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Bhandari, Renu
(2024).
URL: https://virtual.oxfordabstracts.com/event/64364/su...
Abstract
This paper is a presentation of a research carried out in the Open University, UK that explored the sustained impact of an Access module on mature students from disadvantaged backgrounds as they progress to undergraduate study. This research was framed in the context of Office For Students (OfS) concerns about attrition, and Gorard et al's (2006) conceptualisation of dispositional, situational and institutional barriers. In 2012, the university developed a part-time 30-week distance learning preparatory Access programme (30 credits at Level 0), responding to concerns that tripled Higher Education tuition fees in England would prevent students from the poorest backgrounds accessing HE. To better understand any sustained 'Access effect' the research focused on key aims that explored :
1. Impact on confidence, personal development and learning how to learn (dispositional barriers).
2. Impact on time management and opportunities to engage with digital learning (situational barriers).
3. Engagement with tutor support for progression (mitigating institutional barriers). A combination of student survey and tutor focus group data were collected in a case study at the UK's largest distance learning university. In order to identify the common and unique features influencing learning on the People, work and society Access module, a case study (Simons, 2009; Hamilton & Corbett, 2013) approach was adopted to explore the extent to which the impact of studying the module was sustained (an 'Access effect') into successful undergraduate study. Ethical consent and approvals were gained from the university's Human Research Ethics Committee before the case study started, with registration on the University's Information Asset Register complementing the Data Protection Impact Assessment. All University ethical procedures were followed to ensure integrity in relation to the recruitment and collection of data from tutors and students. Findings suggested an Access module impacted by aligning learner confidence with improved academic writing, provided a crucial preparatory starting point, and led to enhancements in student time management and competence in learning online. Institutional barriers were mitigated through a 1-1 proactive tutoring model.
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