/ NTFS Project
Six Month Report (January) Template

Contexts

The Six Month January report focuses on procedural issue and forms part of the audit process for NTFS projects. It is also a mechanism for alerting us to any significant changes in project plans.

Please complete the sections below. If you have any queries regarding the completion of the forms please contact the NTFS project strand Project Officer or 01904 717500

Progress Report Project Information

Project lead institution / Professor Sue Thompson
Project title / The Forgotten Year: Tackling the ‘Sophomore Slump’
Lead contact name / Sue Thompson
Reporting period / August –December 2010
1. Activities and progress
With reference to your project plan summarise your achievements during the last reporting period and whether the anticipated objectives, activities or deliverables have been completed.
If there has been any variance from your planned activities please say what the variance is and what its causes were? If applicable, what is being done to get back on track? Will the project plan need to be revised? (Please list as headings or bullet points)
Achievements:
  1. Local Management Arrangements
  2. Project team set up; monthly operational planning meetings to action plan and review progress have taken place
  • Part time Project Officer appointed to provide dedicated administrative and research support to the project team; assists with project planning and has specific responsibility for reporting on expenditure and monitoring of budget
  • Fractional Professorial appointment made of project research expert
  1. Evaluation strategy
  • Self evaluation strand: initiated through project team meetings and project log
  • Collaborative enquiry: ‘critical friend’ external reference group set up with University of Bradford; first meeting has taken place with Becka Currant, NTF, Dean of Students
  • Data collection
Key planned focus of first 6 months:
-Preparation of data from student record system
-Analysis of data & characterisation of whether sophomore slump (second year ‘dip’) is pervasive or local; to identify strategy for investigation
-Preparation of qualitative research design and obtain ethical approval
This has gone to plan with the following outputs:
  • 08/09 data prepared from student record system. Database comprises >5000 students. Organised and coded to >220 variables and transferred from Excel into SPSS
  • Data analysed at module and programme level.
  • 50 programmes identified for analysis (selected on basis of greater than 20 per level).
  • Programmes categorised according to Biglan
  • Data analysed and four performance patterns identified.
  • Ethical application submitted for qualitative analysis.
Team are on track with timescale for data collection as outlined in original proposal. It is now clear that the performance dip is local rather than pervasive.
Future activities
  1. Project Management
  • Arrangements have been made for a Project Board to be established to provide a broader external focus for the project and to lock it into wider strategic development work on promoting student success (to be chaired by PVC Student Experience; external membership to include Director of Institutional Research, University of Amsterdam)
  • Project log to be developed on the institutional virtual learning environment
  1. Research
  • Research moving into qualitative phase and we intend to run Level 2 student focus groups in February/March, 2011
  • We will also draw down 09/10 student record data to see if similar performance patterns exist across subject disciplines.
  1. Dissemination
  • Wider Institutional awareness and involvement is being sought; cross university event being held in February 2011
  • A web presence is being developed for the project, Abstracts to be submitted to EAIR 33rd Annual Forum 2011, Warsaw, Poland, 28-31 August 2011 (deadline 24th January) and HEIR 4th UK and Ireland Institutional Research Conference, Kingston, UK 16-17 June 2011 (deadline 7th February).

3. Any other comments
The project is proceeding according to plan. We have made good progress and there are no issues to report or planned changes to original objectives

I understand that the information provided may be made publicly available on the Academy's website and other publications.

Name / Sue Thompson
Date / 10 January, 2011

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