Presented at ALT-C 2015

1. Students as partners in
innovation in TL&A
John Webber @jwwweb
Sussex Downs (FE) College
and Collyer’s Sixth Form College
ALT-C 2015

2. Declaration of beliefs
Students aren’t
customers
Nor vessels waiting to
be filled with learning

3. Declaration of
beliefs 2
Students need to be engaged as
active partners in their learning

4. Why this is important for
innovation in TL&A

5. Why students may
resist change

6. If they have been
previously successful

7. If they have previously
failed

8. Innovation is risky

9. many prefer to learn within
their comfort zone

10. and yet they don’t
want to be bored

11. Some aspects of learning
are...

12. “One paradoxical finding is that some
approaches that may appear to make
learning harder in the short term, and
less satisfying for learners, actually
result in better long-term retention.”
Coe, R. et al (2014)
“What makes great teaching:
Review of the underpinning research”

13. Consider what this tells us...
AS student reflecting on his first year:
“I admit I used to copy homeworks
when I was struggling”
What does that say about his beliefs about
homework, difficulty and learning?
What beliefs do your students’ hold about these?

14. Which learning techniques are effective?
Dunlosky et al (2013) Improving Students’ Learning

15. “Memory is the residue of
thought”
Dan Willingham
“Why don’t students like school?”

16. Students commonly reject:
•Peer assessment
• “I think peer assessment is a waste of
time. Only a teacher can meaningfully
assess our work”
•Flipped learning
• “I would rather teachers present the key
knowledge in class.”

17. Those are just some of
the reasons students
may resist change

18. Bringing your students with you

19. Or rather, working with them

20. Flipped learning: A case study

21. Nurturing the teacher-student partnership
through collaborative innovation projects
• Teachers encouraged to engage students in project
from the start:
• What I am going to trial
• Why I am doing this
• Why I think this might work (related research)
• invite and listen to their initial thoughts
• commit to ongoing dialogue and response
• in exchange for their honest feedback and
readiness to try to make it work

22. Learning from our students

23. 09/09/2015 23
Their initial response
Students on flipped learning

24. “Set and maintain clear expectations” “The iPad of shame”
09/09/2015 24
Flipped Learning:
What the students told us

25. 09/09/2015 25
Flipped Learning:
Students reflecting on what they value

26. Flipped Learning:
Students reflecting on what they value
»We like:

27. Statement Agree Disagree
I don’t think I learnt the basic knowledge as
well as if the teacher had presented it in class 9% 91%
I was able to make better notes 98% 2%
I think the class time was more interesting
because of the flipped approach 89% 11%
I think the class time was more useful because
of the flipped approach 96% 4%
I think it would be good to do more flipped
learning 96% 4%
A2 students questionnaire
feedback (n = 46)

28. A final word: “Metacognition”

29. Questions?
Comments?
Thoughts?

30. Students as Digital Leaders (ala JISC)
And funded research project:
Student Learning Communities
to work alongside
Teacher Learning Communities
at Richard Collyer’s College
Where next?

31. References and Bibliography
Coffield, F (2014) Beyond Bulimic Learning. London, IoE Press
Coe, Robert, Cesare Aloisi, Steve Higgins, and Lee Elliot Major. (2014) What Makes Great
Teaching ? Review of the Underpinning Research. The Sutton Trust.
Dunlosky, John, Katherine A Rawson, Elizabeth J Marsh, Mitchell J Nathan, and Daniel T
Willingham. 2013. “Improving Students’ Learning With Effective Learning Techniques:
Promising Directions From Cognitive and Educational Psychology.” Psychological Science in
the Public Interest 14 (1): 4–58. doi:10.1177/1529100612453266.
Healey, M. et al., (2014) Engagement through partnership: students as partners in learning
and teaching in higher education, York. Available at:
https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/engagement-through-partnership-students-partners-learning-
and-teaching-higher-education
Higgins, S. et al., 2013. The Sutton Trust - Education Endowment Foundation Teaching and
Learning Toolkit Manual. Sutton Trust-EEF, 44(December). Available at:
http://www.suttontrust.com/about-us/education-endowment-foundation/teaching-learning-
toolkit/
Nuthall, G. (2007) The Hidden Lives of Learners. Wellington NZ, NZCER Press
Stobart, G. (2014) The Expert Learner: Challenging the Myth of Ability. Maidenhead, OUP
Willingham, D Students Remember ... What They Think About

32. Contact…
Except where otherwise noted, this
work is licensed under CC-BY-NC-ND
JohnWebber
Project Manager:
Innovation and LearningTechnology
john.webber@sussexdowns.ac.uk
@jwwweb