would like the best of both worlds – desiring both online and print materials so that you choose when, how and what to study. To this end, we endeavour to ensure that module materials are available in as wide a range of formats as possible and can be accessed by a wide range of devices.
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You said...
The workload on some of our modules continues to be an issue.
We did...
We are developing a ‘Student Resource Portal’, where we are providing ‘quizzes’, ‘taster’ material and other resources, to support you when choosing a module and so that you know what to expect from each module. We are also trying to make it clearer, through the Portal and other means, including your Student Support Team, what prior knowledge and skills are required by modules, including where a module requires completion of another module first.
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You said...
Although many of us have said how much we like having the module materials available online, nearly all of us really dislike it when this is the only form we can access. We really want the main text of the teaching content to be in printed form as well.
We did...
This Board of Studies agrees that unless there are good academic reasons for providing material online only, in general students are best served by having their module texts in book form as well. We have now adopted this approach for all new modules.
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You said...
You are dissatisfied with the lack of printed material, chiefly textbooks, in modules that are fully or predominantly presented online.
We did...
We acknowledge the practical value of printed books for a significant fraction of our learners, while embracing the enormous opportunities digital and online material affords for pedagogy, ease of use, topicality and flexibility. Going forward we are investigating how to bring you the best of both worlds, where some good-quality printed material is deployed in support of electronic resources. The balance between these media may be different for different modules, and whilst it is unlikely that the learning resources will become available in full in both formats we pledge that we are not abandoning books for good.
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You said...
There is lack of practical experience via laboratory schools in the curriculum.
We did...
We have added to and improved our OpenScience Laboratory assets, and we are confident that these will become a new benchmark for teaching practical skills at a distance. We are also taking part in a trial opening up the OpenPlus lab schools (at level 1) to Stage 1 students, to assess feasibility for rolling this out more widely.
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You said...
Some regret was expressed about the move away from face to face tutorials.
We did...
Unfortunately, the attendance of face to face tutorials overall has been low. As it is difficult to justify using significant resources for activities that benefit only a minority of our students we believe that recorded online tutorials are a more useful substitute. We continue to review the provision of tuition across our modules and will investigate the feasibility of selected face to face events such as introductory or revision days schools.
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You said...
You were unsatisfied with aspects related to personal development.
We did...
Changes are in place to provide greater opportunities for personal development with a greater focus on the delivery and transparency of such skills in new modules as they are produced, across all levels of the curriculum.
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You said...
The quality of advice available for study choice is low.
We did...
We recognise that the changes in the curriculum are causing concern and confusion for some of our students. We will therefore offer clear and timely advice on our qualification website to assist students with their module choices and qualification plans. We will also provide the opportunity for discussion with academic staff on our qualification forums as well as online events. These events will be advertised clearly on both the qualification website and via appropriate modules forums.
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