In this 6 minute video, Martin discusses how programme design and delivery is tailored to the needs of Foundation Year students and how support is coordinated across the programme team with a focus on retention and success.  This includes assessment design to drive in-module student engagement, early identification and referral for mental health and educational support needs (44% of students were concerned in 2017/18), reassessment surgeries (15 out of 21 students successfully engaged in 2017/18) and proactive monitoring of attendance and engagement with Blackboard.  Martin concludes that these and other strategies have contributed to high retention of the Foundation Year since its inception in 2015/16, with a provisional figure of 82% of the 2017/18 cohort progressing onto level 4.

Four Approaches to Using Blackboard to Aid Retention

The case study refers to some quick reports you can run with a few clicks in Blackboard to checking on your learners’ activity.  The first 5 minutes of this video shows how to do this:

The video includes further ways of encouraging and evaluating engagement in Blackboard including the ‘Mark Reviewed’ option to show learners have read key content, quizzes to check learners’ understanding and discussion forum-based FAQs to save time and promote peer support.

Contact your Faculty Learning Technologist for more information or if you are interested in a workshop for your School or programme team.