Working with students as our partnersto improve student engagement

• T.J. Holker ^[1]
  1. [1] Coventry University

     Coventry University

     Reino Unido

     
• Localización: Ikaskuntza-irakaskuntza akademikoaren eremu berriak arakatzen / Universidad del País Vasco - Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (aut.), 2019, ISBN 978-84-1319-033-4, págs. 168-175
• Idioma: inglés
• Enlaces
  • Texto Completo Libro (pdf)
• Resumen

  • Sometimes the term ‘student engagement’ can inadvertently be considered something that isdone to or for students and can be focused too much on outcomes (see for example Matthews 2016).Consequently, in a School of Strategy and Leadership within a UK University Business School, we arestarting to focus more on the relational process of engaging with our students via various ‘Studentsas Partners’ type initiatives. We believe that this approach also enables the development of strongrelationships with our students built on mutual trust and respect which we see as being particularlyimportant at a time when the student population is becoming ever more diverse (albeit not alwaysparticularly well integrated). As such working with our student partners we have over the last 18months delivered a number of ‘Students as Partners’ activities which will be discussed in this paper.These include the roll out of a student buddy scheme for new first year undergraduate students, anumber of student projects where students themselves have undertaken ‘SOTL’ related research withthe aim of improving Student Experience, a staff - student forum on improving student engagement onour largest undergraduate course as well as a ‘best practice’ workshop in which staff worked alongsidestudents to consider new ways to work on partnership activities within the School. Additionally, wehave recently launched student led practice presentation workshops delivered as part of an assessedmodule, and will shortly be rolling out of a School wide Student Ideas Scheme. This Paper will providean overview of each of these initiatives including some practical advice on developing Students asPartners activities from scratch, together with a discussion of some of the main benefits we have seenfor both students and staff arising from the roll out of these initiatives. The paper will also discuss themain challenges we have faced and our plans to overcome those challenges.