Ulster University has partnered with Explorance to adopt Blue and MLY as part of its efforts to improve the way student feedback is gathered and analysed.
The university, which was named University of the Year 2024 at the Times Higher Education Annual Awards, has decided to implement Explorance Blue as a replacement for its existing in-house module survey system. In addition, Ulster University will employ Explorance MLY to enhance its analysis of open-ended student feedback.
Ursula McTaggart, Senior Lecturer in the Centre for Quality Enhancement, is overseeing the rollout of the new systems. She stated: "We want to better understand what student voice is saying as part of our programmes. The internal system we have been using for end-of-module evaluations was developed 15 years ago, and in recent years engagement with the survey has been in decline, with response rates below 10% institutionally. In the National Student Survey (NSS), we have been scoring lower than we would like in the student voice section; how students give, how we act on feedback, so we set out to see what can we do to improve that, including increasing engagement with end-of-module surveys."
An internal staff-student working group was formed to thoroughly review existing mechanisms for collecting student feedback. The group examined sector best practices, assessed the university's current approach, gave recommendations on acquiring a new system, and has been involved in planning the implementation and evaluation of the chosen solutions.
Reflecting on the process of selecting Explorance as a partner, Ursula McTaggart explained: "During this process I was invited by Explorance to the Student Voices in Higher Education Conference last year, and was really impressed. It was amazing to talk with other members of the Bluenotes community there, and also some who are not using Blue, and it was clear Explorance was who we needed to be working with. We invited Explorance to give a demonstration to our working group, so it was a case of then seeking institutional approval, making a business case, and going from there."
She added: "Having looked at a range of commercial survey options, we chose Explorance for a number of reasons, but the team's responsiveness throughout the process really shone through: with any question, we got an immediate answer. It was simple. We are delighted to purchase Blue (including test server and data dashboard) and MLY. Now, we have pulled together a project implementation team, as we have no student voice/surveys team here, and our plan is to use the new system for all student surveys."
Recognising that students are often asked to complete multiple surveys, Ulster University is aiming to streamline the number and timing of requests. "Students are exhausted with surveys, so we are looking to be more strategic with the number of surveys going out," said Ursula McTaggart. "Evaluations will include mid-module too, as requested by students through focus groups we have run, to enable change within their own module and directly influence their own experience."
The adoption of MLY is immediate, as it will be used to analyse free-text feedback from semester one module evaluations. The university also plans to apply MLY to analyse responses from the NSS and the Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey later in the academic year. Ursula McTaggart commented: "MLY will very quickly give us thematic analysis of student feedback from across the institution. Blue, as our central system, we want up and running by semester one in 2025. The test server we have purchased as part of the agreement is important, as we can make sure it is working prior to release and deliver a seamless roll-out."
Professor Alex Owen, Dean of Learning Enhancement at Ulster University, commented on the new direction: "We are committed to leading the continuous enhancement of a high-quality Ulster University learner experience, and Ensuring Student Voice is one of our learning enhancement themes. Improving engagement with a module evaluation process aligns with several key requirements in the UK Quality Code for Higher Education, including those related to student engagement, assessment, learning and teaching quality, information transparency, and continuous enhancement. Working with Explorance will support us in involving students in the enhancement of their learning experience and ensuring their representation in quality assurance processes."
John Atherton, VP Sales EMEA at Explorance, said: "We are looking forward to working with Ulster University and bringing Blue and MLY together for the first time in Northern Ireland. From an institutional point of view there is a clear need to increase engagement, more so the quality of engagement to make change at curriculum level and using this for meaningful feedback, so we are keen to support that outcome. Importantly the whole system will be integrated in Blackboard Ultra, the University's LMS."
