Engaging Students as Change Agents www.mickhealey.co.uk mhealey@glos.ac.uk 1

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It should be the norm that students are engaged as co-partners and co-designers in university and department learning and teaching initiatives. Mick Strongly agree Strongly disagree

Students as partners and change agents: Structure The nature of students as partners and change agents Conceptual frameworks Case studies: Students as change agents Action planning 5

Recent publications 6

Recent publications 7

Recent publications 8

Most recently 9

Journals 10

Ladder of student participation in curriculum design Partnership - a negotiated curriculum Students increasingly active in participation Students in control Student control of some areas of choice Students control of prescribed areas Wide choice from prescribed choices Limited choice from prescribed choices Dictated curriculum – no interaction Participation claimed, tutor in control Students control decision-making and have substantial influence Students have some choice and influence Tutors control decision-making informed by student feedback Tutors control decision-making Source: Bovill and Bulley (2011), adapted from Arnstein (1969) 11

Engagement through partnership "We have spent enough time condemning consumerism in education, and now we need to articulate the alternative. Student engagement is a great concept but it needs to be deployed to radical ends. Students as partners is not just a nice-to-have, I believe it has the potential to help bring about social and educational transformation …” (Rachel Wenstone VP HE NUS, 2012) 12

Students as partners in learning and teaching in higher education Source: Healey, Flint and Harrington (2014, 25) At the centre of the model is the development of partnership learning communities. If partnership only occurs in pockets of distinct initiatives or modules it is unlikely to reach its full potential in terms of impacts so community is crucial to the embedding and sustaining of partnership as an ethos and aspect of institutional culture. Why community is important We know, from the synthesis of evidence from the what works programme that encouraging a sense of belonging and community can lead to increased student retention and success. What works? - “the academic sphere is the most important for nurturing participation of the type which engenders a sense of belonging” (Thomas 2012) Many evidenced features of student engagement that have a direct relationship with ideas of community. - encouraging reciprocity and co-operation amongst students, interactions between staff and students, respect for diversity, and a university environment that makes students feel supported and legitimated (Chickering and Gamson 1987, Kuh 2001, Coates 2007) If we understand partnership to be both a learning and working relationship – literature suggests lots of critical success factors. Some of these are easier to build in to policies, processes and structures – e.g. working arrangements like having shared goals, joint decision-making, dispersal of power, sharing knowledge and practices – can build these in to things like institutional partnership agreements. Others are more about values and attitudes – harder to build into formal documents and structures – things like respect, trust, reciprocity, responsibility, listening, recognition and valuing of difference, open and honest communication – these are more about a culture and ethos – how people relate to one-another. Fostering the development of communities among staff and students is one way we can try and embed/sustain a culture of partnership. Taken together a partnership learning community is encouraged by structures and working/learning arrangements that support partnership, shared values, and attitudes and behaviours that each member of the community signs up to and embodies in practice. We’ve drawn on the scholarship of learning communities and communities of practice to develop this idea – but this is more than just inviting students to become partial or temporary members of existing disciplinary, professional or institutional communities – it’s about creating opportunities for new co-created communities to emerge – where all parties are valued fully, and contribute to the development of those communities. These communities acknowledge students and staff as learners, professionals and colleagues – as such they invite us to again think critically about existing relationships, identity, processes and structures – can be truly transformative and where values come to life. Source: Healey, Flint and Harrington (2014, 25) © 2014, The Higher Education Academy. All rights reserved 13

Engaging students as partners in learning and teaching ‘… students are neither disciplinary nor pedagogical experts. Rather, their experience and expertise typically is in being a student - something that many faculty [staff] have not been for many years. They understand where they and their peers are coming from and, often, where they think they are going’ (Cook-Sather et al. 2014, 27). 14

Students as change agents “There is a subtle, but extremely important, difference between an institution that ‘listens’ to students and responds accordingly, and an institution that gives students the opportunity to explore areas that they believe to be significant, to recommend solutions and to bring about the required changes. The concept of ‘listening to the student voice’ – implicitly if not deliberately – supports the perspective of student as ‘consumer’, whereas ‘students as change agents’ explicitly supports a view of the student as ‘active collaborator’ and ‘co-producer’, with the potential for transformation.” (Dunne in Dunne and Zandstra, 2011). 15

A theoretical model for students as change agents (Dunne & Zandstra, 2011) EMPHASIS ON THE STUDENT VOICE STUDENTS AS EVALUATORS OF THEIR HE EXPERIENCE (THE STUDENT VOICE) STUDENTS AS PARTICIPANTS IN DECISION-MAKING PROCESS Integrating students into educational change EMPHASIS ON THE UNIVERSITY AS DRIVER EMPHASIS ON THE STUDENT AS DRIVER STUDENTS AS PARTNERS CO-CREATORS AND EXPERTS STUDENTS AS AGENTS FOR CHANGE EMPHASIS ON THE STUDENT ENGAGEMENT 16

Students as change agents In a different pair each skim read one or two different mini-case studies of engaging students as: Pedagogical consultants and ambassadors (p.31-32) Co-designers of courses (p.32-33) Teachers and assessors (p.33-35) SoTL practitioners (p.35-37) Strategy developers and advisors (p.37-38) Discuss whether any of the ideas may be amended for application in your context 10 minutes 17

Engagement through partnership Authenticity – all parties have a meaningful rationale for investing in partnership, and are honest about what they can contribute and the parameters of partnership. Inclusivity – partnership embraces the different talents, opinions and experiences that all parties bring, and there are no barriers (structural or cultural) that prevent potential partners getting involved. Reciprocity – all parties have in interest in, and stand to benefit from working and/or learning in partnership. Empowerment – power is distributed appropriately and all parties are encouraged to constructively challenge ways of working and learning that may reinforce existing inequalities. Trust – all parties take time to get to know one-another, engage in open and honest dialogue and are confident they will be treated with respect and fairness. Challenge – all parties are encouraged to constructively critique and challenge practices, structures and approaches that undermine partnership, and are enabled to take risks to develop new ways of working and learning. Community – all parties feel a sense of belonging and are valued fully for the unique contribution they make. Responsibility – all parties share collective responsibility for the aims of the partnership, and individual responsibility for the contribution they make. Source: HEA (2014) 18

Students as partners and change agents In pairs think of an example you are familiar with or one of the examples you have looked at as students as change agents in learning and teaching in HE and discuss how far the principles we identified apply. 19

Students as partners and change agents In threes and fours one of you should identify a way in which you propose to engage the students in your programme or institution as partners and/or change agents and the others should act as critical friends. 3 minutes 20

Students as partners and change agents: A vision “ … it should be the norm, not the exception, that students are engaged as co-partners and co-designers in all university and department learning and teaching initiatives, strategies and practices.” (Healey, 2012) 21

For more pictures and a 1.5 min movie of Tess see: THE END For more pictures and a 1.5 min movie of Tess see: www.mickhealey.co.uk 22