Self directed learning through community engagement at the University of Edinburgh Johanna Holtan (Institute for Academic development) Simon Riley (Centre for Reproductive Health) Andy Cross (GeoSciences) Ewan Klein (Informatics) Arno Verhoeven (Edinburgh College of Art)

Workshop outline: Brief outline of different approaches at UoE Activities: Break out groups identifying barriers (and solutions!) to wider implementation

Student Selected Components (SSCs) in the undergraduate medicine MBChB curriculum Medicine = conservative curriculum? GMC 1993 directive imposed to reduce content and provide choice extensive experience since 1998 (the “medical elective” goes back a lot further) SSCs form 20% of medicine timetable in all 5 years (student-led / arranged) Main learning outcomes are fully integrated and core “Graduate Attributes” = professionalism AND research skills, in the workplace ‘Core’ learning outcomes which includes graduate attributes Choice 20% of time Simon Riley, Director of SSCs

So what do students do in SSCs? Year 1 = group project on the wards (e.g. a patient safety project, which is useful and valued! Choose from a list) Year 2 = literature project (from a list), then a second project on “anything academic” - students decide upon their own topic group, and find a supervisor Year 3 = shadowing another health care professional (in the broadest sense), not a doctor, and analysing their team – Midwife, nurse, paramedic, radiologist, transplant co-ordinator, pharmacist, occupational therapist, lifeboat crew, hospital chaplain, homeopath, Police rape team, Scottish Govt, morgue attendant – “Tell your colleagues about us” Year 4 = research or audit project – critical time for career exploration, and gaining research skills Year 5 = Medical elective, usually abroad, may be resource poor, emerging or developed

Student-led, with motivated students, topical Useful projects on: patient safety systematic literature review clinical audit and service delivery studies to improve local clinical care integrating into research teams which may be published and contributes to research output Not “too onerous” on faculty (e.g. limited assessment load; self-reflection, peer appraisal) Things can go wrong, but will pass as long as they demonstrate learning from their mistakes Good ‘alignment’ of aims and outcomes with motivated and interested students doing useful work, with idea rich, but time poor Faculty Trust your students! Why does the SSC format work so effectively? “Thoroughly challenging, yet enjoyable and stimulating. I’ve never worked so hard and yet felt so motivated to do so” Year 4 student

GeoScience Outreach: Optional course for final year Bachelors and Masters students Develop and deliver a project and product for an external (community) client to an agreed specification Use para-professional knowledge and understanding to communicate and work with a wider audience Engage with an audience and community that may lack sufficient subject knowledge and understanding Learn from client the additional and complementary skills required (e.g. audience specific communication skills) Independent project work supervised / mentored by course team and client

Edinburgh Living Lab City -Education and engagement within communities -Provider of educational resources Students -Suits different learning styles -Widening participation -Skills development -Employability University -‘Town and Gown’ -Foster internal links / collaborations -Opportunities for staff and research students

Edinburgh Living Lab & Learning by Developing

Key aims P romote improvements in student experience and outcomes increased employability and personal development deepen University links to the city Involve students more actively in their own learning Engage staff more deeply in teaching Link teaching and research more closely support the city in addressing complex challenges

Despite some incredibly frustrating moments, near the end of the week the culture shock began to wear off, and I eventually found my place within the team. I learned about different methods of data visualization, how to make a simple GUI layout, how to write basic HTML, and that computer science students can eat an astounding number of Oreos. I spent a great deal of time doing online research familiarizing myself both with which data my teammates were trying to gather, as well as how the data would be most effectively displayed. Although most of this research went more towards personal education than to the project, after five days I now know significantly more about innovative ways to analyse and present data than I did prior to the event.

Data, Design and Society New UG1/UG2 course proposal Learning by Developing model Team-based interdisciplinary projects, engaging with ‘real world’ problems, brokered by ECCI Challenges: – Cross-school participation and resourcing – Essential small-group mentoring component – Differing expectations of pre-Honours students

Edinburgh Living Lab Community -Education and engagement within communities -Provider of educational resources Students -Suits different learning styles -Widening participation -Skills development -Employability University -‘Town and Gown’ -Foster internal links / collaborations -Opportunities for staff and research students