What is learning gain?
The learning gain programme is a research project that looks at how to measure improvements in knowledge, skills, work-readiness and personal development made by students during their time in higher education.
Measurements allow universities and colleges to understand the effect of different teaching practices and therefore improve the support available to students.
The programme objectives are to:
- promote activity and dialogue across the sector on learning gain
- identify methods for measuring learning gain
- develop sector-wide agreed, common characterisations of learning gain
- share experiences on the use of learning gain to enhance teaching and learning.
Programme activities
- Pilot projects
Over 70 universities and colleges are involved in 13 collaborative projects to pilot and evaluate a range of approaches for measuring learning gain.
- National Mixed Methodology Learning Gain Project (NMMLGP)
Using a range of pre-trialled tools and survey instruments, this project tracks the learning gain of a group of more than 31,000 undergraduate students in 10 higher education institutions.
- Higher Education Learning Gain Analysis (HELGA)
This involves existing data on the student experience to evaluate what it tells us about learning gain. This data includes continuation rates, student attainment, the National Student Survey (NSS) and the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey (DLHE).
OfS will consider findings from the programme and its future direction in summer 2018.
