Students as Partners at the University of Adelaide Liz Heathcote, Thomas Crichton, Trisha Franceschilli and Stephen Leahy - Learning Enhancement Team Students as Partners at the University of Adelaide

Overview Introduction to the project/ role of students Practical implications Feedback from the teams: the good, the bad, and advice for anyone planning a similar project University of Adelaide

Introduction: the student voice in “MyUni” More consistency across courses in layout and design More use of MyUni in my courses In LMS satisfaction surveys at the University of Adelaide students regularly reported that they would like to see improvements in consistency of course layout, and greater usage of the online environment by their instructors. The MyUni Transform Project not only implemented a different LMS but also used the opportunity to try to enhance the learning design, and achieve more consistent use of the LMS in each course. University of Adelaide

Introduction: the project “MyUni Transform” project Course copy Course enhancement 2300+ courses University of Adelaide

MyUni Transform project process Course familiarisation eLearning collaboration #1 Content transition Content creation eLearning collaboration #2 At-elbow support Key things to note: Engagement of instructors is critical to make this work successfully. If instructors don’t engage, transformation cannot happen and students will continue to have a variable experience. The period of 1-2 weeks for creating new content supports a flexible work arrangement. It may be as short as a few hours work (if the course is currently well designed and content is transferred by MyUni Assist). If more work is required, it can be done over the fortnight but with the full support structure and workshops to develop, not solo! If an instructor is teaching 3 courses of similar design, and the improvements are similar, they may not need to have 3 x 1 hours of discussion on each course, but perhaps achieve significant gains with a 2 hour meetings instead. That’s fine – we want to support everyone. eLAs will advise against time reduction if they can see the courses need substantial review. University of Adelaide

Students as partners “staff and students learning and working together to foster engaged student learning and engaging learning and teaching enhancement… It is a way of doing things, rather than an outcome in itself.”  Healey, M. , Flint, A. , Harrington, K. , (2014) Engagement through partnership: students as partners in learning and teaching in higher education, Higher Education Academy, p. 7 University of Adelaide

The “MyUni Assist Ambassador” role Initiated 2014 at-elbow support to instructors for LMS currently enrolled in second year or above with a minimum GPA of 5.0 4-7 hours a week face-to-face support for instructors in: Creating discussion boards, wikis and blogs Recording and sharing lecture recordings Customising the look and feel of a course site Embedding content (such as images and videos) Making the course available to students Seeing what the course looked like from the student perspective University of Adelaide

Role of students as partners in LMS change project team member working with eLearning Advisers on course enhancement assist in the design and implementation of the revised courses assist in staff and student awareness raising Staff and student support: class demos and at-elbow assistance Increased numbers of students were recruited to. The recruitment of these MyUni Assist Ambassadors was a conscious move to include current students as partners. This presentation will cover the practicalities of having students as partners working on courses as well as the resulting benefits. We will also look at the challenges experienced by the Project, the students and instructors.

Students as partners with whom? Tom! Georgia working on slide

Practicalities with employing students… 1/3 Timesheets Contracts Rosters Casual Staff Flexibility Study needs Backups Overall Management 1 Full-time “Transition Support Coordinator” University of Adelaide

Practicalities with employing students… 2/3 Training videos Mentoring Induction Common time to conduct induction Observation & Shadowing University of Adelaide

Practicalities with employing students… 3/3 Able to enrol themselves All-or-none access issues Access to Canvas Student role as well as admin Not assigned to own faculty Problem of the Ambassadors’ level of access to Canvas and Echo - eventually the Project gave the Ambassadors the ability to enrol themselves as instructors as needed - but their activity in Canvas was tracked and audited. Tracking and monitoring activity University of Adelaide

Survey of eLearning Advisers and MyUni Assist Ambassadors What was the experience of students as partners like for team members? Survey conducted in July 2017 (approx. 75% of the way through the MyUni Transform Project) Sent to 9 eLearning Advisers and 15 current MyUni Assist Ambassadors 10 responses received (5 eLearning Advisers and 5 MyUni Assist Ambassadors) University of Adelaide

What worked? Faculty-based teams rather than a central pool of project staff When there was a high degree of working style compatibility between the eLearning Adviser and MyUni Assist Ambassador A student perspective on the learning experience and functionality of MyUni Provided a focus on student experience ie “students would or wouldn’t do that”

Quotes… “As we were able to make the courses ourselves we were able to tweak layouts/settings to as to suit students better. There are many things in Canvas/Echo that people who are not students (eLa's) would not know about because they cannot use it as a student. “ “The students showed a fresh perspective both in terms of student experience and also of technical fixes. I appreciated when they would say that 'students wouldn't do that' and that real perspective was helpful in working through a design with an academic.”

What didn’t work so well? Lack of role clarity/induction and unclear reporting relationships When the eLearning Adviser and Ambassador were not ‘in sync’ in front of an instructor Lack of availability of the same Ambassador to ensure continuity and consistency of work Lack of maturity of some Ambassadors “Not all are created equal” / “Beware the generation gap” eLearning Advisers not always welcoming Ambassador contribution Project objective: Transform course or migrate content?

Quotes… “students being unable to work within their own faculties was a downfall. This is where their ideas would have been most relevant as they themselves have sat through the courses and know the areas where improvements are needed.”

What would we do differently? More clarity between eLearning Adviser and Ambassador roles and sharing this with instructors Greater eLearning Adviser involvement in recruitment, induction and training of Ambassadors Faculty-based teams from the start rather than “putting an eLA with a student partner together at random and ‘off you go’” A technical way to ensure students can work on courses but not have access to everything (Canvas???)

Conclusion “staff and students learning and working together” Student perspective invaluable Substantial administration overhead Still depends on the people involved “a way of doing things, rather than an outcome in itself” We are still some way away from true partnership, but have started to build this “way of doing things” into our processes

Any questions? University of Adelaide