Software package and information systems

Tender description

The Open University (OU) are tendering for a student peer mentoring solution to be delivered as a software as a service (Saas)/cloud based solution, including support and maintenance. The solution is to facilitate online 1:1 vertical peer mentoring for the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) students. The platform should allow (initial pilot up to 5 000) students to communicate on a one to one basis at a distance – experienced students will act as mentors for newer students (mentees). OU students have expressed a desire for pastoral support. Student peer mentoring has been identified as one mechanism to deliver that support. The solution may be rolled out further across the OU subject to a successful pilot and further funding becoming available. The contract is for an initial period of 3 years and may be extended by the OU for further periods up to a maximum of 10 years in total at its discretion. We also require support and technical expertise to help implement the solution. The Open University (OU) are tendering for a student peer mentoring solution to be delivered as a software as a service (Saas)/cloud based solution, including support and maintenance. The solution is to facilitate online 1:1 vertical peer mentoring for FASS students. The platform should allow (initially up to 5000) students to communicate on a one to one basis at a distance – experienced students will act as mentors for newer students (mentees). OU students have expressed a desire for pastoral support. Student peer mentoring has been identified as one mechanism to deliver that support. Small scale faculty pilots have been run manually and are providing small scale data, in terms of assignment submission, attainment and retention, along with positive student sentiment being expressed. The online solution should be able to provide a product or service which enables monitoring and evaluation of the schemes and provides management information to help the OU measure success in terms of student completion, pass and return rates, if successful, could be ‘rolled out’ to the wider OU at much larger scale. The OU is looking for a supplier to work in partnership with the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and the OU IT and Data teams in order to deliver a product/service of the highest standard to our students, and for GDPR compliance, safeguarding and information security to be at the forefront of any systems/data solutions. The solution should also provide expertise in the areas of student mentoring and work with the faculty to enhance support documents and safeguarding information for mentors and mentees. The contract is for an initial period of 3 years and may be extended by the OU for further periods up to a maximum of 10 years in total at its discretion. The solution may be rolled out further across the OU subject to a successful pilot and further funding becoming available. We also require support and technical expertise to help implement the solution.