Endorsement: Project Q case study - Jane Stevens

Jane Stevens is Head of Projects at Uppingham School and has been an Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) coordinator for nearly seven years. Here she shares how Project Q supports the success of the EPQ in her school.

My journey

I started as coordinator in the 2016/17 academic year, and we had nine learners taking the EPQ out of a cohort of 180. At that point, I hadn’t heard of Project Q, and I was finding it difficult to keep a clear track of the production log’s use. I attended the AQA coordinator training that year and one of the other coordinators mentioned Project Q to me at that meeting. I had a look at it and thought it would be worth trying for a year – and I now can’t imagine running the EPQ without it. We now have approximately 100 learners starting their EPQ this year with a team of 15 supervisors.

Project Q makes a difference

The difference that Project Q has made is huge. The simplicity of having the production log effectively in one place is fantastic, and with increasing numbers of students it pays off more and more.

Being able to access Project Q has meant that if there are any questions the supervisors are unsure about, they can contact me, and I can access the production log directly. It often means we can solve problems instantly, which allows the learners to push forward with their project rather than being held up. This is especially useful as our EPQ bases are spread over a reasonably large geographical area which means I can’t always get to a classroom quickly enough to have a direct conversation. Some supervisors use the files section and they find it incredibly useful to be able to see any other documents that the learner is using, and the freedom for each supervisor to do this in the way that suits them the best is great.

What I love about Project Q

My favourite feature, though it sounds rather simplistic, is the ability to add comments in the sidebar which then send an email to the learner and supervisor – it’s brilliant.

The student status page allows me to scan quickly to see exactly where learners are in the process – and that in itself means that those who seem to be struggling to meet the suggested timeframe can be scooped up early on before it becomes a major issue. It also allows me to ‘pop’ into any production log and ask some questions so the learner can think a little more deeply about the process.

Project Q works really well for my school and my needs. It doesn’t need lots of bells and whistles. It serves a specific function, and it serves that function really well!

Getting started

Project Q is now free to AQA customers. Sign up for Project Q, or book a call with your local account manager.