Poster: Helping IMD Q1 M&S students feel that they belong at the OU: what resources would they value?

Members of communities whose aspirations have not traditionally included attending university may experience feelings of imposter syndrome, or a sense of being ‘out of place’ and not belonging to university when they commence their university career and indeed at points throughout their studies. Moreover, data indicates that students residing in Quartile 1 areas of the Index of Multiple Deprivation face greater challenges in achieving strong grades and in seeing their studies through to completion. This study will work with first generation or low income (FLI) Open University Mathematics & Statistics students to solicit their views on what resources they would like to co-create and would find helpful to access in order to help them achieve a sense of belonging and enable them to complete their studies.

Specifically, the project will seek to generate opinions and thoughts on the following outputs, and other outputs that may be suggested and led by First generation and Low Income (FLI) students:

- Short videos talking about different aspects of becoming a student at the OU, aimed at both university staff and other FLI students;

- An ongoing calendar of events that FLI students could attend in future academic years (for example on career events, work shadowing, writing a CV, soft skills, and passing interview boards);

- A self-sustaining FLI-led mentoring system for FLI students.

The data generated by asking current FLI students what they would like to see as resources will be collated into a final short report of recommendations for M&S leaders.

Up to 4 students may be offered 12 hours’ work each at the Living Wage. Emotional recognition, the opportunity to build and be part of a supportive network of peers, and the chance to influence current and future generations of OU students will be the reward for other student participants.

The impact would become more visible in the second part of this proposal, where the resources would be co-created and then distributed. It is hoped that by the end of both parts of the project the impacts would include:

A) Demonstrating publicly a commitment to assisting and supporting FLI students;

B) Outputs produced by and provided for the FLI community, helping them foster a sense of belonging and OU identity

C) Practical assistance for the FLI community

D) Greater retention of FLI students

E) Better outcomes for FLI students, both in terms of grades and possibly career destinations

Which will then be evaluated in the second or possibly third stage of this proposal.