Student at Risk Identification and Remedial Action System for Improving Retention on Computer Science Programmes

Abstract

Retention has been a serious problem for computing programmes in the Computer Science and Creative Technology Department (CSCT) at the University of the West of England (UWE): for example in 2013-14 the BSc (Hons) Computer Science programme lost 18% of its year-one intake. Addressing this, CSCT developed a three-pronged strategy comprising retention research, the monitoring of module performance and the development of a student-at-risk-identification-and-remedial-action-system (SRIRAS). The last initiative was prioritised in 2015-16. An intern team was recruited to run a system to monitor student attendance and academic performance across seven CSCT programmes, identify those students most at risk and then, with the collaboration of programme leaders and year-tutors, help them. Help included phone calls, email warnings, and face-to-face meetings. The latter led to problem identification, advice on non-academic problems, encouragement to attend more lectures, tutorials and peer assisted learning (PAL) sessions, encouragement to engage with module staff, setting up special PAL sessions, and advice to attend catch-up programming sessions. Results indicated that many of those most at risk are struggling with non-academic concerns such as starting the programme late due to a visa problem, or not being able to attend due to a grant not arriving. Results also indicate that some students seem to be being “saved” while others do not. But overall, they indicate that the introduction of the retention system was mixed.