This September would bring change to the academic timetable and with it, a new way to introduce pre-arrival students to Coventry.
To address the change whilst continuing to support students in the run up to Freshers week, a solution to create an online (mobile first) experience, that is informative, engaging and exciting was agreed.
The development of the new Welcome Programme would involve a large team made up of colleagues from across the group including, developers, designers, course teams, student engagement teams, students, staff and CUSU.
With key stakeholders identified, the DMLL facilitated a workshop in December 2018 which quickly resulted in a skeleton framework for the package, identified themes and assigned working group leads.
Within this team effort, the DMLL was aligned to support and lead:
- Gathering and writing content for the ‘Aspirations’ section. This would host information about career development, placement opportunities and how to make the most of the free learning resource: LinkedIn Learning.
- The development of a community hub which you can read all about here.
- Re-design of the Moodle aesthetics – to be user friendly, eye catching and mobile responsive.
After 6 months of developing concepts and implementation, the end design has proved to be a success. Students are engaging with the platform daily, working through the sections and building a meaningful community online.
Collaborative Working
It has been a pleasure for the DMLL to collaborate with such a great team to produce something that will ultimately have a lasting impact on the student experience. After all, change can be scary for everyone, but being equipped with the right information and the ability to talk, share and learn from others beforehand can make life a whole lot easier.
