Check out Check-in

This week we introduced Check-in, a new way of capturing student attendance data, harnessing low-energy Bluetooth technology that allows students to check in to classes using their mobile device. First-year students from the Schools of Humanities and Life Sciences, as well as any students who participate in first-year modules offered by these Schools are taking part in this first phase, with a view to rolling the service out across all schools and years of study in academic session 2020-21.

How does it work? Students simply download the SEAtS Mobile app and check in to classes on their mobile device via Bluetooth beacons installed in teaching space.

In time this will replace paper registers, making attendance capture easier for students, less burdensome for academic and professional services staff, and allow us to quickly offer support to students are not engaging with their classes. The service also allows students to be more active in their attendance monitoring because the app gives them real time data on their attendance across all centrally timetabled teaching activities.

Visit our webpage for more information.

Quick facts:

This is a phased roll out, and only impacts first year students studying modules delivered by the schools of Humanities and Life Sciences.
Students can download the SEAtS mobile app from the app store from Monday 20 January.
For the next two weeks students in this first phase will be able to try out the online check-in process during timetabled teaching events. In this first two weeks class registers will also be taken by academics, but this will stop as of 3 February 2020 for those students involved in the pilot.
For help and support email the Service Desk in the first instance (help4u@dundee.ac.uk)
From Monday 3 February 2020 students will be asked to use the SEAtS app to ‘check-in’ to all of their timetabled teaching activities.
If a student is unable to check-in for any reason (lost phone, can’t get app to work etc) after 3 February, they should tell the tutor during the class, or go to their School Office within 7 days to ask that their attendance is recorded. The School can also register attendance on behalf of a student.
Emails for those whose attendance falls under 80% over a seven-day period will start to receive emails w/c 10 February, in line with the University’s Policy on Attendance Monitoring.

Q&A with Student Programme Manager Pat Furze

Pat Furze has recently joined the Business Transformation team as Programme Manager on Phase 2 of the programme – student. Pat brings with him a wealth of experience in the student implementation lifecycle having worked for universities across the US including the University of California, Berkeley, as well as Glasgow University.

What’s your main role as programme manager in the Business Transformation team?
It’s a wide-ranging role overseeing a large team for the Phase 2 programme design, build and delivery.

What do you see as the key priorities?
The streamlining of our processes to effectively deliver a successful next phase of the Business Transformation programme which will bring positive change to the University.

What’s your career background?
I have 35 years’ experience in higher education, including 20 years delivering student systems in the US and UK. During that time I’ve delivered 12 full-cycle student implementations.

Where were you brought up?
I’m originally from Phoenix, Arizona but have spent the last five years in the bay area of Oakland, California.

Why leave the sunny climes of California for the chilliness of Scotland?
It’s a great opportunity to make a real, positive impact on the ambitions to transform and deliver such an important project for the University.

What do you do in your spare time?
I’m an avid reader, I love to travel, play golf and I also play the guitar. Well, I say play, I mess around with it and I like to strum out Neil Diamond or Bob Dylan songs.

I love American football and follow the Patriots, and also the Cardinals and Raiders, although the biggest challenge I see being in Scotland is managing to stream any of the games as they will be on at around 1.00am UK time!

What’s your favourite cheese?
Brie.

Student Workstream Established

We’ve been working hard over the summer in preparation for the launch of the OneUniversity Finance solution in November, but in addition to this and other workstreams that make up Phase 1, we’ve also recently started the Student worksteam in earnest.

The Team

The Student Programme team currently comprises of:
– Two project managers (Stuart Moorhouse and Richard Cassells)
– Senior UoD Business Stream Solution Manager (Gwen Hunter)
– Two business analysts (Andrea Byrne and Lana Smith)
– A project officer (Nadege Minois)
– Four business process change managers (Gillian Sharp, Duncan Brown, Judith Milne and Rachel Smith)

Others will join the team in due course.

In addition to this we have four TechnologyOne consultants on-site and working with team. They are Sam Curtis (Senior Consultant), Ian Henry (Project Director), Philip Gorse (consultant) and Lauren Wood (consultant).

Solution Verification Workshops

The team have recently attended a number of workshops to get a feel for what the OneUniversity Student solution offers, and from next week (25th September) through to December, a series of solution verification workshops will take place with key stakeholders.

School Managers and Directors have been issued the dates and times of these workshops and have been asked to select suitable individuals to attend each. The schedule for these workshops is as follows:

26 – 29 September – Managing Curriculum – courses, units, structures
5 – 10 October –        Fee Schedule Maintenance
13 – 17 October –       Student Self-Service
23 – 24 October –     Student Administration
27 – 3 November –    Enquiry Management
10 – 17 November –   UCAS/UKPASS
23 – 26 November – Access and Security
4 – 7 December –      Applications and Admissions
13 – 15 December –   Scholarships and Rewards

We’ll be sharing the output of these workshops with staff early 2018.

If you have any questions about the Student Workshop please get in touch.

Student Administration set to be Transformed

OneUniversity Solution

The University of Dundee is aiming to transform the way that it works. In order to provide efficient and effective student management processes, it has signed an agreement with TechnologyOne who will provide a cloud based business solution called OneUniversity.

This contemporary, Web enabled, Software as a Service (SaaS) solution embraces mobile technology and will be available anytime, anywhere and on any device.

It will bring our Finance, Purchase to Pay, HR, Payroll/Pensions, Research and Student lifecycle activities into a single, integrated administrative solution with embedded, real time, reporting and analytics capability.
The current student records system (SITS) is based primarily round registry and admission. A great deal of student administration takes place outwith this system and this means that data may need to be input multiple times and information held in local databases and spreadsheets.

The benefits of the new solution

The new solution aims to bring the entire relationship that a student has with the University, from prospect enquiry to offer, matriculation to graduation and alumni, into one place. As this will be part of the OneUniversity integrated solution, the student and curriculum management information will be input once and accessed by those who need it. This will enhance the effectiveness of our business processes and ways of working, improve the student and staff experience and achieve our aim of having a single source of accurate student information.

Academic Activities

The new Student Management solution will provide greater support for a range of academic activities including a programme and module catalogue, programme and module approval system, attendance and engagement monitoring facility, and support for student placements, assessment, results, progression, retention, grades and classification. Those members of staff who currently use SITS or one of the bespoke services will notice the increased functionality.

Dr Jim McGeorge is the Programme Sponsor for the University of Dundee.
“We are delighted to be moving ahead with an effective, integrated product that will enhance the experience for the staff and students whilst streamlining our administration processes.”

Our students will have access to information about their course and their academic progress be through their mobile phones, laptops or tablets, no matter where they are and what time of day or night. This will enhance their engagement with the University and their studies and further contribute to our reputation for delivering an outstanding student experience.