And The Winner Is....
05 July 2012

THE Access to Health Sciences Department at Middlesbrough College has scooped a prestigious award.

At this year’s North East Open College Network’s (OCN) Access to Higher Education (HE) Awards, the Middlesbrough College team won the Innovation in Access to HE award for its use of remote learning systems and commitment to ensuring open access for all.

Paul Stone, Director of Business and Education at the College, said: “Access to HE learners often have other commitments, some of them work full time, some of them have children or responsibilities which means they can’t always physically attend lessons or meet with their tutors in person.

“Because of this we created a comprehensive package of remote learning. We used chat room Pronto to help the learners connect with their tutors remotely and access e-tutorials while social book marking site Delicious made it easy for learners to share their research with each other online.

“The HE Access to Health Sciences pathway team, John Tyson, Cath Fortune, John Earland and Julia Meredith, combined their expertise to develop and deliver the package of remote earning and support for the students.

“We’re therefore delighted to have won this award as it is recognition of all the hard work the team put in to make sure the system works and our Access to HE learners get the most out of their course.”

Bernadette Marron, 33, from Saltersgill, is a HE Access to Health Sciences learner. “Having Delicious in place gave us confidence, some of the less outgoing students were much more vocal online – they felt that they could ask questions and share information.

“And having access to online tutorials on a Sunday evening really made us feel like we were getting that extra little bit of support that we needed, we never felt like we had to struggle alone, there was always someone there to ask.

“I work in the X-Ray Department at James Cook hospital and enrolled on the course with the intention of going into Radiography. But studying Health Psychology as part of this course has made me realise that that’s what I want to do, now I’m planning to go to Teesside University to study a BA Honours in Psychology with a view to taking a masters in Health Psychology.      

“I can’t recommend the College and my tutors highly enough, in fact I have recommended the course to a friend who has her interview coming up soon.”

The OCN judges said: “In changing the delivery model for their evening programme from 18 months to one year, the Health Sciences team recognised how important e-learning was.

“The chat room system Pronto enabled tutors to have remote contact with learners, and podcasts, interactive quizzes and online lessons have been delivered this way.

“Additionally, Delicious, has enabled students to inform and share with each other appropriate literature and research discovered during their exploration of topics. The service has received a positive response from students and analysis by the College demonstrates considerably improved success rates for the course.”