PILS Consultants Project
Final Report
Name
PILS Theme
Dr Maye Taylor
Supporting student success.
Project Title
The contribution that writing learning journals could make to student experience and
successful completion.
Project Summary
At the start of the course module I invited my student group to keep learning journals
to be submitted to me after completion of the fourth tutor marked assignment. I
indicated these could be kept ‘on-line’ or pen and paper.
I conducted a telephone conference briefing which set out the broad objectivesasking them to keep a learning journal indicating that this would be a ‘particularly
personal and unstructured form of reflective writing, making entries when
appropriate’. However I did give some guidance indicating that it would be particularly
useful if they could include
 Critical incidents or significant experiences which occurred
 Their feelings associated with those incidents/experiences identifying
both positive and negative
 What actions they took in response to deal with these.
I phoned each student every month to keep contact and motivation going.
Conducted debrief personal telephone tutorials once the journals had been
submitted.
I conducted a whole group telephone conference. I then conducted a content
analysis of the journals.
Project Outcomes
1.
As expected submitting and receiving tutor marked assignments created high
levels of anxiety,
2.
Only 2 had convenient access to IT and were able to use the electronic tutor
marked assignment system
3.
There was confusion about role of associate lecturer and tutorials on distance
learning.
4.
Role conflict came very high on the list of incidents recorded I would sum this
up as indicating that a major task for Open University students is positioning
their new learning role with their existing social roles
5.
Learning new ways of looking at familiar things presented problems for
amongst others a young Muslim woman, a prisoner, a mother and created
conflicts in their non Open University student roles
6.
All enjoyed the process of writing, and were surprised by this and indicated it
actually helped with their problem with writing.
7.
All indicated that ‘formalising’ reflexivity’ in this way helped ’I could have a
moan to my diary…..it kept me sane….it made me think about what I did…I
developed new strategies when I made myself think about what was
happening and how I was feeling
8.
All took up the de-brief tutorial and indicated they liked being able to talk
about themselves ‘as of right’
Full Project Report
Full project description
What was your initial rationale for your project?
What did you do?
How did you go about it?
What was your timeframe?
This project ‘emerged’ from my previous PILS project in which I used focus groups to
explore the possibility of introducing a PDP component on the Open University
Psychology Degree. These groups revealed high levels of anxiety and stress in the
student role itself that were quite distinct from concerns about study skills and subject
understanding
I am well aware that writing learning journals does not come easily, and built into the
project support and encouragement, I was also well aware that I might be in danger
of imposing another burden given that at the basic philosophy behind reflexivity in
learning needs the learner to
1. Take responsibility for discovering personal learning needs and attempt to
ensure that they are met
2. Accept that you only learn in this way by examining ‘vulnerable’ issues, the
cutting edge of student experience
3. Really question, analyse what they do, what they think, and what they feel
However, I consider these to be crucial benefits.
So at the start of the course module I invited my new student group (by letter) to keep
learning journals to be submitted to me after completion of fourth tutor marked
assignment. I indicated these could be kept ‘on-line’ or pen and paper. I assured
them that they would not be named in the paper I would write based on their
narratives. 8 volunteered of these 2 used a personal blog and 6 used pen and paper.
In addition 1 of my students in prison asked if he could join the project, my contact
with him was face to face monthly, but he was not able to join in the telephone
conferences.
Stages.
1. Letter asking for participants.
2. Telephone conference briefing which set out the broad objectives asking
them to look out for
Critical incidents or significant experiences which occurred
Their feelings associated with those incidents/experiences identifying both
positive and negative
What actions they took in response to deal with these
3. Monthly phone calls to each student keep contact and motivation going.
4. Personal debrief telephone tutorials once the journals had been submitted.
5. Telephone conference for all 8 students
6. Carried out a content analysis.
My overall research aim was to draw up a rich picture which ‘captured’ key points in
students experience and be able to identify possible markers for the proactive
intervention systems envisaged by Student Support Review and thus for support
team staff development and practice.
My overall aim for the students was that by writing learning journals and engaging in
the reflexive process that they would be able to identify some personal outcomes and
gains from the process, and incorporate reflexive learning as one of their study
habits.
I set these as my overall learning outcomes for writing learning journals:1. Helps you clarify your own thinking
2. Allows you to express feelings about yourself peers associate lecturers
course module content your own work
3. Helps you identify misunderstandings/non understandings
4. Can help you identify needs
5. Can inform a dialogue between you and your associate lecturer/peers
6. Allows you to perceive links between knowledge/experience past/present.
Full description of project outcomes
What did you find out / produce?
If you created a product – were you able to pilot your project? and what refinements
did you make as a result of this piloting?
If you created a product – were you able to pilot your project? And what refinements
did you make as a result of this piloting?
I had highlighted 2 sets of objectives for this project
 Creating a rich picture of the learning journey of a group of new Social
Science students
 Providing an opportunity for students to ‘practice’ reflexivity and incorporate
this into their learning
The content of the journals and personal tutorials provided ample evidence that these
learning outcomes were met.
Students reported that writing learning journals
1. Helps you clarify your own thinking, writing something down ‘preserved’ it and
made it accessible to analyses.’how on earth could I think that’ was a
comment repeated often
2. Allows you to express feelings about yourself, peers, associate lecturer,
course module content and your own work in such a way that you could read
it later and make sense of it-and let off steam without making trouble for
yourself. The ‘thinking before you speak’ gain as one student observed.
3. Helps you identify misunderstandings/non understandings. This was
particularly important given that they were studying social science and having
to take on board new ways of looking at familiar things and mistakes
previously made
4. Can help you identify needs. All the students indicated that reading their tutor
marked assignment comments and writing their journals helped them identify
gaps and the help they needed and could get.
5. Can inform a dialogue between you and your associate lecturer/peers. This
emerged particularly strongly as very helpful in terms of preparing for face to
face and telephone tutorials, one student highlighted how he had learnt to
communicate…..
6. Allows you to perceive links between knowledge/experience past/present.
This resonated with all. ’I could have a moan to my diary…..it kept me
sane….it made me think about what I did…I developed new strategies when I
made myself think about what was happening and how I was feeling
These learning journals are rich in narrative, and at times made painful
reading - it was a privilege to be able to read them and to discuss with each
student the impact of the course module.
I would highlight that the choice of critical incidents as listed below, which I used as a
‘voices’ session at the CETL conference were all chosen by the students themselves.
I invited them to select an incident which for them had been very significant and
which had led to new learning/strategies and which they would like Open University
staff to hear rather than read at the Conference. The extracts were recorded in the
lunchtime of a Day School, amid much laughing and encouragement, extracts were
shuffled and selected at random
Content analysis
1. Submitting and receiving tutor marked assignments created high levels of
anxiety, as did attending contacting associate lecturers, attending face to face
tutorials.
2. Only 2 had convenient access to IT and were able to use the electronic tutor
marked assignment system. 6 of the students expressed feeling
disadvantaged and a bit cross…they paid the same money…...
3. There was confusion about role of associate lecturer and tutorials on distance
learning.
4. Role conflict came very high on the list of incidents recorded (I would sum
this up as indicating that a major task for Open University students is
positioning their new learning role with their existing social roles )
5. Learning new ways of looking at familiar things presented problems for
amongst others a young Muslim woman, a prisoner, a mother and created
conflicts in their non Open University student roles
6. All enjoyed the process of writing their journals, and were surprised by this
and indicated it actually helped with their problem with writing.
7. All indicated that ‘formalising’ reflexivity’ in this way helped them identify new
learning and develop new ways of dealing with old problems.
8. All indicated they liked being able to talk about themselves ‘as of right’ so
being telephoned was very different than picking up the telephone to call!
The project underlined one of the issues in adult education, learning for adults is not
just about taking in new knowledge and skills it is also about abandoning old ways of
doing and thinking and being, which can be very painful and costly as well as exciting
and challenging and leading to new opportunities, and poses the question to the
providers of adult education about what responsibility we have for the indirect costs.
I finish with the extracts that the students chose, there is of course [module] many,
many more.
M I geed myself up to go to what the OU [Open University] called a tutorial. I went
along and this tutor [associate lecturer] said ‘welcome to my undergraduate group’
and made a joke about how now I was an undergraduate I could go out and behave
badly and then police wouldn’t arrest me , we talked a bit about something called
‘status passage’ I learned my first bit of social science jargon…day after I went to
work, and my gaffer came over…knew what he was going to say, right you muppet
get over to stores…I thought to myself who is the muppet ….
F I got this letter from someone who said they were my tutor [associate lecturer]
inviting me to attend tutorials and a Day School it really threw me because when I
signed up I just thought I would get the books and sit in front of the tele. Anyway, I
looked up tutorial in the dictionary and didn’t like the sound of that but went to this
Day School thing I nearly didn’t go in, they all looked a bit posh, some had
briefcases…did go in it was OK until this man at the front asked me a question I
hadn’t a clue what he was asking me and I wet myself there and then and had to
leave..
M I ‘d got stuck into a row in a tutorial with these 2 gobby women, we were onto Book
3, all that stuff about patriarchy and they were giving it rice about women being
victimised and it was making me mad and I don’t know why I remembered it but I’m a
domestic electrician see, and I had gone to this house a few weeks ago and when I
got there the woman couldn’t let me in, the doors were all locked from the outside. I
remembered thinking what was HE thinking, she could have burned to death if there
had been a fire, whats that about…
M They give you all this stuff about changing your ways, the big word for it is
rehabilitation. I signed up for courses [course modules] …doing courses [course
modules] in prison gets you into the education block and you can have cups of tea
and talk to lecturers…I ended up on this OU [Open University] Social Science course
[module], first year of a degree, me….had this conversation with my tutor [associate
lecturer] about cultural imperialism, I saw the screw’s face. I got it later, you’re scum
you are .waste of taxpayers money. I think screws need us to stay scum so that
they can feel better about themselves…
F I didn’t tell my husband I had signed up he was out all day so I thought I could hide
it, but I’d listened to these OU [Open University] women who’d stood outside our
ASDA one day – I’d seen all the stuff on tele about changing your life…and thought
I’d like a bit of that I was really enjoying it all and then he found my books, he threw
them all down the rubbish chute (we live on the 7th floor) I get on well with Ted the
caretaker so next morning when my husband had gone to work I went to see him and
said I had to go through the bins…there I was with big rubber gloves picking my way
through everything but I got it all back and cleaned it up. I leave it all in my pals flat
next door now. Am not sure how long I can do this though,
F I would have said I’d got lots of confidence…till it came to getting my first TMA
[tutor marked assignment] back and I just couldn’t open it…I hid it…my husband
found it a couple of days later and said aren’t you going to open this. I felt sick, it
dawned on me how much face I would lose if I couldn’t pass this course [module], I’d
gone out on a limb, done the everyone can do this social science stuff, it’s a
doddle…he opened it and told me I had 62% so had a pass, I hope by TMA06 [sixth
tutor marked assignment] I will be able to open the envelope myself.
F I got a brick through my window last week . I live on a tough estate, I have lived in
the same house for years, got on with all my neighbours…then I signed up for an OU
[Open University] course [module] and told them all , I was really proud of
myself…they turned on me, who do you think you are, looking down on us next, think
you are better than us…then the brick…I don’t know which way to turn
M There is this bloke came to the first 2 tutorials I went to, he’s a teacher and he
goes on and on, he knows everything about everything, after we all got our first TMA
[tutor marked assignment] back he was giving it large ….I can’t have only got 63%
after all I am a teacher, I wanted to smack him in the mouth, I’d been really proud of
my 58% thing is the tutor [associate lecturer] seems scared to tackle him, won’t shut
him up, I think its because of the race difference. I stopped going to tutorials after that
F I am a single parent- the last few weeks have been awful. My son arrived home
from University to tell me he had dropped out, given up his Social Science course
[module], that it was a waste of space and just went on and on about it keeping me
up every night till the early hours wanting to talk (we have always been close) he
was upset when I carried. on with my course [module] and he is putting pressure on
me to give it up.
F I hate having to hide my books, but one of my brothers got hold of Book 3 and
burned it, my mother is standing up for me to carry on, but I am not allowed to go to
tutorials now.
What obstacles or difficulties were there – if any?
None. The Social Science Staff Tutors in my region were very supportive of this
project, and my students volunteered with enthusiasm! - and given my own interest in
reflexive learning the ‘over and above time’ I committed to the project was self
rewarding.
Reflection on practice
What do you think you have learnt?
What did you, or will you change, in your own practice, as a result of your project?
1. Getting off a train one is cautioned to ‘mind the gap’ this project
demonstrated that the Open University needs to ‘mind the gap’ between its
systems assumptions/models of the student and the experience of many.
2. I am convinced of the necessity of incorporating learning journals into the
Psychology degree thus ensuring that developing reflexivity is an
acknowledged and respected learning outcome.
3. I am also convinced that writing learning journals in the first person singular is
an important reason why journals contribute to improved learning –it may be
a coincidence but all 8 students on the project have completed the course
module. In spite of 2 having very shaky starts as far as the first 2 tutor marked
assignments were concerned, all had an overall course module score of
above 60% to take into the final assignment
4. It has reinforced my determination to be more proactive in my contact/work
with students, I will phone monthly having agreed convenient times, and
initiate conversation and will continue to encourage the keeping of learning
journals.
5. The place/need for an Open University ‘virtual freshers week’ became
abundantly clear during this project facilitating new learners to embrace the
student role, become part of the student community and thus establish links
to combat isolation and to provide the opportunity to get to know Open
University procedures and administration In the absence of this I intend to run
a pre-course module telephone conference if not all students are on line,
otherwise I will facilitate an on-line conference.
Implementation suggestions or ideas
Which outcomes would you recommend being implemented?
What changes in practice might be needed?
What resources might be needed?
I repeat here points from my own reflection on practice (above) and would like to see
them implemented:
1. Incorporate learning journals into the Psychology degree thus ensuring that
developing reflexivity is an acknowledged and respected learning outcome.
2. Find ways to incorporate writing learning journals into course modules and
thus establish developing reflexivity as a learning outcome
3. Establish proactive contact with students on Level 1 course modules e.g.
monthly phone call to talk through progress.
Resource implications: Given all the changes taking place as a result of SSR these
could slot in as part of the new shape.
Do you have any ideas for further enquiries/ projects?
Yes, submitted, but this was rejected.
Have you had any opportunities to disseminate or share your ideas?
1. Oral presentation at CETL Building Bridges Conference.
2. In discussions with Nick Watson, responsible for producing Open University’s
iTunes U site, feeding in my PILS project work to help develop/ pilot tools and
techniques to raise student confidence and develop communication skills
3. In planning with my staff tutor to conduct Regional CPD activities
a) Action Learning Sets with Openings Tutors [Associate Lecturers] and
b) Day Conference for Associate Lecturers
4. Outside the Open University I have been approached by a National Voluntary
Agency to carry out a similar project working with facilitators.
Did you enjoy the experience of being a PILS consultant?
Is the principle of providing this type of opportunity a good one i.e. for Associate
Lecturers to look at their practice or undertake a development activity?
Is the consultant idea a good one?
In brief, yes to all 3 questions, particularly when as an associate lecturer you can
share your PILS work with other associate lecturers who have not got the ‘paid
space’ to undertake such work, it is a privilege.