Jon Childs (AJP) and Leanne Rowlands (ESCM) have kindly written us an update on their projects which the Strategic Portfolio and Business Change Team (SPABC) have been working on….
Assessment Journey Programme (AJP)
The Assessment Journey was an ambitious project to deliver a consistent, seamless and improved assessment experience for students and staff supported by efficient and integrated processes and systems. It started back in 2013 and was developed around three main phases of delivery, based around the academic calendar for 2014/15, 2015/16 and 2016/17.
The programme has just recently come to a close and the team are now supporting transition of the changes in to the business.
The outcomes will enable the University to achieve:
- A consistent experience of assessment for students across courses
- Improved clarity of what is to be assessed, when and how
- Simpler submission arrangements
- Submission of work and provision of feedback online
- Improved access and legibility to feedback
- Efficient systems and processes to support the effective delivery of assessment
The core programme team was made up of Jon Childs, Lucy Fawcett, Paul Dewsnap, Stuart Hepplestone, Kathryn Roughton and Jo Roberts supported the programme with project management, business analysis, technology enhanced learning knowledge and communication expertise. The team were described by stakeholders as ‘flexible, approachable, diplomatic, responsive and supportive, engaging well and providing intensive support to the work of the programme’.
Enhancing Student and Curriculum Management (ESCM) Programme
The ESCM programme was established in 2015 following a SITS review to enhance and develop the SITS system and the related business processes so as to maximise the potential for student and curriculum management to make a better contribution towards the sustainability of the University. The programme has been delivered over 3 years split into 2 projects:
AMA – Academic Model and Automation (Sarah Blackburn)
CPOP – Curriculum Portal and Online Processes (Leanne Rowland)
The findings from the SITS review was that SHU had been an early adopter of the student & curriculum management system and since implementation had not fully utilised enhancements to the system. We needed to review the way our records were held to increase efficiencies, increase the data held in SITS (removing reliance on locally held spreadsheets) and make the data available to a wider range of University staff to improve understanding and accuracy of the data over time.
Both projects have worked with a range of staff from across the University including Registry, DTS, Faculty Professional Services and AQS to:
- Implement a new course and module data model increasing efficiency and maintainability of the system
- Utilising SITS more effectively by ensuring the correct fields are being used to hold data and decommissioning UDF’s
- Automation of Registry process such as Break in Study, Closing Down Records, Transfers
- Move the Extenuating Circumstances processes online for students (Request to Repeat and Assessment Attempt and Request to Extend a Submission Date) improving the student experience, providing consistency across faculties and increasing reporting capability
- Hold and maintain additional data in SITS such as Extra-Curricular Student Achievements, External Examiner, PSRB, Course Module Leaders and Professional Services roles associated with courses removing the reliance on locally held spreadsheets, removing duplicate entry and providing wider visibility of the data
- Launch of Curriculum View and Student View which provides staff with an easy to navigate window into the data held in SITS about our Curriculum and Students to support them in their roles
- The final delivery will be Curriculum Catalogue which moves our New Course & Module Requests and Modification Requests online and will support ongoing work towards CMA compliance
