The Student Leadership Team discussed items raised on the Student Issues page of the OU Students Association website at the weekend’s quarterly Student Leadership Team meeting.
The top two issues raised by students were the consistency of tutors and module delivery for neurodivergent students.
Tutor consistency
On the consistency of tutors, students mentioned a range of occasions where they experienced inconsistencies including:
- Marking criteria for assessments
- The time of day that tutorials are scheduled
- Use of and access to TGF forums
- Referencing rules
The Student Leadership Team agreed that certain inconsistencies can be particularly problematic for students and have an impact on the student experience and their ability to achieve their study goals.
It was agreed that student reps on committees and Boards of Studies across all Open University faculties should be advocating for greater communication between those responsible for module delivery with a view to achieving a more consistent experience for students. The Students Association will therefore be producing and providing guidance for student reps to help them to have these conversations in the appropriate spaces.
If you have experienced inconsistencies that you would like to raise officially, please contact your Student Support Team within the Open University.
Module delivery for neurodivergent students
On the issue of module delivery for neurodivergent students the problem expressed was that many aspects of studying in a higher education setting are experienced very differently by neurodivergent students. In particular the time constraints of exams and the presentation of online learning materials.
The Student Leadership Team agreed that the Students Association must continue to emphasise to that a standardised approach to neuro-diverse students will not work and that tailored adjustments must be available.
Next steps
The Student Leadership Team has committed to developing action plans for both of these issues and will provide updates via the Students Association website.
If you have an issue you want the Student Leadership Team to discuss at their next quarterly meeting, you can raise it via the Student Issues page on our website.