University Learning Development teams provide expert advice to learners regarding the development and enhancement of academic skills such as essay writing, dissertations, critical analysis, mathematics, and statistics. The majority of universities have set up Learning Development or similar academic support services in recent years. However, little research has been conducted to understand the effect of such help on student attainment. At the University of Northampton, this service is perceived as pivotal in supporting students through their studies. The impact on student grades and future attainment was examined using three and a half years of student assessment data (over 16,000 students and 175,000 assessments) which was connected to information gathered from the Learning Development one-to-one tutorials database. Although causality cannot be claimed, there was an average rise of one to two sub grades for learners who attended at least one Learning Development tutorial compared to those who did not use this assistance. Furthermore, historical tutorials positively affected grades of students with an additional two percent increase in their future assignments. Students from the faculties of Business and Law and Education and Humanities saw the largest increase in attainment compared to students within their faculties who did not have tutorials. Furthermore, students from a black ethnic background and aged 25 years or below also gained the most in terms of attainment compared to other ethnic groups and more mature students.

The Learning Development (LD) team at the University of Northampton comprises specialist tutors who provide advice and guidance to all students on academic and study skills. This advice is delivered through one-to-one tutorials, embedded workshops, drop-in sessions and their online Skills Hub.A research project was initiated to ascertain the impact of their work. Measuring impact is challenging and is the perennial problem within the global Learning Development community.The project aimed to:• assess student awareness of the service • identify the reasons why students use LD, or choose not to use it • measure the effectiveness and impact of LD on the students who use the service compared to those who do not• estimate the impact of the LD service on student retention Over the period of an academic year several data collection methods were employed: reviewing longitudinal data from undergraduate student assessments (from 16,194 students) over three years; analysing a questionnaire with responses from over 250 current students taken from the entire student population; collating 161 questionnaires from students who have utilised the LD team and undertaking semi-structured interviews with current students. This chapter outlines the impact of the LD team upon student learning and academic development. It examines the importance of the role of a LD service, reviews the focus of the team upon aligning its work to that of faculty colleagues to ensure that academic skills are embedded in the curriculum. Finally, it puts forward an approach to measure the impact of Learning Development as a discipline on the retention and progression of UK HE students.

Common pitfalls in quantitative research were examined with two audiences using a GBL approach to support the engagement and interaction of participants. The researcher asked the UK mathematics and statistic community to determine the game's answers. This approach ignited an enthusiasm to discover the benefits, which was later delivered at the CETL/MSOR annual conference. The paper explores the design and delivery of the Game-based learning (GBL) session and evaluates how this action research can benefit teaching qualitative concepts in the future.

Non-submission of summative assignments has an impact on a significant minority of students but is not well understood (Prinsloo, 2019). At the University of Northampton, 70% of Integrated Foundation Year (IFY) students have a non-submission on their academic profile as they enter Level 4 and nearly 10% of all student assignments overall are not submitted (Coulson and Loddick, 2021). Students who fail to submit initially are offered a second submission point, but their grade is capped at 40%: data suggests that addressing this could close 50% of the GEM (Global Ethnic Majority) attainment gap.   A study was initiated in partnership with IFY academic staff to research into the experience and implications of non-submission of assignments for GEM and non-GEM students in IFY. The project aimed to understand the long-term implications in terms of academic outcomes through understanding why students fail to submit and how they recover from this. Data on student outcomes in recent years was interrogated and interviews were planned with current and former IFY students who had failed to submit at least one assignment. These interviews were conducted by existing IFY students to encourage an open dialogue.  Following low levels of participation in the research, the project was widened by inviting all undergraduates who had failed to submit at least one assignment to complete a survey with open-ended questions exploring the non-submission. Insights from this study will be reported, which will inform the practice of both Learning Developers and lecturers. If we can offer timely and appropriate support, we may be able to promote assignment submission, which in turn could improve student retention. This would allow more students to achieve their goals and contribute to a sustainable model of higher education.

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