As a part of FOCUS West (Focus on College and University Study - West of Scotland), the Widening Access Team at The University Strathclyde hosted the Strathclyde Summer Experience (SSE). The event took place on the 29th and 30th of June and catered for twenty-four S3 and S4 pupils for pupils from care backgrounds.
The team
XPMGla was represented by: Elina, Pernille, Steve, and Stuart.
The Strathclyde Summer Experience (SSE)
The SSE allowed pupils from care backgrounds who are part of the Focus West project to spend two days at the University of Strathclyde, working with student mentors and taking part in activities designed to allow them to experience some of the key elements of student life.
The pitch
In previous years, pupils have been asked to produce a presentation or iMovie describing a particular aspect of student life they have experienced or learned about during the SSE.
The members of our group who had previously worked with the Widening Access Team as mentors felt that, with support from XPMGla, the pupils could be set a more challenging and rewarding task, one that not only provided an outcome for SSE but also provided pupils with new and valuable skills.
We successfully pitched a web design workshop to the Widening Access Team.
By designing, producing content, building, and presenting a website, students would not only be able to describe their experience and learn/display teamwork and communication skills, they will also gain valuable skills in:
- Wireframing (design mock-up)
- HTML (Hypertext Markup Language)
- CSS (Cascading Style Sheets)
- Content creation (writing/blogging; producing images/video; digital storytelling)
The project
Day one - Project Introduction
At the end of the first day, we introduced the pupils to the project.
Day two - Web Design Project
On the second day, we ran the workshop and the pupils began working on their websites.
After a quick recap, we asked the teams to split into two: the Creative Team (responsible for producing the website content and writing the presentation) and the Tech Team (responsible for building the site). Both teams worked together on the design and wireframing tasks and split for the content production and website build tasks.
The recap, wireframing, and Creative Team tasks took place in the main base room, while the Tech Team tasks took place in the computer lab.
Recap, Wireframing, and Creative Team Tasks
Tech Team Tasks
The outcome
Each group of pupils managed to complete the project, presenting and demonstrating their websites as works-in-progress to the other groups, the mentors, programme coordinators, and a selection of their teachers. All parties gave the pupils very positive feedback for the websites they had managed to produce on the day.
As many of the pupils were keen to continue working on and developing their sites, we intend to work with the Widening Access Team to seek further opportunities for this group of pupils to build and contribute to their websites.
The resources
Student Handbook - a handbook containing all the workshop information and tasks. Workshop Timetable - a rough idea of the timings of the workshop activities.
The wireframe kits were designed to match the HTML templates we assigned to each team, adapted from HTML5Up.net:
Wireframe Kit 1 - Big Picture
Wireframe Kit 2 - Landed
Wireframe Kit 3 - Overflow
Wireframe Kit 4 - Spectre
Widening Access (also known as Widening Participation) is a strategic priority for the University of Strathclyde, the Higher Education sector as a whole and the Scottish and UK governments. The term refers to the removal of barriers for groups of students who are under-represented in Higher Education (HE). Such groups can include (but are not limited to) students who: attended a school which traditionally sends a low proportion of pupils directly to university; are living in the 40% most disadvantaged neighbourhoods, as identified by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD); have spent time in local authority care; are returning to education later in life (mature students). Research and various studies suggest that individuals who fall into one or more of the above categories are statistically less likely to attend university. The University of Strathclyde works directly with groups of prospective students in schools, colleges and other settings to address this disparity. We aim to support students from the above groups and help them realise their full potential.
Based at Glasgow University and working with all the West of Scotland higher education institutions, FOCUS West’s mission is to support an increase in pupils progressing to HE from the 37 secondary schools with the lowest progression rates. By involving pupils from S3 to S6, and engaging them in enjoyable but rigorous learning activities, FOCUS West works with schools to maximise pupils moving on to HE. FOCUS West activities include campus days; learning enhancement programme Routes for All; Top-Up, an assessed programme focussing on developing critical thinking and conceptual thinking; the Portfolio Development Programme for those wanting to study art and design and Entry to the Creative Industries.