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As part of the Enhancement Theme, we hosted a webinar series that engaged with sector leaders and experts. These webinars considered the use of different types of data (both quantitative and qualitative) in a variety of contexts.


During 2018-19, our webinars attracted over 300 attendees. Around half were from Scottish institutions and students' associations. We also welcomed attendees from all over the UK as well as Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Ecuador, Hong Kong, Ireland, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, and the USA.


For each webinar there is a video of the session (capturing participant chat alongside the slides and audio). The slides are also downloadable in PowerPoint format. Other resources in Word format include:

  • A guide to producing digital stories 
  • An example participant information sheet and consent form for digital storytelling 
  • An ethical checklist for digital storytelling 
  • A template for constructing new orders of evidence 
  • A case study showing how appreciative inquiry can be used to interrogate NSS data 
  • A case study based on fictionalised NSS data 
  • A summary of four key findings on using learning analytics 
  • A guide to using statistical significance to interpret NSS results 
  • A guide to engaging students with KPIs, surveys, and focus groups 
  • Annotated bibliographies.

You can download, customise and repurpose the PowerPoint and Word files under a Creative Commons license.

webinar series videos and resources

How do we really record lectures?

The University of Edinburgh has equipped over 400 teaching spaces with a centrally provided lecture recording service. Jill MacKay used mixed methodologies to explore how staff and student experiences were affected, including National Student Survey, Course Evaluation Questionnaires, and service data. This webinar explored how the University engaged with all available evidence regarding student experience, and shared how they have been developing teaching practice in response.


How do we really record lectures?

Publication date: 18 Dec 2019

Lecture Recording Evaluation

Publication date: 18 Dec 2019

Lecture capture workshop

Publication date: 18 Dec 2019

Student revision guidance

Publication date: 18 Dec 2019




Creating Cultures of Enhancement, Supporting Programme Leadership

Programme Leaders are situated at a key enhancement nexus, located between institution-wide policy, individual course policy, and student experience. The higher education data landscape, from this perspective, is complex and challenging.


Programme leaders are key providers, interpreters and users of a vast array of student, course, programme, and institutional evidence. While engaging with data can be a useful bolster for enhancement activities at programme level, the time and skills needed to appropriately engage with the complexity of evidence is not inconsiderable, requiring the negotiation of PLs situated knowledge alongside institutionally-prioritised metrics.

This webinar draws on insights which have emerged from a QAA Scotland-supported collaborative cluster on programme leadership to:
  • Critically explore the role of the programme leader in the contemporary university context
  • Map key features of the data landscape, as seen from a PL perspective
  • Identify institutional practice which supports and enhances the role of programme leaders as they navigate the evidence for enhancement landscape.

Creating Cultures of Enhancement, Supporting Programme Leadership

Publication date: 20 Nov 2019




Beyond the Metrics: Charting the Intangible Aspects of Enhancement

Not everything that matters or is highly valued in higher education is quantifiable or easily measured. This Collaborative Cluster project explored this complex area through a series of participatory workshops with a range of staff, students and senior managers) across the UK. The authors developed a novel conceptual model and associated mapping process to help institutions identify, evaluate and enhance these so-called “intangible assets”. This webinar provides an overview of the project, the findings, outputs and some guidance on how they might be used as part of a holistic approach to evaluating the student learning experience.


Beyond the Metrics: Charting the Intangible Aspects of Enhancement

Publication date: 22 Oct 2019

Beyond the metrics: Identifying, evidencing and enhancing the less tangible assets of higher education

Publication date: 22 Oct 2019




Students using students' data

Sorcha Kirker, Highlands and Islands Students Association and William Hasty, QAA Scotland presented our final webinar of the series. Data is an important tool, and provides us with the evidence we need in order to enhance the student learning experience, but how much do we involve our students in data processes? What are the barriers, and more importantly, what are the potential solutions? Sorcha Kirker (Vice-President for Higher Education, Highlands and Islands Students Association) talked us through student interaction, engagement with, and use of data, alongside the problems faced in engaging students. It also looked at the positive elements of student involvement, and explored a case study of good practice. The webinar also drew on the work of the Enhancement Theme Student-led project to explore the ways that students in different academic representative systems generate, use and share (or could generate, use, and share) data and evidence to improve the student experience.



Students using students' data

Publication date: 19 Jun 2019

Students using students' data: Engagement activities

Publication date: 19 Jun 2019




Making sense of surveys

Dr Alex Buckley, University of Strathclyde (at the time of this work) presented our eighth webinar. Student surveys are powerful sources of evidence about learning and teaching, but they also have important statistical limitations. Discussions about tools such as the National Student Survey often become polarised; honesty about the limitations of the data can help to foster more balanced views. This webinar discussed a range of accessible ways in which the National Student Survey (NSS) data can be presented that take the statistical limitations into account, and explored what realistic expectations about the NSS’s enhancement role might look like.



Making Sense of Surveys

Publication date: 22 May 2019

Using statistical significance to interpret National Student Survey results

Publication date: 22 May 2019




The power of learning analytics to unpack learning and teaching: a critical perspective

This webinar was presented by Professor Bart Rienties (Open University). Across the globe, many educational institutions are collecting vast amounts of small and big data about students and their learning behaviour. As a result, the field of learning analytics (LA) is exploring how data can be used to empower teachers and institutions to effectively support learners. In this webinar, based upon 6 years of experience with LA data and large-scale implementations amongst 450000+ students at a range of context, Professor Bart Rienties (Open University) used an interactive format to discuss and critically debate the benefits and potential drawbacks of learning analytics.



The power of learning analytics to unpack learning and teaching: A critical perspective

Publication date: 18 Apr 2019

The power of learning analytics to impact learning and teaching: A critical perspective

Publication date: 02 May 2019




Building an evidence-based approach to widening access


Our sixth webinar presented by Dr Stephanie Mckendry (University of Strathclyde / Office of the Commissioner for Fair Access) explored the development of Scotland's Framework for Fair Access. It discussed the challenges in finding the balance between different forms of evidence, and how learning from its development and use can both inform, and be shaped by, the use of evidence and evaluation in other parts of the sector.



Building an evidence-based approach to widening access: Scotland’s Framework for Fair Access

Publication date: 22 Mar 2019




Hunting for evidence in the data landscape

In this webinar, Naomi Jeffery and Erica Hensens (University of Dundee) provide an introduction to the HE Data Landscape resource. We are surrounded by mountains of data and statistics. The resource - and this webinar - aimed to provide a base camp, map and compass for staff involved in managing academic quality to explore and better understand the range of data available to them, and how it may be meaningfully used.



Hunting for Evidence in the Data Landscape

Publication date: 25 Feb 2019




Data Delving: Engaging Staff in Student Experience Data

Nathaniel Pickering from Sheffield Hallam University presented our fourth webinar. This webinar explored the challenges in finding actionable insights upon which to improve the student experience. The session explored how to present and use data for different audiences, along with the use of appreciative inquiry and fictionalised/caricatured data sets.



Data Delving: Engaging Staff in Student Experience Data

Publication date: 25 Jan 2019

Case Study: National Student Survey and Appreciative Inquiry

Publication date: 31 Jan 2019

Case Study: The University of Magic Enterprise

Publication date: 31 Jan 2019




Gathering together: working alongside students in an evidence-critical environment

Dr Jill LeBihan, Head of Student Engagement, Sheffield Hallam University presented our third webinar. This webinar drew on experience of recruiting and working with students as leaders, peer educators and researchers, using evidence to inform their applied projects. We also looked at the evidence for the impact these sorts of activities have on students' experience and academic success.



Gathering Together: working alongside students in an evidence-critical environment

Publication date: 21 Jan 2019

'Gathering Together: working alongside students in an evidence-critical environment’ - Annotated Select Bibliography

Publication date: 25 Jan 2019




JUST ENOUGH? WHY WE NEED TO QUESTION OUR ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT EVIDENCE

Stella Jones-Devitt and Alan Donnelly from Sheffield Hallam University presented our second webinar. It explored the use of evidence to drive improvement in educational practice. This topic has progressed in recent years, yet the idea of evidence-informed practice remains unclear and controversial. This webinar debated the nature of evidence and the role of methodology in educational decision-making, with particular focus on credibility. The presenters also discussed the promises and pitfalls of hierarchies of evidence, and the effectiveness of using unreliable data to capture unintended consequences.



Just enough? Why we need to question our assumptions about evidence

Publication date: 27 Nov 2018

Just enough? Why we need to question our assumptions about evidence - constructing a new order of evidence (template)

Publication date: 27 Nov 2018

Just enough? Why we need to question our assumptions about evidence - annotated bibliography

Publication date: 27 Nov 2018




Engaging student and staff voices

Dr Liz Austen from Sheffield Hallam University presented our first webinar. It explored the scope, principles and practices of engaging student and staff voices within higher education. It began with a discussion about the scale and type of current methods and a plea to consider more innovative, inclusive and empowering approaches. There was a specific focus on the use of digital storytelling for engaging staff and students along with suggestions for integrating student and staff voices within methodologies. The webinar also highlighted the ethical considerations within this type of work.



Engaging Student and Staff Voices

Publication date: 19 Oct 2018

Digital storytelling - Example Participant Information Sheet and Consent Form

Publication date: 19 Oct 2018

How to produce digital stories with students and staff in higher education

Publication date: 19 Oct 2018

Digital Storytelling - Ethical checklist

Publication date: 19 Oct 2018