Challenges to Student Engagement CVU Seminar February 2016 Tobin Webb, TSEP

About TSEP

The Student Engagement Partnership supports, develops and promotes student engagement activity in the higher education sector in England. A strategic partnership across the English HE sector agencies and representative bodies. An NUS-hosted staff unit delivering projects, research and practitioner support.

So how do we do that exactly? Questions arise: What is student engagement? What are the challenges to it that we need to support institutions to overcome? Who do we need to support? What is a ‘practitioner’? Why is engagement a ‘good’ thing? What are the outcomes, motivations and purposes of it?

Jargon Minefield / Bingo Student EngagementStudent Participation Student VoiceStudent-led Consultation Student-centred RepresentativeStudent Community Learning CommunityCollegiality TransactionalTransformational Toolkit‘The Student Interest’ Students as… consumers, consultants, partners, stakeholders, change agents, producers, researchers, members, apprentices, the list goes on…

Competing perspectives “Student engagement…yes we do that, we have course reps. They’re great” “Oh, that doesn’t apply to us because we’re an FE college” “We’ve had real trouble with getting our students engaged, no-one comes to our club nights” “Students have failed to engage with us” “We have great engagement – students come to all our committees and voter turn out is high” “I want engagement that represents value for money, I’m paying a lot”

Challenge Number One Is there a shared understanding of the term ‘student engagement’ at your institution? Is there a shared understanding of the term ‘student engagement’ between the institution and the validating partner?

Defining Student Engagement? So what is “Student Engagement & Partnership”? It is simultaneously a term used in a regulatory, conceptual, academic, practical and strategic contexts. Currently student engagement & partnership is being looked at through different lenses; and different networks and national bodies are supporting/promoting different approaches, perspectives, priorities and motivations.

All undergraduate essays, ever ‘The Oxford English Dictionary defines [X] as follows…’ This ignores the way that the meaning of things is not always universal Power relationships, different value frameworks and context are all in play when we define things And student engagement more than most, since it involves disrupting conventional power hierarchies, is value-driven and happens across many contexts

On the other hand… No definitions = no shared framework for action Without one you might end up going in opposite directions… …or round in circles

Play with colleagues Which activities do people agree is definitely student engagement or definitely not student engagement? On which activities is there disagreement about whether it is student engagement? Why?

Student engagement in the UK Lots of work on student engagement in learning, but also a focus on student voice embedded in processes and structures and the idea of students as partners. Student engagement practices are not new …but student engagement as a policy priority is relatively recent. Moving beyond systems …and instead describing concepts e.g. potential of individuals to influence their environment.

Some definitions you need to know about  What is measured by student engagement surveys such as NSSE and UKES  Engagement for retention  Student feedback and representation  What Chapter B5 of the Quality Code says  Researchers who have tried to create working definitions and frameworks

Student engagement surveys USA/NSSE: ‘Today engagement is the term usually used to represent constructs such as quality of effort and involvement in productive learning activities’ (Kuh 2009) UK/UKES: ‘It is now widely accepted that students’ engagement with their course – the amount and quality of effort they invest in a range of important educational activities – is a key determinant of how much and how well they learn’ (Buckley 2014)

FYI: UKES 2014 measures  Higher order learning  Collaborative learning  Academic integration  Course challenge  Reflective and integrative learning  Engagement with research  Formulating and exploring questions  Skills development  Time spend on activities

Engagement for retention Sense of belonging in the academic sphere: -Peer to peer interactions -Student/tutor interactions -Knowledge, confidence and identity as HE learners -HE experience relevant to interests and future goals Thomas 2012.

Student feedback and representation ‘institutional and student union (SU) processes and practices, such as those relating to student representation and student feedback, that seek to inform and enhance the collective student learning experience’ (Little et al. 2009) NUS 2011

The Quality Code Expectation: Higher education providers take steps to engage all students, individually and collectively, as partners in the assurance and enhancement of their educational experience. UK Quality Code, Chapter B5

Holistic definitions Student engagement is concerned with the interaction between the time, effort and other relevant resources invested by both students and their institutions intended to optimise the student experience and enhance the learning outcomes and development of students and the performance, and reputation of the institution. Trowler 2010

Kahu 2013

The principled approach ‘the principles are not intended to define student engagement or partnership but rather to draw out the dimensions that constitute, and the principles which underpin student engagement and partnership’ -Learning and teaching -Quality assurance and enhancement -Decision-making, governance and strategy TSEP 2014

Very Useful BUT…

So many diagrams…maybe this helps? Partnership Learning Community Community Change Agency Learner Autonomy

So what’s in there? Student Representation Student Feedback on their learning Students Co-creating (research, curriculum, co- designing activities like induction, PALS etc) Relationships between staff and students (…& students and staff and staff and staff) So – values, roles and identity come into play Don’t underestimate ‘space and place’ Independent & group/peer learning An autonomous student union/association

The Principles – what are they? Learning & Teaching Governance, Decision Making & Strategy Quality Assurance & Enhancement

Learning & Teaching 1. Students are active members of a learning community 2. Students engage in setting the direction of their learning 3. Students engage in curricula content, design, delivery & organisation 4. Students engage in the enhancement of teaching feedback and assessment practices 5. Students engage in and with their learning

Quality Assurance & Enhancement Processes 6. Students are supported to fully engage in internal quality processes 7. Students effect change in a continual process of enhancement

Decision Making, Governance & Strategy 8. Students engage in the process of making decisions that affect them 9. Student engagement is given strategic leadership 10. Students engage through effective student leaders and governors

Challenges Engaging the less engaged and hard to reach student groups Addressing power imbalances between staff & students and institutions & students’ unions Applying and adapting student engagement models across diverse contexts Understanding and influencing institutional change Understanding industry practice and working with awarding bodies

Challenges A need for more high-quality local and national training Insight on supporting student governors Challenges associated with low resource availability (time, budget) Avoiding tick-box or superficial engagement activities Developing student representative systems

Challenges ‘Closing the feedback loop’: ensuring students understand the effects of their engagement Achieving deeper understanding of the nature and purpose of student engagement across the sector How students may be supported to develop engagement practices as they transition from one context into another during their educational journey Developing engaging teaching practice Supporting students to engage in committees

The times they are a-changin’

Next steps Use the principles to have conversations locally- identify challenges and current practice. Get in touch if you need help progressing these conversations or finding ways to enhance student engagement in your local context

Let’s Reflect…