1. ByALS-ForALs: an online AL Staff Development programme in the STEM Faculty Janet Haresnape (Staff Tutor), Fiona Aiken and Nirvana Wynn (ALs)
Queries to
eSTEeM Conference, 25th April 2017

2. Rationale and Aims of the programme
Staff Development should be about developing teaching practise, but in reality often becomes focussed on ‘imparting information’.
ALs rarely meet face-to-face now so opportunities to share ideas and support each other in an online community is more important than ever before.
Aims
To enable ALs to share good practice
To build community feeling among STEM ALs

3. Organisation of the ByALs-ForALs events
Based on an initiative originally set up for Science ALs – monthly sessions from Feb 2015 to June Extended to include all STEM ALs after Faculty merger
Programme now has own website and address
Programme put together from proposals received. Presenters each paid 1 DL day
ALs sign up to attend on a wiki. Actual attendance is recorded on ALAR. Sessions are recorded.
All participants asked for feedback on each session, anonymised feedback sent to each presenter

4. First schedule – Science ALs
First 12 events were run for Science ALs before Faculty merger
Title of Session
Date
Sharing best practise in marking TMAs
Feb 2015
Making OU Live a positive experience for students
Mar 2015
What could a MOOC and a bit of money do for you as an AL?
Apr 2015
Supporting geographically dispersed students
May 2015
Managing student expectations – retention and progression
Jun 2015
Informal drop-in session to discuss experience of early TSA
Oct 2015
HEA recognition via the independent route
Dec 2015
Tutorial design – linking theory with practise
Feb 2016
Supporting and motivating students
Mar 2016
Online student group projects
Apr 2016
Making reasonable adjustments for AR students
May 2016
Helping students engage with online materials
Jun 2016

5. Science AL participation Feb 2015-Jun 2016

6. Feedback from Science AL participants

7. Feedback from Science AL participants

8. Science AL Participation in first 7 sessions
Number of ALs and number of sessions each attended
104 different Science ALs participated in one or more of first 7 sessions (out of ~ 500).
69 of these were different from those who attended recent face-to-face event.
Many more downloaded recordings.
This graph includes data up for the first nine session, ie sessions up until March 2016 only – data for the most recent events has not been added
Identified 16 regular participants
Asked for feedback on programme as a whole

9. Feedback from Science Faculty programme
Gives valuable experience of being a participant in an OU Live session – good insight into how it feels to be a student - useful teaching model on what works well in OU Live – and what doesn’t
Interesting to see how ALs replicate students’ behaviour in OU Live rooms, eg chatting on side issues
Gives ALs the chance to exchange ideas in real time (cf forums), helps reduce feeling of isolation – good to see familiar names each time
‘Hints and tips picked up have more than made up for time spent attending them’, ‘learnt about OU Live tools I didn’t know existed’
Need session times/days published well in advance, preferably both daytime and evening time slots
More informal discussion time needed

10. STEM Faculty programme, from October 2016
Creating community spirit - more challenging for large cohort of STEM ALs (more than1500) than for just Science ALs (approx. 500)
Call for proposals sent to all STEM ALs in September 2016 (6 submissions accepted) and again in April 2017 (12 submissions accepted)
STEM Staff Tutors asked to mention the programme at AL CDSA and encourage ALs to submit contributions
Mix of evening and daytime sessions scheduled
Presenters give detailed outline of what their session will cover, and asked to stick to description and allow plenty of informal discussion time
Schedule published in advance (as far as possible) and reminders send by CAMEL before each event
Day to day running of programme undertaken by ALs Fiona Aiken and Nirvana Wynn

11. Dedicated STEM-ByALs-ForALs website

12. STEM sessions: October 2016 – March 2017
Six events have been run for STEM ALs since Faculty merger
Title of Session
Tutor’s previous Faculty
Date
Getting to grips with breakout rooms
Science and MCT
Oct 2016
Developing techniques for online tutorials
MCT
Nov 2016
Use of BOCs and MOOCs (FutureLearn to support OU students)
Dec 2016
Motivating learners with Video
Science
Jan 2017
Individual support sessions – what works well?
Feb 2017
Helping students engage with online materials
Mar 2017

13. Participation Oct 2016 – Apr 2017

14. Feedback from STEM AL participants

15. Feedback from STEM AL participants

16. STEM AL Participation in first 6 sessions
Identified 9 regular participants*
Asked for feedback on programme as a whole
Number of sessions attended
* Different ALs from regular participants in the Science programme

17. Daytime or evening preference?
The session on Helping students to engage with online materials was part of the Science programme, held during the day, and the 26 participants asked for preferred time:
hrs session, 26 ALs  
 13/26(50%) prefer daytime
11/26 (42%) prefer evenings
2/26 (8%) didn't vote
Same session repeated as part of the STEM programme, held during the evening with different participants, who were asked again:
hrs session, 26 ALs 
5/26 (19%) prefer daytime
16/26 (62%) prefer evenings
5/26(19%) didn't vote.
STEM sessions are currently a mix of daytime and evenings

18. Some negative comments – mostly relating to individual sessions:
I don't know how to make break out rooms work better but they are not often a productive use of time.
Realised how disorientating it is when tutor moves you in and out of breakout rooms.
Wish breakout room session could have been with a smaller group of ALs
It came as a shock to be told by an AL that OU Live is to be withdrawn. Maybe this information has been otherwise disseminated, but it had the session off on the wrong foot from the start.
Far too much time was spent on sharing screens - I have only attempted this once and have no desire to do so again.
Most of us were lost in the description of screen sharing which was too technical and not as advertised. If session had been sharing your desktop with students I would not have signed up.
The STEM sessions generally come from a science faculty perspective. I would like to see more content from the technology or mathematics faculty.

19. Overall feedback from STEM sessions
'One hour invested; many hours will be saved in the future'.
It broadened my horizons beyond marking the next TMA!
I really appreciate colleagues being willing to share their expertise, thank you
Useful to get experience of what it's like to be in a students position.
Excellent opportunity to interact with other tutors - without this tutoring can be quite isolating. I wish other Faculties (where I taught previously) had had such a program
Opportunities for ALs to discuss issues are limited - this programme gives us a chance to meet and share experiences 
Good to get to know other ALs better in a peer environment where we can share experiences and be honest with each other
Presenting in this programme was a very positive experience
Thank you for a chance to practice new skills in friendly and welcoming atmosphere
Keep doing what you're doing - it's great.

20. New programme May – Dec 2017
to inform all STEM ALs, both UG and PG, sent last week
Title of session and presenter
Date
Time
ALs signed up so far
20 ways to engage your students. Katharine Jewitt
Wed 26 Apr  8
Using Adobe Connect to deliver STEM tutorials, maximising advantages and avoiding pitfalls.
Isabella Henman
Mon 10 July 13
The use of evaluations as low cost and valuable ‘research’ activities.  Christine Heading
Thurs 11 May
Supporting students with autism.  Kay Saunders
Wed 31 May 4
Referencing and avoiding plagiarism - helpful hints and top tips.  Jane King
Tues 10 Oct (provisional*)
Online Tutorials - making reasonable adjustments for students with sensory impairment.  Nick Morley
Wed 1 Nov (provisional*) 1
TMA feedback - sharing our ideas!  Sarah Daniell
Tues 28 Nov 
(provisional*)  2
* In next financial year so still awaiting funding approval

21. We have more sessions planned for 2018, and hope to be able to keep this programme going in future years
Any questions?
Grateful thanks to:
All the past presenters – Fiona Aiken, Sonia Bussey, Paige Cuffe, Sarah Daniell, Olivia Kelly, Harriet Kopinska, Catherine Halliwell, Aoife MacCormac, Susan Morris, Peter Thomson, Rianne ten Veen, Janette Wallace, Tom Wilks, Nirvana Wynn
AL Support and Professional Development Group for financial support to pay presenters
for images