Third Evaluation Report: The Academic Viewpoint

The focus of this evaluation exercise was primarily on student information management by Academic Staff at the University. Three members of staff from each of the four Faculties were interviewed and the sample included Programme Directors, Year Tutors and Module Tutors. Further interviews were also carried out with IS staff, ADQs and Faculty Secretaries, as well as with staff in the Finance Department and the Students Union. Although additional interviews are planned with a selection of students during the Autumn term, and repeat interviews with selected staff to confirm some of the findings, this report largely completes the 'as is' evaluation phase of the project. The key message that emerged was that the academic engagement with the institutional student records system was periodic and mainly related to the reporting of assessment outcomes and attendance monitoring. It identified fact that day-to-day local records were kept by individual tutors and course teams and that these were used for formal reporting at appropriate points in the year. The important message for information management planning was that local record keeping processes were largely below the institutional management radar and that, although invariably aimed at providing optimal student support, varied considerably across the institution as a result. The next phase in the Smudie project will be starting to build a 'to be' model for student information management that takes all the evaluation messages into account. The intention is that it will be strategic in approach and technology independent; specifying the management principles that would ensure consistency and accuracy of information gathering and reporting.