Student engagement – examining its foundations and fruitful ways of putting it into practice

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Student engagement – examining its foundations and fruitful ways of putting it into practice Colin Bryson and Emily Williams: Newcastle University [email protected]

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Student engagement – examining its foundations and fruitful ways of putting it into practice . Colin Bryson and Emily Williams: Newcastle University [email protected]. Goals . Research, evidence and practice about holistic student engagement Exploring the notion of ‘partnership’ - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Transcript of Student engagement – examining its foundations and fruitful ways of putting it into practice

Page 1: Student engagement – examining its foundations and fruitful ways of putting it into practice

Student engagement – examining its foundations and fruitful ways of putting it into practice

Colin Bryson and Emily Williams: Newcastle [email protected]

Page 2: Student engagement – examining its foundations and fruitful ways of putting it into practice

Goals

Research, evidence and practice about holistic student engagement

Exploring the notion of ‘partnership’ Including both staff and student

perspectives! Examples and issues about putting it into

practice

Engagement and partnership

Page 3: Student engagement – examining its foundations and fruitful ways of putting it into practice

A very short introduction to SE

Roots (Becker, 1961: Pace, 1979: Astin, 1977: Chickering and Gamson, 1987: Pascarella and Terenzini, 1991, 2005)

The impact of college on students

A focus in USA on active classroom behaviours - (National Student Survey on Engagement) – George Kuh

Australia – the FYE…(McInnis, 1995) - Multi-dimensional engagement (Krause and Coates, 2008) Convergence with US thinking – the AUSSE

Engagement and partnership

Page 4: Student engagement – examining its foundations and fruitful ways of putting it into practice

A different form of student evidence….

Drawn from seven studies since 2003, mainly qualitative

Includes two longitudinal studies And one of these was the staff perspective

on SE Most recent work is about SE and

graduateness and SE and partnership

Engagement and partnership

Page 5: Student engagement – examining its foundations and fruitful ways of putting it into practice

A constructivist approach to SE SE is 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)

More than about doing/behaving and quantity SE is not amenable to measurement SE is dynamic and fluid SE is multidimensional, includes student’s whole lives and it is the

interaction and pattern that matters not any specific variable – avoid reductionism

Engagement and partnership

Page 6: Student engagement – examining its foundations and fruitful ways of putting it into practice

Key influences on engagement

1. Student expectations and perceptions – match to the ‘personal project’ and interest in subject (Dubet -ways of being a student)

2. Balances between challenge and appropriate workload

3. Degrees of choice, autonomy, risk, and opportunities for growth and enjoyment

4. Trust relationships 5. Communication and discourse6. A sense of belonging and community7. The salience of social networks

Engagement and partnership

Page 7: Student engagement – examining its foundations and fruitful ways of putting it into practice

A wider exploration of the lit Strong evidence base and critical perspective

from schools SE research(Fredricks et al; Zyngier; Gibbs & Posskitt; Harris) Alienation, inertia/anomie and disengagement (Mann:

Krause) Professional formation and authentic learning (identity

projects) (Holmes; Reid and Solomonides) Intellectual development (Perry: Baxter Magolda:) Integration, belonging and community (Tinto: Kember:

Wenger and several others) Collective SE – but also participation and partnership (Little et al: Bovill: Healey et al)

Engagement and partnership

Page 8: Student engagement – examining its foundations and fruitful ways of putting it into practice

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 2013, Nottingham)

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/

Engagement and partnership

Page 9: Student engagement – examining its foundations and fruitful ways of putting it into practice

A revised definition of SE

Student engagement is about what a student brings to Higher Education in terms of goals, aspirations, value and beliefs and how these are shaped and mediated by their experience whilst a student. SE is constructed and reconstructed through the lenses of the perceptions and identities held by students and the meaning and sense a student makes of their experiences and interactions. As players and shapers of the educational context, educators need to foster educational, purposeful SE to support and enable students to learn in constructive and powerful ways and realise their potential in education and society.

Engagement and partnership

Page 10: Student engagement – examining its foundations and fruitful ways of putting it into practice

Engaging students - principles

We should:1. Foster student’s willingness and readiness to engage by enhancing their

self-belief2. Embrace the point that students have diverse backgrounds, expectations,

orientations and aspirations – thus different ‘ways of being a student’, and to welcome, respect and accommodate all of these in an inclusive way

3. Enable and facilitate trust relationships (between staff:students and students:students) in order to develop a discourse with each and all students and to show solidarity with them

4. Create opportunities for learning (in its broadest sense) communities so that students can develop a sense of competence and belonging within these communities

Engagement and partnership

Page 11: Student engagement – examining its foundations and fruitful ways of putting it into practice

5. Teach in ways to make learning participatory, dialogic, collaborative, authentic, active and critical

6. Foster autonomy and creativity, and offer choice and opportunities for growth and enriching experiences in a low risk and safe setting

7. Recognise the impact on learning of non-institutional influences and accommodate these

8. Design and implement assessment for learning with the aim to enable students to develop their ability to evaluate critically the quality and impact of their own work

9. Seek to negotiate and reach a mutual consensus with students on managing workload, challenge, curriculum and assessment for their educational enrichment – through a partnership model – without diluting high expectations and educational attainment

10. Enable students to become active citizens and develop their social and cultural capital

Engagement and partnership

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A holistic approach to a degree programme Combined Honours at Newcastle

Diverse and complex Individuals doing unique degree Missing sense of identity/ belonging But few resources and so difficult to influence

the curriculumSo how to address? Find a talented group with innovative ideas, great energy and boundless enthusiasm

Engagement and partnership

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Enhancing engagement in Combined Honours Student representation:

Empowerment- Student led, working groups Partnership Active agenda – providing solutions

Success stories Defending the degree Combined Honours Week Curriculum co-design – new modules Redesign of transition

Engagement and partnership

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Enhancing engagement in Combined Honours Peer mentoring – social integration PASS scheme – academic integration

Engagement and partnership

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Enhancing engagement in Combined Honours Building community:

Facilities and spaces Social agenda – the CHS

Joining it all up – events and activities are shared and promoted by all parties

Challenging to keep it going…but offers a host of opportunities that never existed before.

Engagement and partnership

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Students as partners

A focus on the collective – student representation – involvement in decision making As consumer (UK Government) Empowerment (QAA, HEA) As equals (Wenstone and the NUS)

A focus on the individual Co-production (Neary) Module design (Bovill) Within modules

Engagement and partnership

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Challenging issues

What is role of the student union? Balancing the collective vs individual Can students take on all this responsibility How many want to? Should it be all? What impact on staff? What impact on the structures? Political or pedagogic?

Engagement and partnership