Transforming the student experience: Manchester Metropolitan University’s EQAL project

Abstract

In 2010, with top level support and direction from its Deputy Vice Chancellor, Manchester Metropolitan University(MMU) set up the EQAL Programme – “Enhancing Quality and Assessment for Learning”. The goal was to make a step-change improvement in student satisfaction by refreshing the entire undergraduate curriculum whilst simultaneously reengineeringadministrative processes and creating a seamless personalised experience that wrapped the university’s information andonline resources around each learner. The ambitious deadline was to deliver a brand new, technology-supported first yearfor September 2011 with the new second year starting September 2012 and the new final year September 2013.

The scale and pace of the project was unprecedented for the UK Higher Education sector, but it delivered on time andproduced significant improvements in MMU’s scores for student satisfaction in national league tables. Study information from across the university is aggregated for every student using web services, and presented in a Moodle VLE and freesmartphone App. Every undergraduate had a personal timetable and a personal assignment and examination calendar.Moodle receives over

50 million hits a year and over 27,000 students have registered for the smartphone App. Students have embraced thetechnology as a two way communication channel with over 10,000 providing over 40,000 comments for tutors each year onthe best things about their course and the things they would like to see improved. Consistent use of tags and identifiers usedto deliver personalized information is enabling sophisticated learner analytics to provide business intelligence todrive improved student retention, satisfaction and success.