Manchester EdTech business helps uni students achieve higher grades

An education technology business in Manchester is looking to revolutionise the way universities harness student data to improve grades.

Solutionpath is the company behind StREAM, a software product that measures and analyses student engagement to help universities identify those at risk of dropping out or under-achieving academically.

The firm, which has offices in Manchester, Leeds and London, has just seen its monitoring software undergo a three-year pilot project that highlighted an ‘impressive’ uptick in students’ results.

During the trial, carried out at at Nottingham Trent University, use of the software led to an increase in the number of 2:1s and Firsts of more than 15%.

StREAM works by monitoring and assessing digital interactions logged every time a student engages with the university through day-to-day activities like using the library or attending a lecture.

Analysing its findings alongside academic progress data, the software enables universities to identify students deemed academically ‘at risk’ much earlier and have staff intervene to offer the necessary support.

Solutionpath’s CEO and co-founder, Howard Hall, said: “While the analytics that StREAM delivers are highly complex, as the trial with Nottingham Trent has shown, the benefits for both students and universities of using big data in this way are beautifully simple.

“Dropping out of university or under-achieving in their degree can be a personal disaster for a young person and extremely worrying for their family, and for the university the loss of course fee revenues involved is significant too.”

He continued: “Our analytics not only help prevent a student reaching these crisis points where they no longer feel they can continue with their studies, but also help keep students engaged and motivated to achieve the best academic outcomes they can.”

David Woolley, Nottingham Trent University’s head of schools, colleges and community outreach, commented: “There’s a very clear association between students using the StREAM software, and their academic success, particularly when compared to their peers who were not using it.

“We saw some impressive results: in 2015-16 over 65% of students who used the Solutionpath software achieved a 2:1 or first class degree compared to just under 50% of students who did not use StREAM. Students who used it more often were even more successful, with 72% of those who logged in ten or more times scoring a 2:1 or first.”

Solutionpath is currently working with 11 universities in the UK and abroad.

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