Students as Change Agents Exploring issues of Student Engagement among On- Campus MSc Students Denise Ryder, Jonathan Doney, Nii Tackie-Yaoboi With Nadine Schäfer

What is the issue? Key issues identified were related to ‘Student Engagement’ How was student engagement with the MSc programme affected by The structure of lecture sessions Additional support sessions ‘Virtual’ interactions with each other and distant students

What did we do? A questionnaire Key features of design: Shared work among Change Agents team – 1 area each Ethical considerations Mix of question types Key features of distribution Personal introduction Responses 11 Campus based Respondents (out of a possible 14) 3 with English as a first language, 8 without

About the survey… Sample questions 30 questions consisting of open-ended, closed, multi choice, rank ordering, rating scale (Likert scale) with a cover letter at the front explaining the purpose of our small-scale research project Section 1 3-hour sessions engagement– preparation, duration, activities, materials, etc. Section 2 Hive discussion groups – contribution, groupings, difficulties/challenges, etc. Section 3 Support sessions – attendance, timing, future planning, etc.

Engagement with three-hour lecture sessions Timetabling and structure of sessions Students were happy with the length of sessions, and the structure of breaks. Students generally disagreed that lectures start at a good time for them; difficulties in concentrating during the evening were highlighted. A strong preference was expressed for sessions to be run during the day (most asked for 9 or 10am start) Recommendations Consideration be given to when sessions start.

Engagement with optional support sessions Attendance The very few students who regularly attended the support sessions found them of benefit. Only two students were of the opinion that they did not need additional support sessions. The remainder claimed that they would have attended had the sessions been more conveniently timetabled. Recommendations Consider timetabling the support sessions about two hours before one of the main lectures

The use and value of Hive discussion groups: Frequency of use: 7 out 11 students contribute to Hive discussions weekly (others monthly, one randomly) Possible recommendation: As the Hive discussions are considered by students as essential tool to students’ learning and experience of the MSc course an Introduction Hive use at the start of MSc course as well as within the specific modules could enable a higher level of participation and confidence among students Being part of (pre-assigned) Hive discussion groups:  The majority of participants (7 out of 11) perceived the Hive discussion groups - as created for the modules – helpful and were happy about being put into these discussion groups. The same number of students felt it allowed them to interact with distant students  Possible recommendation: students commented positively on ‘mixed groups’ in terms of background, experience, nationality, etc. This might be considered when putting groups together in future

Summary and Recommendation: The findings indicate a generally very positive take-up of students on the use and meaning of Hive discussions. One area that could be further developed could be to more clearly build in the element of getting and giving feedback on each others’ writing.

What is particularly useful/not useful about the discussion groups? Recommendations o Make contribution to group discussions compulsory o Pair up a campus and a distance student o Lecturers to be more facilitating (or using more directed tasks?) to make sure off- and on-campus students contribute equally. Useful Varied contributions and perspectives Increasing knowledge and understanding Discussing the group work and assignments Exchanging ideas Not useful Some members simply refuse to participate Very small groups make the discussions ineffective Time consuming

Dissemination of results 1. Shared amongst Students as Change Agents team; key recommendations 2. Shared with MSc Module leader; recommendations refined 3. Shared with MSc Staff team 4. They discussed recommendations and responded 5. And now the Change Agent Conference!

Changes to the MSc “The MSc teaching team have found the data collated by the ‘Students as Agents of Change’ project to be an invaluable source of information. This work has been complemented by a further survey undertaken with distance students. As a result of this work a number of changes will be made to the programme next year, including: A revised strategy for the use of technology in learning and further teaching and communication on these matters for students A more continuous pattern of feedback for students across the academic year A renewed focus on incorporating online activities in teaching sessions A new set of online teaching, study skills and employability resources Ongoing discussion and further research into the timing of teaching sessions” Dr Alexandra Allan (Programme Director for the MSc in Educational Research)