Apologies for cross-posting
The University of Northumbria at Newcastle (UNN) secured funding from the
JISC to undertake a four-month project investigating the links between
higher education and the National Health Service. The focus of this project
was to identify the most effective processes that enable part-time
post-registration nursing students to have access to electronic information
services at UNN.
Details of this study were posted on discussion lists in January to
determine whether the problems evident in UNN were familiar across other
higher education institutions. It was re-assuring to find that in the eight
institutions from which replies were received problems were present.
The project is near completion and this report is a brief summary of the
draft recommendations that were produced following interviews with 20 UNN
staff, 3 external individuals and focus groups with 92 UNN part-time
post-registration nursing students. The Steering Group (consisting of the
major stakeholders in the electronic registration process at UNN) validated
the findings and recommendations.
Recommendations
Documentation
There needs to be:
- The development of standard descriptors for IDs and passwords to simplify
internal documentation and communication. Currently IT and library staff
attribute different meanings to the same descriptors.
- Student documentation must use the same descriptors as the UNN computer
system. Currently, terminology is inconsistent as student information
sheets use 'network ID' while the university computer system uses
'username'.
- The development of a step-by-step guide, 'how to use your ID and password'
to provide to each student with their enrollment form to reiterate the logon
procedure.
Product Information Management System (PIMS)
There needs to be:
- Additional resources provided to update PIMS (the student record system
used for part-time nursing students) which is currently reliant on the skill
of two individuals; labour intensive; time consuming; and manual. The
system needs to be semi-automated and a committed resource is required to
implement, maintain and develop this new system.
Internal communication
There needs to be:
- Mechanisms to encourage regular communication between the following
stakeholders: HSWE administrative staff; Information Service staff; academic
staff; IT staff and the Registrars Department This would increase awareness
amongst stakeholders of the entire registration process and subsequently the
most appropriate individual to contact regarding specific student enquiries
and problems.
IT / information skills training
There needs to be:
- A re-evaluation of how students acquire the skills to access electronic
information resources. There is currently confusion over whose
responsibility it is to provide refresher sessions to students returning to
UNN for e.g. how to logon to the system. There is concern that students do
not appreciate the necessity for IT skills in there studies and are not
making the connection between evidence-based care and IT skills in their
University course.
The full report will be available in due course from:
<http://is.northumbria.ac.uk/imri>
If you require further information please contact Graham Walton, Project
Manager ([log in to unmask]) or Kathryn Ray, Project Officer
([log in to unmask])
______________________________________
Kathryn Ray
Researcher
School of Information Studies
University of Northumbria at Newcastle, NE1 8ST
Tel: 0191 227 3855, Fax: 0191 227 3671
Email: [log in to unmask]
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|