Ulster University Partners with Explorance to Bring Blue and MLY To Top Higher Education Institution in the UK And Ireland

Ulster University, recently crowned University of the Year 2024 at the prestigious Times Higher Education Annual Awards, has signed up to Explorance Blue and Explorance MLY as it progresses a “strategic model of continuous enhancement” around student voice. Blue replaces an existing in-house module survey system, and MLY marks a new dawn for the University in how it analyses open-ended student comments.

“We want to better understand what student voice is saying as part of our programmes,” explained Ursula McTaggart, Senior Lecturer in the Centre for Quality Enhancement, who is leading the roll-out. “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 established to thoroughly examine and assess the existing student feedback mechanisms within the University and explore the most effective practices employed throughout the sector. The group also aims to identify and establish the most suitable student feedback model for Ulster, provide guidance on acquiring a new system, and ultimately formulate an implementation plan and oversee its efficacy.

“During this process I was invited by Explorance to the Student Voices in Higher Education Conference last year, and was really impressed,” Ursula revealed. “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.”

Ursula 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.”

Ulster, which Uni Compare also ranks as the number one university in Northern Ireland, is embarking on a strategic learning and enhancement programme, underpinned by student voice. “Students are exhausted with surveys, so we are looking to be more strategic with the number of surveys going out,” Ursula said. “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.

She continued:

“We are using MLY for module evaluations straight away by analysing feedback of comments from semester one and intend on using it for NSS and the Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey later this academic year. 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, the University’s Dean of Learning Enhancement, commented:

“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.”