Student Engagement 2023-24

Attendance monitoring and taking registers

View the Online Registers guidance notes.

What advice should I give if a student has expressed they would like to withdraw from University?

Students may consider withdrawal for a number of reasons. It is important that we help them think this through, which is best done through a personal meeting.

Meeting with the student:

As a Personal Tutor, you should meet with the student in the first instance.
Be as open, approachable and non-judgemental as possible.
Discus why the student wishes to withdraw.
Find out if the student has discussed their decision with their supporters.
Ask them how long they have been considering this decision for.

Be clear about options and support:

Ask the student if there is anything the University could do to help them stay.
Discuss possible alternative arrangements, adjustments that the school/ department can provide.
If they are not enjoying the course, they could consider a course change as a possible solution.
If they are interested in a different course arrange for the student to meet with a member of the school or department they are interested in.

Practical next steps:

Refer them to the Student Futures team so that they can advise on their future plans.
Refer the student to the Student Funds team to find out how their fees and funding will be affected by withdrawal or transfer.
Clearly explain to the student what happens next; if the student wishes to go ahead with their course withdrawal or transfer they should be supported through the process by their Tutor and appropriate teams as outlined in the below policy.
At this point, you should refer to the Student Transfer Policy which details how the process works.

What advice should I give to a student who would like to change course?

Students may consider changing their course for a variety of reasons. It is important that we support them in making the right decision.

Meeting with the student

The students Personal Tutor should meet with the student.
Discuss why the student is no longer interested in studying the course that they are registered on.
Ask the student to fully explain their reasoning for wanting to change course. It is important that we identify the reasoning.
Be clear to the student that while they are considering different options they should still attend their timetabled sessions and complete assignments.

Be clear about options and support

Ask the student if there is anything the department can do to support them. This is especially important if it seems that they have simply had a bad day in the course they are currently studying.
Discuss the options that the student has for changing course. It may be that the student at this point should seek advice from Student Futures.
Confirm with the student how the course change process works. At Level C, the online course change form (which can be obtained from your University Executive Manger) will need to be filled out and submitted for approval.

Practical next steps

Arrange for the student to meet with the course lead of the course they are interested in studying. The subject lead of the new course the student is interested in should discuss the course in detail with the student to help ensure they are making the right decision. This could be done by taking the student through the course handbook and Moodle.
Clearly explain what happens next if they confirm that they want to go ahead with changing course. Support them in filling out the course change form.
At this point, you should refer to the transfer between courses section of the Student Transfer Policy.

Engagement

There is clear evidence that students who are fully engaged with their studies have a greater chance of success. It is, therefore, essential that the University is clear with students about the requirements in terms of engagement. It is also important that it is made clear to students the University monitors engagement very closely and seriously.

To enable the University and Personal Tutors to have a true understanding of the level of each student’s engagement attendance should be monitored for all academic timetabled sessions.
Personal Tutors should ring students if they miss their tutorial in any week.
Level Leads should access the consecutive absence report as part of their weekly meeting and should ask Personal Tutors to contact the student causing concern.

What can I do if a student is not attending my tutorial group?

Informal Contact from personal tutors.

All staff now have access to a Consecutive Absence Report, which allows staff to see the list of students that have a number of consecutive absences. The report shows:

- The student number and name

- The total consecutive absences, the total number of absences and the total number of attendances

- The school/ department, course code and course name

- For each module the consecutive absences, the total number of absences and the total number of attendances

The report can be found by entering- My Reports via My Hope and going to Student Engagement -> Attendance -> Consecutive Absences. The report is available to all staff is both on and off campus.

All level leads should run the above report weekly. Those students that appear on the report should be called by their Personal Tutor within the same week that the sessions have been missed. Student phone numbers can be obtained by searching the student’s ID number in Student Lookup and clicking on ‘Personal Details.’

Vodafone UC App Guidance

A University staff member can contact students using the Vodaphone UC App on their mobile device, laptop or desktop computer. This app allows you to call students on or off campus using the University telephone number. Read the Guide to Vodafone UC app.

If you experience any issues downloading this app please contact Mike Beecroft beecrom@hope.ac.uk or itshelp@hope.ac.uk.

Possible discussion prompts for students with poor attendance

Make them aware of why you are calling and let them know you have noticed that they have missed x number of sessions this week. Be clear with them what sessions they have missed.
Check in with the student. See how things are going and if there are specific reasons that they have missed their sessions.
At this point, if they have specific worries about the course you could invite them in to meet with you to talk about these.
If you become concerned about the student and their safety you should refer the student to the Student Life Team.

All Tutors should keep a record of when the student was contacted by their Tutor and any informal arrangements agreed to support the student’s attendance getting back on track.

This information should be shared with your University Executive Manager for your area and will be discussed at the weekly Student Engagement Meetings.

Weekly engagement meetings

Weekly engagement meetings ran by each Level Lead should start from the first week of term and run up until the end of the academic year. Terms of reference for these meetings can be obtained from your University Executive Manager and the University expectation is that this meeting runs weekly and are appropriately recorded.

The University requirements and guidance for student engagement are as follows:

Attendance at all timetabled sessions (including tutorials, seminars, workshops, practical’s, laboratory experiments, field trips and lectures as appropriate to your discipline).
Submission of all formative and summative assessments as required.
Active involvement in all student led learning activities.
Active and respectful membership of your learning community.
Demonstration of enthusiasm and passion about your discipline.
The undertaking of study related activities for the equivalent of 40 hours a week during teaching weeks.
Weekly reading of the set material and being prepared to engage in related activities in the tutorial.
Effectively utilising the virtual learning environment and other learning resources.

The Role of Tutors

The role of staff who are responsible for individual Level C tutorial groups is to be both the academic and personal tutors simultaneously for the specific tutorial group. The personal tutor system is regarded as a key element of the student experience at Hope.

The Hope Tutor will:

Aim to build an academic community in their tutorial groups, which emphasises dialogue, values diversity and student self-development, specifically academic resilience and learning autonomy.
Support the development of enquiry and a love of learning in their discipline.
Model and represent their discipline to their students.
Build a relationship with and between students in their group.

With each of their tutees the tutor will:

Establish clear expectations of engagement with study on their course.
Support the development of effective time management and study habits.
Contact students when measures of engagement indicate it is necessary.
Inform the University, by the set dates, if engagement is not adequate.
Signpost to centralised support services and share any specific needs of their students to colleagues across the department.
Provide support in the development of their own personal learning plan including their career trajectory.
Support development of academic literacy.
Guide their academic journey across the curriculum.
Provide continual feedback on learning.
Encourage taking advantage of opportunities, both social and academic across their curriculum and the University; supporting both academic development and pastoral support where necessary or sign post them to the relevant support service when needed.

Tutors need to have as much information about their tutees as possible:

All personal tutors have access to the Students at Risk database so that they are aware of both initial and on course risks for their full tutor group. This database is searchable by individual Personal tutor.
Tutors can download a detailed information sheet for each tutee via the personal Tutor Hub.

Tutorial Content

It is important that students receive coherent and consistent information about their course to allow them to plan their study for the year. This means that course booklets and Moodle should contain the same information such as dates, assignments and other practical details. It is also important that students are very clear about what they should be doing, when it is required and who they can approach for help.

Year heads/HODs should ensure that the whole team in each subject has a clear understanding of the pattern of teaching and assessment in each 60C unit or single 120C unit they are involved in. It is also important that staff are clear about what support can be given (e.g. level of appropriate support on exam questions, Moodle content etc.)
It should be made clear to students that their first port of call for help is their Personal Tutor, followed by the year co-ordinator. This should be followed by signposting to an SSAA. It is crucial that students are only sent to an SSAA if it is a case that cannot be sorted by the Tutor or other members of the school or department team.
The tutorial programme in each subject should include an incremental career planning strand. Feedback indicates that this is more useful as a continual theme throughout the programme rather than having full tutorials/seminars labelled as ‘careers sessions.

Organising Tutorials

The University regards the tutorial as the critical point of engagement for all students. It is, therefore crucial that all students and staff understand the purpose of the tutorial and specifically the need to use them to build personal relationships with students and to track engagement with their studies.

Every Level C tutorial group will consist of 10 students (in departments where recruitment is unexpectedly high this may be exceeded but only with permission of the Deputy Vice Chancellor and Provost. Likewise, lower recruiting subjects should not break up a class of say 14 into two 7s. That would not be sustainable).

To ensure we are consistent with our approach to Tutorials, the following should be in place across all Schools and Departments:

There should be an identified Level C year coordinator for each subject. The year coordinator is the student’s next ‘port of call’ when difficulties arise.
The personal tutor should remain the same throughout the year.
In every Department, the Level C year coordinator will implement and take responsibility for the tutorial system, intervene to support tutors, meet with students who are not engaged and meet with Personal Tutors at least once each weekly. Attendance and engagement shall be checked and problem cases discussed via the weekly engagement meeting.
All Level C tutorial groups will be assigned to a single tutor for the full academic year.
Every Level C 60C unit will have a 55-minute tutorial timetabled every teaching week.