Success Story

MONITORING THE LEARNING PROCESS

Welch Allyn scanners are being put to a novel use at Wigan and Leigh College, one of the UK's largest further and higher education institutions. They are used to monitor students who use the college's Learning Technology Centers or library facilities.

The Learning Technology Centers provide the students with a high quality learning environment in which they can develop and apply Information Technology skills. The college has four centers - two at Wigan and two at Leigh - with a total of some 500 networked or stand-alone computers.

The students can use the 'Open Access' sites at their own convenience. Whenever they enter or leave, they swipe their Student Card through a Welch Allyn SCANTEAM 6480 scanner, which has scanning and decoding functions within a single unit. Each Student Card has a barcode with details of the holder's name, address, gender, age, course, and study methodology (full time, part time, day release etc).

Jo Richler, the college's Learning Resources Manager, comments: "The Welch Allyn scanners form a vital part of our in-house monitoring system, OLAF customized for us by Rubicon Systems. The scanner reads the barcode on the Student Card, and the details are fed directly onto our PC database.

"Students and visitors now swipe on arrival and departure. The scanner also records the time when each student enters or leaves the center. By analyzing the data provided by the units, we can manage the Learning Resource more efficiently. We can identify daily, weekly, or monthly peaks and troughs in the use of the buildings, and can plan our staffing needs accordingly. We can also evaluate usage by age or gender."

The data captured provides a range of instant reports, ranging from a real-time display showing who is present on courses, through to a yearly report. The department produces a yearly report, which highlights any trends in usage. It can also access the database to call up reports on individual students, to ensure that those who are involved in flexible learning are making up the necessary hours.

"We are very pleased with the Welch Allyn scanners, " says Jo Richler. "They have been used extensively for several years, but have given us no problems. We tried other makes, but they couldn't withstand our usage! They are indispensable - I couldn't do my job without being able to interrogate information effectively. Thankfully, the scanners enable me to obtain information easily and accurately."

She concludes: "The team at Welch Allyn responds very well to change, and we have developed a strong working relationship with them. I can truthfully say that, like their scanners, they are a delight to work with."

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