Engaging students through partnership Colin Bryson, Ruth Furlonger, Olivia Petie, Fae Rinaldo-Langridge and Katie Dodds colin.bryson@ncl.ac.uk ruth.furlonger@ncl.ac.uk

The Challenge Combined Honours at Newcastle Diverse and complex – apparently incoherent and so individual Missing sense of identity, inclusion and belonging Dissatisfied and disengaged But few resources and so difficult to influence the curriculum So how to address?

The nature of student engagement Holistic and socially constructed Every student is an individual and different (Haggis, 2004) Engagement is a concept which encompasses the perceptions, expectations and experience of being a student and the construction of being a student in HE (Bryson and Hand, 2007). Engagement underpins learning and is the glue that binds it together – both located in being and becoming. (Fromm, 1977) SE is dynamic and fluid – fragile and resilient SE is multidimensional, includes student’s whole lives Includes the past and the future

Key influences on engagement Student expectations and perceptions – match to the ‘personal project’ and interest in subject Sufficient challenge and appropriate workload Degrees of choice, autonomy, risk, and opportunities for growth and enjoyment Trust relationships Communication and discourse A sense of belonging and community Supportive social networks Opportunities for, and participation in activities and roles – to enable ownership, self-assurance and self-efficacy But also negatives – alienating forces (Mann, 2001), sense of exclusion (Hockings, 2010)

Holistic student engagement strategy Follow the principles of SE Work with the students Crucial that the students co-owned the problems, solutions and changes made…

Partnership Diverse origins – both pedagogic and political Such virtuous principles – democratic, ethical, model of citizenship Antithesis of consumer model The right ethos, values and beliefs – mutuality and community Linked concepts Arnstein (1969) - Ladder of participation Pateman (1969) Continuum of Industrial Democracy

Initiatives on partnership Student as producer (Neary and Winn, 2009) Students at L&T champions/change agents/consultants (e.g. Exeter, Birmingham City) Co-designers of the curriculum (Bovill, 2013) QAA Chapter on SE (2012) University policies and practices (Van der Velden, 2012) Partnership agreements in Scotland

Student Representation Evolving to empower student reps Student-led, staff support (student-staff committee). Engine room for ideas. Working groups – student chosen agendas. Constituency format – consistency. SSC Success stories: CH week Co-design of modules Mentoring

Mentoring Building a community Social integration – lead role in induction. Group dynamics – time with fellow CH students. Linking to other schemes – PASS and SSC links. Mentors as partners Student designed and staff support – fortnightly feedback meetings. Opportunity to recruit and train future intake of mentors.

Combined Honours Society Important role in building our CH community. No staff involvement, committee of students. Links up with other schemes and staff on CH Awards – rewarding outstanding contributions to CH.

PASS (Peer Assisted Study Support) Our Scheme: Informal drop-in sessions in the Combined Honours common room. 6 PASS advisors trained in academic writing. Student Coordinator. Successes: Relieves pressure for mentors to give academic advice. Increased CH identity- more roles for student engagement. Benefits to PASS advisors themselves.

Graduate Development Modules Opportunity for academic credit: About 50% of people in roles are on the modules. Frees up time to dedicate to role and allows them to take on ambitious projects: (i.e. curriculum design – create a new interdisciplinary module). Other projects have included redesigning Post-application Open Day and organising the Combined Honours Conference.

Reflections on the CH Strategy Virtuous outcomes: Individual benefits – improves graduateness and confidence. Better student experience – and more attractive to incoming students due to community feel. Achievement – academic grades have continued to climb alongside scheme successes.

Any questions?

Activity – over to you… What opportunities could you introduce in the area you work that would promote engagement and partnership? How are you going to put these into practice? You should aim to include as many students as possible…

Challenges and issues Getting past pseudo-participation (measuring and evaluating that it is really happening) The role of the student union (and levels where this works) Can we create opportunities for all students (and are attractive to all?) Ensuring participation as it cannot be obligatory How does the staff role change? This approach creates an unpredictable and unknown future - the nature of co-creation

http://raise-network.ning.com/ To meet regularly to discuss SE. To involve and work with students in partnership An early goal was to develop a concept map and set of principles that underpin the promotion of SE To establish an annual conference drawing together leading edge work on SE - and to feed into publication through journals and books. (Next conference– Sept 2014, Manchester) To gain funding to support these events and activities. To create a bank of useful resources for us to share. To facilitate communication between us (web, email network etc) http://raise-network.ning.com/