abstract A challenge for maths stats and numeracy

abstract A challenge for maths, stats and numeracy support at Robert Gordon University (RGU) is one we hear about a lot today though it expressed in various different ways -the need to get the most from limited resources. However, this same pressure has resulted in institutional support for a MSOR funded project to employ student ambassadors to enhance maths, stats and numeracy support services and teaching and learning resources –perhaps seen institutionally as a low cost endeavour but also perhaps as an opportunity for students to further enhance their CVs before entering the current tough employment market. The enhancement is in the form of extended promotion of services, evaluation of and creation of new teaching resources and employment of the ambassadors on a number of related mini projects. Our department having initiated some such work with generic study skills ambassadors late in 2011, the more or less coincidental launch of the MSOR “Enhancing Maths Support Centres in Scotland Northern Ireland” call for bids fitted well with where our Study Skills and Access Unit was going as a department. Beyond this, though, we have seen an opportunity to make use of our ambassadors’ skills across the range of mini projects. This is particularly true where students are post graduates, in effect likely to be in highly paid positions in a year’s time and available to our financially stretched department for a nominal cost. We budgeted for eight ambassadors working a total of thirty five hours each which equates to seven five hour weeks as constrained by our teaching semester dates or, by contrast, eight days of a full time equivalent staff member; the latter can’t be in eight different places working on eight different projects over an eight week period. The flexibility offered by employing ambassadors is self-evident. Suddenly there are eight new people for the one tutor to speak to and they are all keenly focussed on what they can do to help. The main outcome from the project is broadened service provision; contact with courses and students who otherwise might not have been aware of our services and broadening of perspective due to working with students from less familiar courses. Within this we have been able to start to do something about targeting specific groups of students such as lowest multiple deprivation quintile, adult returners and articulation or wider access students arriving from college. Using Student Ambassadors to Broaden Maths, Stats and Numeracy Support Services and Materials - John Little main outcomes supported by the HE Academy Maths, Stats & OR Network and sigma ambassador recruitment Six week turn around from advertising posts to signing of contracts. Seven ambassadors recruited from three of eight service user departments plus three inherited from a general study skills ambassador project giving us students from five departments in all; two UG and eight PG students. the ambassadors *Agata Zaremba, PG International Marketing Management Abiola Akanni, PG Purchasing and Supply Chain Management Ana Yordanova UG 3 Communication with Public Relations Daniel Bassey PG Purchasing & Supply Chain Management Ebube Obike PG Purchasing & Supply Chain Management Ernest Boakye-Yiadom PG Oil & Gas Accounting Emmanuel Olorunfemi PG Oil & Gas Engineering Kokouvi Adodo UG 1 Pharmacy *Lex Ryder PG Social Work *Tolu Boladuro PG Computing definition of role to promote services at library sites to gather student proposals for new resources and workshops to evaluate existing and proposed tutor developed resources to make own resource proposals to be ambassadors for target groups to help broaden services for target groups e. g. distance learners to generally work as partners in service development redefinition of role anticipated direct student engagement at library sites did not materialise Þ change of emphasis towards development of ambassadors’ own ideas and evaluation of tutor resources • ambassador blogged feedback on / evaluation of up to 22 proposed resources • ambassador creation of five new potentially usable resources other activities • contacting Student Union reps to promote role => positive engagement via phone-call /e-mail • contacting class reps as a source of resource proposals => very little response (a surprise to staff but not to ambassadors) • development of management reports for year on year comparisons as update of less efficient predecessor process • ambassador feedback on / evaluation of up to 6 generic You. Tube clips Þprobable re-recording of audio • ambassador distillation of resource feedback / evaluation into design rules => slides for Articulate conversion too bland positive about links to video, quizzes and third party resources • we have gained more insight into “hard to reach” faculty through having Business School ambassadors • four ambassadors attended one of our two departmental annual planning days and so are directly feeding into our annual plan -mainly in a recommendation on how to improve our communication with students • we have seen some engagement with previously unencountered courses The main departure from what was planned was creation of mini projects: • blog maintenance => not much engagement • moodle viewing figures follow up => eventually passed to a materials developer • evaluation of third party resources => aiming to match to resource proposals • an internal policy review => awaiting report from ambassador • a review of what other HEIs do => awaiting report from ambasaador • creation of a communications strategy => awaiting final proposal from ambassador • comparison of different moodle content styles => three detailed responses from ambassadors *Three ambassadors had previously worked on a general study skills ambassador project. The project has also had a share of two student materials developers. project blog (password for passworded pages = ji 11 ykins) http: //studentmathssupport. wordpress. com/ other outcomes • we can now not only produce automatic year on year comparisons; we can also categorise our data according to target groups and share with management • filming of five students’ service feedback (including some from one ambassador) -partially arose from discussion at meeting with MSOR mentor • realisation that thesis acknowledgements help promote stats support recommendations • beware that you will get a mix of levels of commitment and productivity • wordpress blog works quite well as a means of collating and sharing project info. • try to get a mix of UG and PG students • a maximum of 4 ambassadors to 1 staff • consider FT UG summer ambassadors