Case study: University of Greenwich

The University of Greenwich, UK

Why Studiosity?

Studiosity was introduced to Greenwich by former Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academic, Professor Karen Bryan, who had had interaction with Studiosity at a previous institution. After joining Greenwich and speaking to academic staff, it was clear that the students were very able but often, they needed more support with their academic writing, particularly when English wasn't their first language. Academic tutors and lecturers were spending a lot of time giving students support on the writing aspect of their studies.

Academic staff were struggling to mark the academic quality of the work when faced with assignments containing grammatical and referencing issues. The small and incredibly busy academic support team were unable to cope with the scale of this challenge, so a group was formed to look at whether Studiosity would be a viable option. With the Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academic in place as a sponsor, a number of senior academics agreed that their departments could be used for a pilot of Studiosity.

Outcomes

“The pilot was a success - students took to it naturally and the service fitted into the workflow of how Greenwich assessments are done. The academic support team were also accepting of the service - there was initially some concern, but staff agreed that it complemented the suite of support services on offer from the department. The impact for students was the thing that we all really wanted to see -  we did look at the relationship between students who used Studiosity and their academic performance and retention, and the indications were positive. We had positive feedback from all of the students who used it, typically saying that they found the service really good and that it helped with the quality of my written work. 

Fundamentally, a student submits their assignment and the feedback they receive will allow them to make their work better - that's a no brainer. It teaches students how to structure their work better, producing better written work, which is of huge benefit. Feedback from academics was equally positive - seeing the improvement meant they were spending less time focussing on the writing aspects of the work and more on the academic quality. 

The initial impact was very positive and led to an extension of the pilot, where it is now available to a select group of students in all faculties across the university, which is currently ongoing.”