It feels like we reached a significant point in the project last week. Having recruited our focus groups back in late March we sent them away to build e-folios and do some PDP and then called them back in to see what they had done and give us their opinions.
With the lure of coffee, cakes and Amazon vouchers.
Despite which we lost a few along the way. Admittedly it is a busy time for students – especially those hoping to graduate this year – so maybe we should not be surprised that a few of our original volunteers seems to have disappeared. And the weather has been good too – too good for working on an e-folio. The question now is whether we try to lure the lost sheep back with a last chance to grab those vouchers or do we recruit replacements? Another idea would be to use the spare vouchers to incentivise additional tasks for the focus group members we have retained.
I think Mahara – or rather myFolio the Kent branded version we are trialling – is a great tool and the struggle at the moment is to transfer the enthusiasm the project team have to the focus group members. There is a bit of a catch here though as we need to assess how employability and personal development can be enhanced through the use of myFolio but within a realistic support framework. When – I refuse to contemplate ‘if’ – myFolio is rolled out to all students, support will be limited by the resources available. So if we provide too much hand-holding and small group training we will be providing more than is likely to be the case, post rollout. More video tutorials aimed at Kent students might help. They would be available for all but we need them now!
I shall report back very soon on the excellent feedback we got from those who stuck with us– once I have deciphered my near illegible notes.