Visit your study group and work together to create a master list of possible ways in which the listed data types could be useful for a tutor, module author or the OU as an institution. Working on this task in a small group will allow you to discuss your ideas and explore group members’ different perspectives before sharing your thoughts with the wider H880 community.

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Age – If students are particularly young, perhaps immediately post undergraduate study, they are less likely to have significant work experience in a subject area. This may be useful to a tutor when supporting a learner. For module authors, allowing imagined scenarios to be used in assessment or discussion may help the learner to feel they do not need specific experience to contribute.

OU could use this to provide enrolment/outcome reports on age split / equality monitoring

previous qualifications – Like age, previous qualifications may inform the level of support a learner requires. If they have previous experience of study which was some time in the past they may need time to re-acquaint themselves with study skills, academic writing, critical thinking and other necessary skills.

OU could offer ‘the next level’ of courses to a learner upon completion of their qualification.

first language – The first language may be of benefit to a tutor when suggesting additional support services to students. Module authors will hopefully use plain language when creating teaching materials or describing activities.

OU may offer additional support to those who’s first language is not that of the delivery of their course

assessment scores – Module authors may use consistently low assessment scores as an indication that the material in some of the topics is too complex. Tutors may use assessment scores to measure whether their learners have understood a concept or indeed an assessment question or part of one. This may also tie into the first point about overly complex material.

OU could use assessment scores across all similar level modules to identify those which may have underlying issues with complexity

home address – Although it is probable that tutors have access to the data, It is unlikely that a student’s home address would be used by a module tutor or author in relation to a learning activity. They may ask the learner to consider their immediate area, allowing them to share as much as they are comfortable with. It may be used to provide alternative versions of course material such as braille by post if required.

This will likely only be used to send official documents, qualifications or, if opted into, printed marketing materials

information the student has declared about disabilities – Declared information about disabilities may help module authors to check that their materials are usable by a diverse group of learners. An example would be using descriptive language for a scenario as well as a diagram or a video.

OU – Equality and statutory reporting, providing information on support available from OU

activity on their OU course – This would be useful to both module authors and tutors. Authors may use a ‘heat map’ of learner activity to check whether some parts of the materials are being overlooked or are not considered interesting enough to spend time on. Tutors may use the learner’s activity level to judge whether they are coping with the workload on the course or are stuck on an activity.

OU can use this for equality monitoring reports or to provide additional information and support relating to the disability and the course.

Gender – Not useful to tutor / author – Would it be ethical to refer to this?

OU – Equality and statutory reporting

Ethnicity – Not useful to tutor / author – Would it be ethical to refer to this?

OU – Equality and statutory reporting

sexual orientation – Not useful to tutor / author – Would it be ethical to refer to this?

OU – Equality and statutory reporting

Religion – Not useful to tutor / author – Would it be ethical to refer to this?

OU – Equality and statutory reporting

survey feedback on satisfaction with previous courses – Both tutors and module authors may benefit from the experience of previous students. This could provide valuable information into which parts of the course were more engaging and the extent to which a particular tutor inspired, supported and explained the material to the learners.

OU could use this as a quality control reporting tool, if opted into they could use student testimonials as part of a marketing campaign

qualification the student is working towards – This may be useful to a tutor to be able to suggest further reading which would benefit the learner in their chosen qualification. There are also opportunities to provide further study information for students working toward a specific outcome such as the HEA Fellowship.

OU could use this to inform the learner of study groups or OU services which are suited to learners on the qualification.