We enjoyed meeting many of our students at our free consultation events, held between 21 and 28 March. The sessions proved to be very fruitful, with 142 people attending across the week.
We had six face-to-face consultations in the following venues:
- Manchester (23 attendees)
- Belfast (16 attendees)
- Edinburgh (21 attendees)
- Cardiff (15 attendees)
- Milton Keynes (36 attendees)
- London (31 attendees)
We also held an online session on Monday, 23 March, which attracted 73 attendees.
The following topics were discussed:
- Online invigilated exams: what do students really think?
Listening to lived experiences and personal views – good or bad – about online invigilation.
- Face-to-face exams vs online invigilation
Whether the OU should prioritise in-person exams, online invigilated assessments, or a mix of both?
- Volunteering with Open SU: what works for you?
What motivates our students to volunteer, the barriers they face, and what kinds of roles interest our students.
Our students enjoyed meeting one another and really engaged with the topics in question. We received great feedback regarding which exam format they were more comfortable with (face-to-face or online invigilated exams), while discussions around volunteering involved students telling us what their dream role would be like, as-well as discussions about time frames and level of commitment.
We're grateful to everyone who took part – attendees and our student leaders who hosted each event. Keep your eyes on oustudents.com for a report on our findings, which will be published this summer.