Enhancing the student learning journey: Supporting Recruitment and Retention for SENDI and EDST students.

Remote learning can be isolating, the intention of the ‘community hub’ project is to build a sense of community and belonging to enhance and support student engagement, from recruitment through to graduation, forging links between applicants, current students, and our alumni.

Objectives:
1) To enhance recruitment of EDST/SENDI applicants through increased visibility on social media channels.
2) To support academic and social wellbeing of existing students through peer mentoring and an online community hub.
3) To improve student engagement/retention by developing an online community of support.

This project supports our Department’s recruitment and retention strategy detailed on both EDST and SENDI’s current enhancement plans. The main area of focus and impact within UW’s Learning and Teaching strategy is that of Access and Inclusion. It is also the university’s aim to build ‘resilient graduates’ which, through the development of peer support, through channels our students are familiar and comfortable with, hopes to see an increase in student satisfaction scores (CES/NSS) and a reduction in withdrawal rates.

The project also supports the UW Learning and Teaching strategy focus on Active Flexible learning, it encourages our students to ‘use their voice’ in a digital world which is particularly pertinent in the current climate where our students are accessing their learning online.

We present a summary of the project so far including successful online events, increased social media visibility and the impact of developing an online learning community on the retention and engagement of students.