Middlesex University The Brightside Trust

Project Evaluation Report Access Support Ementoring Programme for Barnet College Access Students

February 2010

Access Support Final Project Evaluation Report 2

Title of proposal:

Ementoring programme for Access to Health and Social Care Students

Name of proposer:

Marta Topornicka Hayriye Mehmet

Role:

Outreach Manager Student Services Manager

Email: M.Topornicka@mdx.ac.uk Hayriye.Mehmet@barnet.ac.uk

Telephone: 02084116353 07798583616

0208 266 4240

Department:

British Isles Regional Office Admissions and Learner Services

Head of Department:

Mike Dawney Julie Crabb

Name and address of institution:

Middlesex University Hendon Campus The Burroughs Hendon London NW4 4BT

Barnet College North London Business Park Oakleigh Road South London N11 1GN

Other Institution involved

The Brightside Trust

Report Content:

1. Project Summary - aims and objectives …………………………………………………………………………………………………

3

2. Evaluation of the project: 3

- detailed evaluation of project deliverables …………………………………… 4

- project delivery: issues and comments ……………………………………………… 4

- outcomes and successes

………………………………………………………………………………

- performance against planned budget

…………………………………………………..

7

7

3. Summary / Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

8

Access Support Final Project Evaluation Report 3

1. Project Summary - aims and objectives

Middlesex University and Barnet College partnered with The Brightside Trust to develop an e-mentoring scheme, targeted at students enrolled on the Access to Health Professions and Nursing and Access to Social Work courses. The pilot ran from September 2008 to June 2009. Since September 10 mentors (from Middlesex University) and 18 mentees (Barnet College) were recruited and trained from one Health and Social Care Access Group. All mentees were mature students and 15 had not taken part in formal education or training for at least five years. All mentors were pre-selected from second year of University degree matching Access Students future course of interests. The project met all of Primary Objectives set in the Development Plan:

To contribute to an increase in the progression rate of Access to Higher Education (HE), To contribute to an increase in retention during the first year of HE, Support Access Students’ through the UCAS application process, Provide mature students with meaningful and informative relationships with a full time

undergraduate student attending university, Develop a flexible and supportive ementoring platform suitable for this particular type

of student. The Brightside Trust’s flagship medicine/healthcare ementoring website, Bright Journals was used as a communication platform between Access Course students and Middlesex University Mentors. The Brightside Trust provided extensive monitoring of mentor and mentee conversations including contacting mentor/mentees directly to facilitate and support the mentoring relationship development and growth. The Brightside Trust also developed a number of articles for the Further Education (FE) access students covering Access courses, personal statements, finance issues and career profiles – 15 articles were written as a direct effect of this project. In addition, 135 medical/healthcare related articles were populated to the Bright Journals library since the project began in September. A total of approximately 30 useful articles for mentors and mentees was added to the Bright Journals FE section during this project.

2. Evaluation of the project 2.1. Evaluation of project stages, milestones and outcomes

Project was delivered in line with established timeframe, with minor adjustments. Details of project milestones and full project delivery schedule are attached in Appendix 1, though for the purposes of this report can be outlined in four following sections:

- Project preparation and partner communication – pre-submission of Development Plan and Project Proposal,

- Mentor and Mentee recruitment, selection, matching and training, - Information sessions combined with Ementoring - Project evaluation.

Project Preparation stages were completed mostly prior to Development Plan submissions and in September 2009 Barnet College nominated one Access Course group for Access Support Project –

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Access to Health and Social Care group consisting initially of 22 students (4 students have dropped out in the first 4 week of the Access Course, decreasing the pilot group to 18). Detailed Project deliverables, adjustments to project plan and comments:

1. Initial Questionnaires were sent or handed to all 22 mentees to establish their future university aims and socio-economic background, please see Appendix 2 for details. This stage revealed that most of Access Course students were interested in Social Work carers; two out of 22 were aiming for Psychology and one for Teaching. Students also had the option to fill in Bright Journals on-line questionnaire, where only 4 out of the total 18 did, due to lack of internet connection at home.

Comments: At this stage it has become very apparent that a vast majority of Access Course Students did not have regular Internet access at home, therefore most of the Questionnaires were gathered at the initial Information Session delivered at Barnet College in mid September.

2. Middlesex University managed to recruit an appropriate number of mentors, where applicants from pre selected courses were asked to write a short statement on why they would like to become mentors and how they can help Access Course Students aiming for the same University course. Following the initial pre-selection, mentors were asked to fill in similar Questionnaires (Appendix 3), used for further matching purposes. The majority of mentors studied Social Work, where only two studied Psychology, or Psychology with Sociology. Mentors were also given an option to fill in an on-line questionnaire, in which 5 out of 11 did. Both questionnaires were also used to assess the advice and guidance needs of mentees and mentors knowledge in these areas.

Comments: It is extremely important to be aware of the workloads and constraints of University students/mentors. Due to the nature of these courses a vast majority of students we contacted were interested in this scheme (and the mentoring opportunity it presented to them), though they were also well aware of the time constraints due to their placements and personal commitments.

3. Each mentor was matched with a mentee on the basis of the questionnaires. Most mentors were matched with two mentees, others with just one. The Bright Journals Project Manager trained both groups: mentee training was a delivered at Barnet College, and mentors were trained at their base Campus, Archway or Hendon (depending on their University course of study). Overall both training sessions were very successful; all mentors were fully trained to use Bright Journals and were given tips and guidelines on constructive communication and mentoring. Mentees’ attendance was fragmented and not all of them attended a full training session. Due to this fact, mentees had a follow-up phone training session.

Outcome: Use of both Questionnaires (both version as well: on-line and paper copies) was essential for the matching process. We were able to match mentees with mentors from similar background, family relations and commitments.

Comment: It was particularly difficult to organise a ‘get together’ of mentors and mentees. Again, due to personal commitments and the large distance between Middlesex University Archway and Hendon Campuses and Barnet College, the mentors and mentees were not willing to travel to distant locations for a meeting. Organising a training session proved to be difficult due to dependency on the College to provide the project team with rooms equipped for the purposes of training.

4. Following the introduction, Middlesex University sessions started in October. MU Project Manager delivered a total number of over 20 visits to Barnet College, in line with the below schedule (a number of sessions had to be delivered two times on consecutive weeks due to poor attendance of Access Course Students). All sessions were attached to Access Course study hours on a set day of the week, starting one hour prior to the actual teaching. 15-16 students attended sessions regularly.

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Session 1: - General introduction to the scheme - Benefits of University - Importance of choosing the right HE course - How to choose a course that would fit me?

Session 2: - UCAS Application process - Personal Statement – why is it important? - Personal Statement – how to write a good statement?

Session 3, 4, 5 and 6: - How to write a good personal statement – workshop and three individual drop-in sessions following the workshop.

Session 7: - Mentees Training in Bright Journals – Ementoring platform - Advantages of Ementoring

Session 8, 9, 10,11 and 12: - Hoe to prepare yourself for a University Interview – workshop (delivered twice) and three mock interview sessions with Access course students

Session 13 and 14 (delivered twice): - University Finance: Bursaries, Scholarships and Loans - Additional help for parents and carers - Where to get more information and apply for financial help

Session 15 and 16: - Student Finance applications – drop in sessions Additional visits took place when mentees expressed interest in certain topics.

Outcome:

- Each of the 16 students participated in at least 50% of the sessions - 88% of students rated these sessions as ‘very useful’ in the overall feedback - 100% of students stated that the sessions were the most important part of the project

for them and that they gained valuable insight into University life and the Application process

- All participating students rated themselves as ‘very confident’ or ‘confident’ in terms of their understanding of the UCAS system

- Feedback gathered during the focus group showed that mentees believed that they would not have been able to go through the UCAS application process as confidently, had they not participated in these sessions.

Comments: Mentees attendance was very unpredictable and chaotic. As much as their motivation to attend all sessions was very high, frequently other commitments prevented them from doing so. When mentees were unable to attend, they received advice on these topics during drop-in sessions.

Overall feedback from these sessions was extremely positive and they proved to be a very effective tool for increasing confidence of mature or ‘widening participation’ students with no HE background. On the other hand, these sessions might have jeopardised the ementoring, as mentees did not feel such a need to contact their mentors if they had any questions, as all these were answered during information sessions.

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5. Following Sessions 1-6 and trainings, both Mentees and Mentors were encouraged to contact their counterpart and establish a link. Mentees were supported by the example questions list which they used to facilitate discussion with their mentors. For further details please see Appendix 4.

Outcomes: - 3 mentees started their mentoring relationship and contacted their mentor in the first week

following their training; a further 4 mentees contacted their mentors during the duration of the pilot stage

- A total of 7 mentees have engaged in ementoring with their mentors, while only three maintained this relationship and exchanged more than three posts with their mentors.

- 5 out of 7 students agreed that this was a useful experience and that they received support, advice and guidance form their mentors

- All 7 students that engaged in ementoring, actively participated in Information Sessions and by the end of the pilot stage held an offer from their chosen University.

Comments: The aim of this pilot was to approach Access course students from two angles: through formalised information sessions in a college, and by providing a meaningful role model and ‘buddy’ to support them through a very intensive transition period. Ementoring proved to be a very useful tool to support these aims though only when mentees and mentors managed to establish a good relationship from the very beginning and where mentees actually saw a need to continue to communicate through this online intervention. As mentioned above, though the supportive face-to-face sessions proved extremely successful, the regular frequency of these events may have reduced the need for mentors and mentees to communicate through the online intervention resulting in a lower then anticipated engagement. Other barriers for low participation (explored in the focus group) showed a range of reasons:

- lack of internet connection at home - inability to separate the time at home to contact mentors - number of various commitments and combined workload from college and workplaces. - limited understanding of mentoring benefits in general, etc.

Therefore major factors to be considered for the future of similar projects are the target group: mentees and their commitments, the type of courses chosen by mentors and their commitments, and the frequency of the combined face-to-face sessions alongside the online intervention (ementoring). MU and The Brightside Trust worked with mentees that aimed for Social Work, Teaching or Nursing. Both Social Work and Teaching are very competitive at London Universities and extremely intensive during the course of study. Mentees, most of them representing the lower 50% of socially deprived postcode areas in London, had various other commitments, such as families, work or dependants and therefore struggled to keep up with the demands of the Access Course. The understanding of HE environment and specifics of Social Work or Teaching, they gained during the course of the pilot project enabled them to make more informed choices or decide on a less competitive area of study still matching their interest.

6. From October to May, alongside Information Sessions and Ementoring, The Brightside Trust developed an extensive section on their website to support the mentoring relationship designed purely for FE students and focussing on Mature students. Approximately 30 articles were added to the Bright Journals FE section during the project, with the top access article receiving 377 visits.

7. The project was completed in June 2009, following a focus group with 7 students who actively participated in Information Sessions and Ementoring. All remaining students were asked to complete an on-line questionnaire to feedback on the usefulness of the Information Sessions and provide more insight into why they chose not to work with their mentors.

Outcomes: During the course of the project MU and The Brightside Trust managed to develop a very strong and open relationship with all students on the Access Course. The Focus group which ran at the end of the pilot gave an invaluable insight into the demands of Access courses and

Access Support Final Project Evaluation Report 7

allowed for reflective learning for both MU and The Brightside Trust in terms of future activities for similar target groups.

2.2. Successes and Achievements – Summary The Access Support Programme has been very successful overall. Below is a summary of

achievements and project successes. Outcomes: - Access students demonstrated: o An increase in their self-belief and confidence, in particular through their engagement with the

UCAS admissions process as well as preparation for interview and HE engagement. o A greater awareness of the link between their Access qualification and the experience of

studying at undergraduate level o A greater insight into University Admissions procedures and clear understanding of

expectations - Extensive On-line Section for Mature Students developed by The Bright Side Trust.

Achievements: - 100% of mentees who took part on the scheme applied for university - 100% of students felt confident about applying through the UCAS system - 100% of the students reported that they were well advised and well aware of UCAS application

deadlines - 88% agreed that they received advice on various universities that offered the course they were

interested in - 75% of students agreed that the pilot has given them more insight into the broad range of

choices available to them through university - All Students participated actively in Information Sessions - Only 3 students dropped out after the Christmas closure (16%) compared to an average 25% on

similar Access Courses and previous cohort - 12 out of 18 Access Students progressed onto their chosen HE course - All 12 felt prepared for the HE environment and experience - Out of 18 Access Course Students – 7 used the Ementoring Platform - All participating Access Course Students felt this project had equipped them with the necessary

knowledge and confidence to apply to University and start HE level education. 2.3. Performance against planned budget Project Budget was fully in line with the project plan. MU costs structure varied internally, as CRBs were not required, due to the fact that Mentors were never asked to attend college. Sessions delivery cost increased and has been covered by the decrease in CRB costing and further to this any expenditure surplus was covered by MU. The Brightside Trust development and Project Monitoring costs were in line with the below budget plan.

Project element

Cost

Project Management and coordination (Middlesex University):

- Recruitment and selection of all mentors (including CRB checks) - Preparation of all information sessions in cooperation with Access Course

coordinator from Barnet College - Running information session with support from Outreach Manager (MU) - Running all Ementoring sessions - Preparing all forms and documents required to gather feedback information - Analysis of all feedback data and preparing feedback reports

£3650

Access Support Final Project Evaluation Report 8

- Coordination of communication between Middlesex University, The Brightside Trust and Barnet College

- Preparation of training sessions for mentors and mentees in cooperation with The Brightside Trust

- On-going monitoring of frequency and quality of communication between mentors and mentees

- Monitoring of the progress of mentees’ UCAS Application - Evaluation activities at all stages of project

Project Management (The Brightside Trust) including: - Proposal preparation - Overseeing start-up

£930

Implementation (The Brightside Trust) including: - Ementoring library adaptation and content development - Face-to-face training materials - Training support, preparation and delivery - Uploading and matching mentors and mentees to the system - Technical and other support

£3690

Post-implementation/ operational (The Brightside Trust) including: - Managing the life of the project - Web editing (15 articles written as a direct effect of this project) - Technical support for mentors, mentees and coordinator (ongoing) - Support with monitoring mentor and mentee conversations - Coordinator support

£2250

Evaluation (The Brightside Trust) including: - Baseline part one and two - Evaluation report - Focus groups

£1680

Total

£12200

3. Pilot Project Conclusions and Summary The Access Support Pilot Project was very successful in terms of improving overall progression rates of Access Students. Comparable sample groups have progressed to HE significantly less successfully (on the basis of information gathered during feedback session with the Access Course Leader). All information sessions have been very valuable and students have found these an extremely important part of the project, though it has also been an extremely time consuming and labour intensive project. The important factors to consider for future projects for Access course students, where a similar format is to be followed, are:

1. Information Sessions are very valuable and boost students’ confidence and level of knowledge and understanding of HE, but on the other hand jeopardise mentees motivation to build a relationship with their mentor.

2. Buy-in and strong cooperation is required and essential from the participating college, due to the dependency on timetables for room bookings and information sessions slotting.

3. Realistic target group needs to be chosen, as Access Course students usually come from socially disadvantaged backgrounds already. Selecting an access group that aims for a highly selective university degree undermines the potential for success and decreases financial efficiency of similar projects.

4. IT awareness, skills and infrastructure need to be considered, as it is an underlying basis for any successful ementoring relationship. It refers back to the target group, as working with a group of students, where the majority do not have open and constant internet access at home, undermines the potential success of the ementoring relationship.

September October November December January February March April May June

Planning and preparation

Middlesex University (MDX)

Communication with College to establish a timetable of information sessions

Mentors Recruitment and Selection (MDX) - Applications - Questionnaires to establish Mentors social background, personal profile (age, course, family, etc) and level of knowledge (UCAS process, student finance, etc)

Training and Preparation (MDX and BrightSide Trust)

Matching Mentors with appropriate Mentees (MDX)

Mentees Questionnaires (MDX) to establish: - mentees social and family background - level of information about HE and UCAS process

Training in E-mentoring platform and its advantages (Brightside Trust)

Delivery

Information Sessions (MDX)

Information Sessions for Access Course Students delivered bi-weekly at Barnet College by Project Coordinator

Session 1: General introduction to the scheme, Benefits of University, Importance of choosing the right HE course, How to choose a course that would fit me? Session 2: UCAS Application process, Personal Statement - why is it important and how to write a good statement? Session 3: How to write a good personal statement - workshop Session 4 and 5: Personal Statement - Individual drop-in sessions linked with individual communication between mentees and project coordinator Session 6: Mentees Training in Bright Journals – E-mentoring platform, Advantages of E-mentoring Session 7 and 8: HE Interviews - workshop and practice sessions Session 9: Student Finance Session - What help can I get and how to go on about this? Session 10: Application, UCAS Extra, what are the next steps? Student Finance - now it's the time to apply!

E-mentoring On-line communication between Mentees and Mentors (monitored and coordinated by MDX)

On-line Information Development (Brightside Trust): - Web editing - Technical support for mentors, mentees and coordinator (ongoing) -Support with monitoring mentor and mentee conversations

Evaluation and dissemination

Feedback Forms Analysis

Ongoing feedback analysis of information sessions (feedback from Mentees gathered in January and March - MDX Project Coordinator)

Drop Out Rate Analysis

Quantitative analysis of January drop-out rate and reasons behind leaving the course: - Have the mentors been helpful and performed to required standards?

Project Report and dissemination: - Focus Groups Evaluation Report

ACCESS SUPPORT Questionnaire Please fill in BLOCK CAPITALS or circle appropriate Date: ………………………………………………………………………… Course: ………………………………………………………………………

Personal Details

First name:………………………………………………………………….

Surname: ……………………………………………………………………

Date of Birth: ………………………………………………………………

E-mail address: …………………………………………………………… (for Bright Journals Account purposes, e-mail alerts, etc)

Mobile number: ………………………………………………………… (for mobile alerts, etc)

Postcode / Address: …………………………………………………..

Personal circumstances

Are you currently in employment? Yes / No

If yes, do you work in area relevant to your course? Yes / No

How many people live in your household (including you)? ……………………………………………….

Do you have children or dependants living with you? Yes / No

If yes, how many? ………………………………………………….

Do you want to apply for a university course after you complete your Access Qualification? Yes / No

If yes, what course would you like to apply for? ………………………………………………………………….

Would you like to apply for 2009 or 2010 start?

Would you be interested in receiving information regarding (please tick):

Yes, very much!

It may be useful.

Not sure if I need it

I don’t need it

UCAS Application Process

Personal Statement

Interviews

Applying for Financial Help for Students

Student Loans

Bursaries

Access to Learning Fund

University Careers Services

Financial Support for Parents and Carers

E-mentoring

Do you think it is useful to have a mentor that is a current student at University?

Yes / Maybe / Not sure how a mentor can help me / No

Please tell us if there is anything specific that you would like to discuss with your mentor?

(childcare, finance, University application, personal statement, study, work and life balance, study workload, etc)

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

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Please note that all information provided in this questionnaire is confidential and will only be used by Middlesex University, Barnet

College and Brightside Trust in regards to Access Support Programme. We may need to contact you during the programme,

therefore please let us know which of the following we may use:

Mobile: Yes / No E-mail: Yes / No

If required, you will only be contacted by Access Support Programme Coordinator – Cobi Campbell or Outreach Manager – Marta

Topornicka.

Mentor Questionnaire Middlesex University needs to gather following information in order to pair up all mentors with mentees. We want

to be sure that we assign appropriate mentors to mentees and that you will be working with a person that can

actually benefit from your experiences. We will forward your name and e-mail address to Brightside Trust as well in

order to set up an e-mentoring account for you to use during the programme.

Please fill in BLOCK CAPITALS or circle appropriate

Personal Details

First name:

Surname:

Date of Birth:

E-mail address: (for Bright Journals Account purposes, e-mail alerts, etc)

Mobile number: (for mobile alerts, etc)

Postcode / Address:

University course:

Personal circumstances

What qualifications have you obtained before applying to university?

At which institution?

How many people live in your household (including you)?

Do you have children or dependants living with you? Yes / No

If yes, how many?

Are you currently in employment? Yes / No

If yes, what do you do and in what capacity (how many hours a week)?

What other jobs have you done in the past?

Why do you want to become a mentor? Please tell us briefly how do you feel you can help other students that aim for a university degree next

year?

How familiar are you with the following issues (please tick appropriate):

I know quite a lot

about it!

I’m fairly familiar

with this topic

I don’t know too

much about it.

I don’t know

anything about it.

UCAS Application Process

Personal Statement

University Interviews

Applying for Financial Help for Students

Student Loans

Bursaries

Access to Learning Fund

University Careers Services

Financial Support for Parents and Carers

Please note that all information provided in this questionnaire is confidential and will only be used by Middlesex University, Barnet College and

Brightside Trust in regards to Access Support Programme.

Example questions to ask your Mentor...

What qualifications/ courses/ experiences/ work did you do before going

to University?

What other Universities did you apply for apart from Middlesex?

Did you visit all the universities you applied for?

Do you have any tips for writing a personal statement?

Did you have an interview? If yes, what kind of questions were you asked? Do you have any advice on preparing for an interview?

Did you have to do any entrance tests/ exams/ assignments? If so, what did this involve, how did you prepare?

What is it like balancing university whilst having a family/ job?

Do you have any children? If so, how do you manage childcare

arrangements and expenses? Do you receive money to help you with childcare costs?

What content have you covered on your course, so far?

How much time are you required to be at university?

Can you tell me more about work placements on your course? Do you do

one in your first year? Do you choose the placement or does the

university? How many hours do you do a week?

What have you found most challenging about doing your degree?

What Financial Support do you receive? Is it enough? Do you have a paid job as well?

When and where do you apply for your loans? Is there anyone who can

help me with the forms?

I am on benefits, will I still be able to claim when I am at University?