Developing and Enhancing Partnerships for Learning How can increased student engagement promote student success?

Becka ColleyDean of Students

National Teaching Fellow

Overview

• What makes students stay/leave?

• How can collaborative and peer learning enhance the student experience?

• What effect does peer interaction have on the student experience?

• What do PARTNERSHIPS mean to you?

• Discuss with person next to you• 2 mins!

• Acrostic…

To get you thinking…

• P• A• R• T• N• E• R

• S• H• I• P• S

Partnerships

• P eople• A ctivities• R eflection• T ransition• N urture• E nthusiasm• R espect

• S upport• H elp• I ndividuals• P eer• S taff

Students 2.0?

• Who/what are modern students? –A vision of students today (Wesch, 2007)

–Engaging Students at Bradford (Currant, 2009)

• What issues do they face? • What challenges does this pose for us?• How do we respond to differences from the

‘norm’?

Stating the Obvious But…

…Higher Education is changing:• “The university system is in need of ‘radical

change’ to provide a better deal for taxpayers and students” (Willetts, 10 June 2010)

• How is the sector going to respond?• What will we do differently?• Can partnerships support this process?

• Over last 20 years Higher education has undergone radical and unprecedented change (Education Act, 1992; Dearing Report, 1997; Roberts Report, 2003; Leitch

Report, 2006; Browne, 2010; CSR, 2010)

• Learners are entering with different expectations and assumptions about their experiences

• The student body has become dramatically more heterogeneous and has fragmented in some cases

The Impact of ‘massification’

What will happen to HE?

Go Back to Basics??

(no real change…)

Become Futuristic??

Universities 2.0?

• Diversity of entry routes

• Issues of dealing with developing autonomy

• Earning whilst learning

• Disengaged learners seeking qualification

• Pressures on the system and individuals

• Changing processes within an inflexible

system

• Tradition and history

“£9000 a year fees will be the

exception not the rule.”

“Certain tutors appear arrogant and unwilling to listen to student's views. Tutors are often unable to make lectures interesting and/or

teach the subject matter in a way that clearly communicates the information and is stimulating. £3,000+ per year definitely

not worth it.” [quote from NSS]

In the context of…

• How long to see the impact and effects?

• How long before even more change??

• What does this mean for student engagement?

Outcome = Mixed (imho…)

Those that can, will and those that can’t, will (struggle…)

What does this mean for• Staff• Students • Institutions• Society• You???

How do students think they learn best?

“I prefer practical learning as I like to do things and get bored when just listening to someone talking. I do quite well when working in a group as well as it gives me more ideas and opinions”

“Through repetition. I like to study independently initially but then to consolidate the learning I like to discuss it and have feedback on it. I have a low attention span and so find a lot of reading and quiet time very hard work. I like to interact with people and so the discussion and debate of ideas appeals to me greatly”

“I learn best from doing things or thinking through a problem with other people or by writing something down, drawing it. I don't learn much by just reading something”

The Traditional Curriculum…

University of X provides per module:• Lectures x 2 hours x 12• Seminars x 1 hour x 6• Group tutorials x 1 hour x 3

– Group work (with assessed presentation)• 100+ hours of independent study (aka the

library) per module• Assessed by coursework and 3 hour exam

And if they’re really lucky they get…

• “I do not get enough contact time. I am paying over £3000 a year and this semester I will have no lectures. This is not value for money!”

• “We are paying a lot of money to gain a degree only to be let down time and time again!”

• “More lecturers for the money I'm paying”• “Too much self-directed studies, not enough help from staff,

not sufficient lecture hours, too much money paid for not enough hours.”

• “The tuition fees are really expensive and they don't give us enough lecture time and I don't know what we are actually paying for.”

And the students say…

Why Do Students Leave University?

• Because they are not engaged

• Not engaged academically– “I am not clever enough”– “The course is not what I thought it would be”

• Not engaged socially– “I feel lonely”– “I am homesick”– “The other students are not friendly”

Why Come to University?

• Balance of power between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation

• Why have they decided to come to University at all?

• What do they expect… – of University itself?– to do once they leave?

Why Are You Here?

• Because “I have nothing else to do”• Because “my parents/siblings told me to

come”• Because “I don’t want to get a job”• Because “I want to study the subject”

• What impact will this have on engagement? How do we support a different learning experience?

Why Have I Stayed?

Issues of Belonging

Why do they leave?

• Lack of social life and community activity and involvement

• I have no social life here• Very limited activities to

simply relax and socialize.

(also financial, pressure of work, course related issues)

Why do they stay?

• My fellow students have helped me a lot. They have been very supportive and are always helpful.

• Support of class mates• The people on my course

and in my group have helped me throughout the course of the year

• The support of other students

1. Make Research-Based Learning the Standard

2. Construct an Inquiry-Based Freshman Year

3. Build on the Freshman Foundation

4. Remove Barriers to Interdisciplinary Education

5. Link Communication Skills and Course Work

6. Use Information Technology Creatively

7. Culminate with a Capstone Experience

8. Educate Graduate Students as Apprentice Teachers

9. Change Faculty Reward Systems

10. Cultivate a Sense of Community

Ten Ways to Change Undergraduate Education

The Boyer Commission onEducating Undergraduatesin the Research University: REINVENTING UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATIONBoyer, 1999

• What do PARTNERSHIPS mean to you?

• Who are these partnerships with?• Are the partnerships about

taking/relinquishing elements of control?• How do we ensure proactivity?

Personalisation? Engagement?

Going back to the beginning…

Expectation management is key• Support• Integration• Transition issues• Success• Awareness• Personalisation within a complicated and

fragmented system

It’s All About Expectations…

• Universities need to become less fragmented but not turn into a unstimulating vanilla experience or a corporate collective…

Partnerships for Success

• Knowing someone was there who understood all this really helped

• Supportive staff made me feel welcome

• It was good not to be alone

• Meeting other people and sharing ideas was excellent

Beyond HEIn HEPre-entry

Academic system

Social system

Organisational system

Professional services system

Student relations

Dispositions & capacities

Student engagement & belonging

HE system

May & Thomas, 2010

Intervention level: Core principles

Intervention level

Proactive Inclusive

Flexible

Transparent

Ongoing Timely

Integrated

Collaborative

What Can We Do?

• Identify student expectations of University • Make explicit institutional requirements• Demystify the complex, codified structures• Provide holistic induction/transition experiences• Supportive assessment process

– Provide early formative assessment– Engage with curriculum to inspire learners

• Define curriculum engagement• Academic and Social integration

• How do programmes become ‘grounded and nourished’?

• What does your institution do to welcome students & support with transition?

• How do you provide social interactions with teachers/staff and other students?

• How do you embed course advice and support services?

• Where does peer assisted learning feature in this?

Any Questions?!

<Thank you!/>