These are the slides from the making the most of course information project seminar 13th July 2012 for PCA

1. JISC
Making the most of Course Information
Project
Elaine Garcia & Kerry Dungay
egarcia@plymouthart.ac.uk
kdungay@plymouthart.ac.uk

2. Stage 2 – Dissemination of Research from
Stage 1
• Survey included 29 Questions designed from pilot open ended
question
• 2 week window to respond
• Utilised surveymonkey
• 94 HE Students responded
• 29 FE Students responded
• Questions such as…..
When you first thought about choosing a course how important were
the following factors to you……

3. 0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
9
6
6
3
2
FE Students
2
2
1
1
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
UCAS
26
The website
24
Online
21
College Prospectus
12
9
Onsite
7
Word of mouth
5
Open day
First place students looked
4
Professional referral
HE Students
4
Google
3
Other
3
Already studying at…
2
Leflets/newspapers
1
Radio

4. When first thinking about choosing a
course, factors that were important.
FE Students HE Students
• The most important factor was • Almost 100% of respondents
course content said that course content and
facilities and resources were
• Other important factors were very important
facilities and
resources, atmosphere and • Atmosphere and career related
career related issues issues were also very
important
• No one found course content
unimportant

5. Location, Location, Location
FE Students HE Students
What was important about location
14 What was important about location
25
12
20
10
8 15
6 10
4
5
2
0
0

6. Changing my mind….
Have any of the factors that you thought were important / unimportant changed
as you are getting closer to making a decision about where and what you
wanted to study next?
• FE STUDENTS • HE STUDENTS
o Yes 31% o Yes 33%
o No 69% o No 67%

7. What changed?
FE Students HE Students
• Costs and course tutors became a • Tutors and course content
more important factor became more important.
• Moving away and reputation
became less important

8. I needed to know about...
When you have been thinking about a course is there any information that you
would have liked to have had relating to the course or institution that you have
been unable to access so far?
FE Students
• 72% said they did not need HE Students
more information. • 79% said they did not need more
• Types of information required information
included: • Extra information on module
o Financial information was the highest on the
o Learning outcomes information agenda
o Hours spent with staff and
self study

9. Who’s opinion really matters?
FE Students HE Students
• 94% said that previous students’
• Almost half the respondents (not on same course) opinion was
place importance on the opinion fairly important
of their parents
• 83% said that parents were fairly
• Careers advisor opinion was important
largely fairly important
• Students’ opinions already on the
• Followed by girlfriend/partner/ course were also rated as
boyfriend important

10. Important information sources
FE Students HE Students
How important were the following sources of How important were the following sources of
information to you when you were trying to find information to you when you were trying to find
information about a course or institution? (FE) information about a course or institution? (HE)
25 70 Very
Very Important
20 Important 60
Fairly
50 Important
15 Fairly
Important 40 Neither
10 Important or
Neither 30
Unimportant
Important or Fairly
20
5 Unimportant Unimportant
Fairly 10
Very
0 Unimportant
0 Unimportant

11. When can we meet?
From your experience how important do you think it is to meet the course team /
people who will be teaching you before you make the decision about what /
where to study?
• 58% of FE Students felt it was very important and 38% fairly important
• 76% of HE students felt it was very important and 23% fairly
• Neither group considered it unimportant.

12. What this means for our Stage 2 Project
• Highlighting important information to students:
– Course Content
– Tutors experience
– Tutors research and experience
– Utilising GuildHE CREST Mahara System and working
with ULCC to link aspect of staff portfolios to fields
within XCRI-CAP and provide students with a greater
range of information so they can choose the most
appropriate course and are more likely to make the
right choice