Keith BrownLearning Technologist

Using Technology for Student Engagement and Feedback

@KeithBrownBath blogs.bath.ac.uk/keithbrownkeith.brown@bath.ac.uk

Using Technology for Student Engagement and Feedback

Focus on Academic Reps and Staff Student Liason Committee (SSLC)

Where are we?

With permission from Julian Stodd

What do we want technology to do?

•Connect•Communicate•Collaborate & Share•Community

Using Technology for Student Engagement and Feedback

What are the requirements?•Widely available to students• Effortless to use• Private – no impact on the reputation of the university• Private – no impact on a student’s digital identity• Data stored on university data-base• Anonymous

Using Technology for Student Engagement and Feedback

A small selection of possible solutions:

•Moodle Forums•Multi-media Message Boards• Lino-it• Padlet

• Apps• Private Apps

Using Technology for Student Engagement and Feedback

Moodle Forums• Private – securely hosted• Available to all students• Easy to Use?• Anonymous?• Effortless?• Compared to an app, the

‘distance’ is longer• But, the moodle app is

coming soon

Multi-media Message Walls• allows users to

communicate and ask questions publicly, and anonymously• Quick and easy way to

contribute

Multi-media Message Walls

• Public & Anonymous• Private – requires user to sign-

up (Facebook, Twitter etc)• Database hosted externally

Apps• Facebook• Twitter• WhatsApp• Google Apps

PRIVACY ?

Local Apps• Skype•Will be rolled out to students• Skype groups

• Study-Space• Internal App

Study Space AppDesigned by students, for students

What is it?• Additional resource to supplement Moodle

• Aligned with how young people use technology

• Convenient - in your pocket• App culture

• Social Media type App• Privacy

• Anonymous postings - most students have chosen to post

anonymously

What were the most useful things about the app in terms of your learning?

The first pilot ran mid-February to mid-May 2016 with a cohort of around 140 pharmacy students

• Both students and lecturers could post in the same place

• when lecturers posted some important notes• When people asked a question the answers helped

my knowledge and I could also try to answer questions which helped me to learn more

• Getting answers from students AND staff. • Aided my revision • Lecturers' responses • Was able to ask questions and get help from other

students. Lecturers could intervene if peers were wrong.

• The chance to talk to other students in an informal way. Sometimes it feels inappropriate to email the lecturer so having a means of consulting peers instead is very useful

• The lecturers answering any unanswered questions • A causal way to communicate and share ideas with the

lecturers and other students; rather than writing an email asking about some simple questions

• You could ask any question and in most cases it would be answered. It was useful in this way but also I'm quite shy so probably wouldn't have the confidence to ask the lecturers myself in case it was a stupid question, so this enabled me to get answers fast and without any worries

• It consolidated my knowledge by me helping other people

• It was useful to gain lecturer feedback on some of the questions

• very quick Q and A system; feedback from both academics and students

The current status• Small-scale• 10 programme units, around 25 channels• Also being tried for Academics Reps and feedback for SSLC for

Pharmacy and Pharmacology Year One students. Looking good.

• So far, some channels are more successful than others• It works when the leader is proactive and makes it work• Too early to tell - Revision was a key period for activity from

earlier trial

What was it designed to do?• Enable Feedback• Academic -> Student• Student -> Academic• Student -> Student

• Support communities of students helping each other• Social Learning

•Posts•Anonymous Posts•Up/Down Vote

Features

Features•Questions or Surveys

•Voting Competitions

Study Space AppPlease:• Act Responsibly• No inappropriate comments• Anonymous Posts have user id

Now developing the SSLC App• Undergraduate Coder• Find out the specification• What students want• What Academic Reps want• What Senior Management want

• Custom features for collecting data (is the Question and Voting Competition enough)• What reports and visualisations are required?

Playtime

No matter what technology you use, being proactive is the key(it is not the technology that matters!)

With permission from Julian Stodd

Keith BrownLearning Technologist

Using Technology for Student Engagement and Feedback

@KeithBrownBath