SMART Project

This project builds on the work undertaken here as part of the Higher Education Academy Pathfinder Project in 2007-08.

That project identified arrangements to support academic staff more effectively in their work with work-based students, but it did not reach far enough into supporting mentors.

The University has identified that effective mentors are vital to the success of students on such programmes and we have initiated a secondment to associate dean for a member of staff in the Faculty of Society and Heath, in order that mentoring arrangements across the University can be improved.

We aim to provide technology-enabled support to these mentors and to share this experience with colleagues in other universities. The associate dean will work closely on the project in the management of the change to the use of digital, rather than paper-based, support to the mentors.

The mentor is a key stakeholder in work-based learning. As part of the University's Management of Change programme it is imperative to work with mentors across the University to identify the core tools, technology and processes to be recommended as best practice for the University and the wider sector. Of paramount importance will be the Use Cases detailing the necessary interventions with all mentors to ensure the most effective support for work-based learning students that can be provided to them. This will include location-independent information provision and staff development.