Engaging students through a partnership model
Colin Bryson and Ruth Furlonger: Newcastle [email protected]: [email protected]
The nature of student engagement
Holistic and socially constructed Every student is an individual and different (Haggis, 2004)
Engagement is a concept which encompasses the perceptions, expectations and experience of being a student and the construction of being a student in HE (Bryson and Hand, 2007).
Engagement underpins learning and is the glue that binds it together – both located in being and becoming. (Fromm, 1977)
More than about doing and behaving! SE is dynamic and fluid SE is multidimensional, includes student’s whole lives
and it is the interaction and pattern that mattersEngagement and partnership
Useful models Understanding and developing Student Engagement, Routledge, 2014
Ways of being a student - (Dubet, in Jary and Leabeau, 2009) Personal project Integration into university Intellectual engagement with subject
Relational engagement (Solomonides, Reid and Petocz, 2012)Being, Transormation, Professional formation, Discipline knowledge
student engagement
Key influences on engagement
1. Student expectations and perceptions – match to the ‘personal project’ and interest in subject
2. Sufficient challenge and appropriate workload3. Degrees of choice, autonomy, risk, and opportunities for growth
and enjoyment4. Trust relationships 5. Communication and discourse6. A sense of belonging and community7. Supportive social networks8. Opportunities for, and participation in activities and roles – to
enable ownership, self-assurance and self-efficacy
Engagement and partnership
The flipside of SE Alienation, inertia/anomie and
disengagement (Mann: Krause, Hockings) Performativity Being ‘other’ Disciplinary power
Inertia Battle between cultures and values
Inclusiveness and recognising what students bring
student engagement
Becoming what exactly?
A critical being? (Barnett) Intellectually developed? (Baxter Magolda
– self authorship) (Perry…ethical integral) Citizenship? Professionals (Reid & Solomonides)
Engagement and partnership
The value of engagement after HE
Integrated development of the whole person (and ‘disposition’) Graduateness and graduate attributes (Barrie, 2007) Graduate identity (Holmes, 2001) and USEM (Yorke and Knight,
2006) The whole HE experience – thus the
extracurricular is vital – authentic experiences The engaged students tends to take up more
opportunities AND is better able to join them up in their thinking
student engagement
A revised definition of SE
Student engagement is about what a student brings to Higher Education in terms of goals, aspirations, values and beliefs and how these are shaped and mediated by their experience whilst a student. SE is constructed and reconstructed through the lenses of the perceptions and identities held by students and the meaning and sense a student makes of their experiences and interactions.
As players and shapers of the educational context, educators need to foster educational, purposeful SE to support and enable students to learn in constructive and powerful ways and realise their potential in education and society.
Engagement and partnership
SE is not all rosy
SE as compliance (Zyngier)
Dissonance between staff and student views (Hand and Solomonides)
Engagement and partnership
So what works? Kuh (2008)i. First year seminars (e.g. SI and PAL)ii. Learning communities – cross moduleiii. Service learning – experientialiv. Common intellectual experiencesv. Writing intensive coursesvi. Collaborative projectsvii. Undergraduate researchviii. Diversity learningix. Internshipsx. Capstone courses
Students engagement and partnership
Putting SE into practice
Assessment for learning/peer assessment Choice within the module -Integrated projects Collaborative learning and building trust
relationships Authenticity Taking risks Students taking responsibility/negotiation
Engagement and partnership
Strategic level approaches
Sally Kift at Queensland UT then JCUhttp://fyhe.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Kift-Sally-ALTC-Senior-Fellowship-Report-Sep-09.pdf http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/documents/events/academyevents/2012/Retention_Sally_Kift_presentation.pdf
Transition pedagogies Combined Honours at NewcastleHolistic model of SE
Engagement and partnership
A holistic approach to a degree programme Combined Honours at Newcastle
Diverse and complex Individuals doing unique degree Missing sense of identity/ belonging But few resources and so difficult to influence
the curriculumSo how to address?
Engagement and partnership
Enhancing engagement in Combined Honours Student representation and
empowerment - SSC Peer mentoring and transition– social
integration PASS scheme – academic integration Building community: Facilities and spaces
and Social agenda – the CHS
Engagement and partnership
Reflections on the CH strategy
The Graduate Development modules Involving the hard to reach – other projects, internships
etc Joining it all up – events and activities are shared and
promoted by all parties Evolving and growing – had very good outcomes but
needs constant refreshment and emergence/supply of
student ‘champions’ Has evolved into partnership….
Engagement and partnership
The student partnership approach – varying origins HEA and NUS based on HEFCE funded
CHERI Report (http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/rdreports/2009/rd03_09/ )
Student representation and collective representation
“students as partners in a learning community” Liz Dunne at Exeter – Students as Change Agents Stuart Brand, Birmingham City University - Academic partners
scheme CEEBL – interns at Manchester
Students engagement and partnership
Students as partners 2013 A focus on the collective –
student representation – involvement in decision making As consumer (UK Government) Empowerment (QAA, HEA) As equals (Wenstone and the
NUS) A focus on the individual
(Co?)Producer (Neary) Module design (Bovill)
Engagement and partnership
Working definition for partnership
Staff and students working together – towards mutuality in sharing decision-making and developing and implementing policies and practices which enable and foster engagement, a sense of belonging and opportunities for transformational learning and enhancing graduateness
Engagement and partnership
Issues for collective partnership
Getting past pseudo-participation Are there limits/boundaries to student co-determination? The role of the student union (and levels where this
works) How many students does this really engage? Participative vs representative Truly democratic? Staff as role model… Cooperative vs adverserial Partnership vs student led
Engagement and partnership
Issues for individual partnership
Opportunities for all… Favouring those most willing? And those most ‘capable’ Star performers/ champions - a necessity or a problem Incentivisation/Reward and recognition Academic credit and partnership – the problem of
assessment power Raising false expectations… Obligatory participation? Whither the staff role – letting go…
Engagement and partnership
To meet regularly to discuss SE. To involve and work with students in partnership An early goal was to develop a concept map and set of principles that underpin the
promotion of SE To establish an annual conference drawing together leading edge work on SE - and
to feed into publication through journals and books. (Next conference– Sept 2013, Nottingham)
To gain funding to support these events and activities. To create a bank of useful resources for us to share. To facilitate communication between us (web, email network etc)
http://raise-network.ning.com/
Engagement and partnership