LTC13-P30
6 June 2013
Learning and Teaching Committee
Subject:
System to support the Administration of Student Placements
Origin
Tricia Breen
Summary
Following a review of current practices and the options for a University-wide system
to support the administration of student placements and building on a CEDE
development project with the School of AACME, extensive enhancements have been
made to Co-Tutor. During 2012/13, this functionality has been trialled in several
Schools and departments, and discussions have taken place with other Schools.
The requirements for University-wide reporting have been specified and scheduled
for development during summer 2013. It is the view of the project team that the
system provides the core functionality to support Schools in managing the
administration and supervision of student placements.
Members of Learning and Teaching Committee are asked to:
1. Note the progress made to enhance Co-Tutor to meet the requirements of
Schools and the appropriate professional services.
2. Support the aim that all Schools should use Co-Tutor functionality for
administering student placements from 2013/14 to enable significant
efficiencies to be gained from changed working practices in both Schools and
the central services.
3. Advise the team on the on-going advocacy and support for administrators and
academic placement tutors in the effective embedding of the enhanced
placement procedure and Co-Tutor functionality in departments.
Background
In 2009, an investigation was started into what systems were being used and how
we could enhance central database support for student placements. SUMS helped
co-ordinate a review and produced a report in 2010. A key recommendation of the
report was the need for an institutional information system to support the consistent
administration of student placements and to enable University-wide information to be
available where required.
A project team was set up consisting of representatives of Schools and professional
services. The information system requirements were specified and an investigation
of the available commercial packages took place. The recommendation of the team
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was that none of the available commercial systems met the requirements for both
Schools and central services, and that an in-house development was the preferred
option. The need for this development was recognised by senior management on the
understanding that, as there was no additional funding available, the development
was to be undertaken within existing budgets.
In 2011/12 CEDE undertook a development project with AACME1 to consolidate and
unify the placement processes with the School’s individual departments. The
outcome was; a mapping of core placement processes; standardised forms;
enhanced IT to support placement admins and tutors, including developments to CoTutor and LEARN. ITS and CEDE have a collaborative working agreement in place
where potential innovations can be identified for larger roll-out. In the case of
placements, it was thought mutually beneficial to develop functionality together in
order to link efforts and allow the pilot with AACME to inform the University wide
approach if successful.
During the initial AACME pilot, it was decided to incorporate requirements from
Wolfson and SBE (as the two biggest placement departments). During 2012/13 a
wider pilot has been in effect as more departments are consulted and iterative
developments, based on feedback, are made.
The project has focussed on developments for administrative and academic staff to
administer student placements. Co-Tutor is not currently available to students and
consideration would need to be given to what they should be able to view if this were
to be developed. Currently, Schools are being advised to use Learn for students to
access information about placements and to view vacancies. Discussions have
taken place with SBE to ensure that there is no conflict with the development work
they are doing using Learn for social networking functionality for students on
placement.
The system does not provide functionality for employers to upload vacancies and
reports. This will be progressed alongside the partner relationship management
(PRM) project.
Progress to Date
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1
Co-Tutor functionality was assessed against the requirements specification.
The system already met most of the core functionality, and enhancements
have been made to meet the other essential requirements.
Guidance notes on the use of Co-Tutor and best practice guides for the
administration of student placements are in development by CEDE, as part of
the AACME project, and will be ready for the new academic year.
The project has progressed alongside the partner relationship management
(PRM) project to ensure that developments of an employer database are coordinated.
http://eden-share.lboro.ac.uk/id/item/9
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Anticipated Benefits
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Co-Tutor is automatically populated with student information from LUSI,
reducing the need to make changes in separate systems to keep core student
data up-to-date.
The system provides a complete history of communications with placement
students as well as associated reports such as visit forms.
Checklists document that the essential requirements for a placement have
been carried out (e.g. Health and Safety forms), enabling the University to
easily demonstrate compliance with statutory obligations.
Exception reporting helps identify where essential requirements have not
been met, so that these can be actioned.
University-wide reporting for the Careers and Employability Centre and the
Enterprise Office will reduce the time currently spent by Schools in answering
requests to provide information on student placements.
The system will facilitate the sharing of best practice, helping the provision of
a consistently high service to students.
An electronic upload of the outcome of student placements from Co-Tutor to
LUSI will reduce duplication and minimise data entry errors.
Proposed Timeline
Date
Mid June
Action
Communication to Operations Managers, PALG,
and Placement Group advising the use of system for
2013/14
End June
Workshop(s) held for all Schools
End July
Operations Managers to be asked to identify any
outstanding issues which would prevent their School
from using the system for 2013/14.
AugustDevelopment of University-wide reporting
September functionality, and any outstanding essential
2013
functionality for Schools
From
Co-Tutor to be used for managing students on
September placements
2013
Responsibility
PVC(T)
Project Team
Project Manager
IT Services
Operations
Managers
Roll-out to Schools
An audit was undertaken in May 2013 to assess the engagement by the
Schools/departments. See appendix A for details. It is intended that the status will
be confirmed with Operations Managers in July.
The project team recognises that the support of the AD(T)s is essential should there
be issues for the academic community in moving to the new system.
On-going support
Following the completion of the development project, arrangements need to be put in
place for the on-going advocacy and support for using the system for administrators
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and academic placement tutors. Technical support and maintenance of Co-Tutor will
be the responsibility of IT Services. Discussions have been initiated with the
Teaching Centre to explore their possible assistance for user support and training on
an on-going basis.
May 2013
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Appendix A – Engagement Status of Schools/Departments in May 2013
School/Department
Aeronautical and Automotive
Engineering
Arts
Business and Economics
Chemical Engineering
Chemistry
Civil and Building Engineering
Computer Science
Design
Electronic, Electrical and
Systems Engineering
English and Drama
Geography
Information Science
Materials
Mathematical Sciences
Mechanical and Manufacturing
Engineering
Physics
Politics, History and
International Relations
Social Sciences
Sport, Exercise and Health
Sciences
Teacher Education
Engagement Status
Active trial. High engagement.
Contacted – awaiting response
Active trial. High engagement. Some further
enhancements required for managing applications.
Active trial. High engagement.
Meeting held. Not yet engaged in a meaningful trial
Meeting held. Not yet engaged in a meaningful
trial. Have home-grown systems in place
particularly for student self-service.
Contacted – awaiting response
Meeting held. Companies added but not used
placement functionality.
Meeting held. Not yet engaged in a meaningful trial
Meeting arranged
N/A – Placements handled by SBE.
N/A – Assuming placements will be split amongst
departments
Active trial. High engagement.
Awaiting Meeting
Meeting held. Not yet engaged in a meaningful trial
Contacted – awaiting response
Active trial. Medium engagement.
Active trial. High engagement.
Meeting held but no engagement to date. Thought
to be change in personnel.
N/A – We will not handle PGCE requirements in
this phase.