Celebrating enhancements ‘Achieved in partnership’, Work in Progress: Celebrating enhancements ‘Achieved in partnership’, at school and course levels Kerry Harrison President (Education and Welfare) RGU:Union Kirsty Campbell Learning Analytics and Partnership Lead DELTA

Highlights the wide range of formal, and informal, mechanism for partnership working – emphasising that ‘all staff and students are equal partners’ Encourages engagement and the development of a supportive learning community where students and staff engage in meaningful dialogue. A significant development has been the introduction of a new ‘Achieved in Partnership’ section to demonstrate impact, and celebrate the engagement of students in the design of solutions, and enhancements.

Evidence-base

Evidence-base “Support is always apparent within the course. Lecturers go over and above when it comes to supporting for assessments and also regarding our opinions on how the course runs.” “Some issues regarding communication between staff and students throughout the course. Student moral dipped pretty low as we felt like we didn't have a voice and weren't being listened to regarding issues we had.” “It is evident changes have been made. For example, in second year the workload was so intense, with 4 essays and 4 presentations. However, following feedback second years no longer do this. It was good to know that our feedback is genuinely taken into account to improve the course.” “We did try to explain to the lecturer that some of the topics have been confusing for some students however they have not changed anything.”

Partnership objective Engage staff/students to better understand the NSS Student Voice results Develop mechanisms to communicate the activity undertaken, and enhancements made, in response to student’s feedback – at various levels across the institution Increase engagement with core university-wide evaluation mechanisms, including the development of new mechanisms as appropriate Intended deliverables: Maintain NSS response rate of 80% (80% in 2016/17) Reduction in the disparity between results for Q23 and Q25 Increase SEQ response rate to 60-70% (52% in 2016/17) Delivery of new questionnaires; Sem 1 SEQ, PRES A suite of resources and support materials to assist in ‘closing the feedback loop’

Key activity Detailed analysis of NSS results Appreciative Enquiry Process, with both Schools and Services Pilot activity with the School of Nursing and Midwifery Delivery of new pilot Semester 1 Student Experience Questionnaire (SEQ), and approval for inclusion of Student Voice questions within core SEQ Development of new processes/structures to support engagement with university-wide feedback mechanisms Facilitated discussions with staff and students to cultivate: Key themes Share examples of effective practice Give consideration to ‘toolkit’ resources to assist with ‘closing the feedback loop’ In-year actions/quick wins Recommendations for next session

Appreciative Enquiry – positive aspects “Informative and well-structured Moodle site available to provide information and knowledge to students who wish to participate. Podcasts, links and information feeds.” “We have a good established relationship with our Student School Officer’s and are proactive in supporting them. The SSO’s are comfortable sharing information that students seem unhappy to feedback.” “Revamped staff student liaison structure. This now runs by subject group with all reps from all year groups, the Head of School and Course Leader. This enables a more informal setting for discussions”

Appreciative Enquiry – developmental aspects Themes Emphasising ethos/importance/ value from the outset Continuing to enhance support for roles and mechanisms Innovative liaison mechanisms; eg student convened, workshop style Understanding why students don’t engage Support to close the feedback loop, extending AiP “It would be useful to make the actions that are taken as a result of students’ input much more visible, so that students appreciate the results of their input.” “We need a better way to get the message out that class reps have a vital role to play and that collaboration works to everyone’s advantage” “Early information to students about Partnership and what it is.” “It would help if students engaged with partnership. At the moment there is a consumer culture in the School.” “University reinforcing the message that Schools are working hard to strengthen the staff student partnership through a range of activities and that their voice really does matter and make a difference.”

University-wide Subject-level pilot Vox pops promoting provision of feedback

Extending the reach of core ‘Student Voice’ opportunities Reposition and distinguish Provide feedback from 16/17 and call to action Precursor to development of resources to communicate 2017/18 results > PiA and AiP Positive impact on fieldwork: 34% response rate – Week 3 This level of engagement wasn’t achieved until Week 6 in 2016/17

Recommendations for 2018/19 - Continuing the journey… Articulating our short, medium and long term ambitions for student partnership, in the context of our new strategy Further enhancing the brand awareness of ‘Partnership at RGU’ in support of institutional values ‘Partnership’ as a means to engage with students in meaningful dialogue A suggested approach(s) for effectively communicating enhancement activity to cohorts Branded ‘toolkit’ to assist ‘closing the feedback loop’ for proactive use by both academic and service colleagues > Precursor being promotional materials for SEQ Review of ‘Staff-Student Liaison guidance to empower colleagues to foster a partnership ethos Further development and support for key representative roles, to maximise/streamline activity Guidance for local-partnership events

|Robert Gordon University| |RGU:Union| Email: hello@rguunion.co.uk Telephone: 01224 262266 www.rguunion.co.uk/partnership |Robert Gordon University| Email: partnership@rgu.ac.uk Telephone: 01224 262224 www.rgu.ac.uk/studentpartnership