Keynote at Change Agent Network (CAN) Conference, University of Winchester, 20 April 2018

1. Alienation as vice and virtue:
knowing the difference and making a
difference
@solentlearning
@tansyjtweets
Tansy Jessop
CAN Conference
20 April 2018

2. Session outline
1. First principles: why we are here
2. Alienation Type A: Vice
3. Alienation Type B: Virtue
4. Vice into virtue:
• Research
• Relationships
• Risks

3. Why study at university?
Go to www.menti.com and use the code 47 53 37
Write down three words or phrases which capture
your ideas about why anyone would spend three
years of their life studying at university.

4. So why come to university?

5. University or…
• 108,000 Freddos @25p each
• 98 Freddos per day
• 6,293 Big Mac Meals @£4.29
• 5.7 burgers a day

6. Mini-cooper clubman?

7. Why would you come to university?

9. Alienation as vice and virtue?
Image, "Alienation Nightmare" © 1996 by Sabu

10. Alienation Type A: Vice

11. Motorways to Type A alienation
• M1: Modules
• M2: Markets
• M3: Metrics
• M4: Mass higher education

12. Alienation Type B: Virtue

13. Intellectual development in a nutshell
Model Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4
Perry
(n=464
interviews)
Dualism Multiplicity Relativism Commitment
Baxter
Magolda
(n=101
students
plus 10 year
Absolute
Knowledge
Transitional Independent Contextual
self-
authorship

14. From Morning Glory to Petersburg
(The World Book, 1928)
Poem by Adrienne Rich

15. Take two: turn to your neighbour
• Which words or phrases in the poem resonated
for you and why?
• How do theories of intellectual development
relate to your own university experience?
• If the theories have legs, what should we do
about it?

16. Alienation: Type B
• Confused, angry, doubting the firmament,
questioning everything you ever knew?
• Welcome to university! If you are not feeling
any of these thing then you are not in higher
education.

17. Out of alienation: the three R’s

18. Research kills alienation…
• Stimulates intellectual curiosity
• Ill-defined problems make you think
• Students take decisions and make choices
• Student ownership & partnership
• Students gain knowledge through doing research

19. Facts first: knowledge wastage

20. Research-based
https://vimeo.com/214664656

21. Solent’s Real-World Curriculum Framework

22. Relationships kill alienation…
Best predictor of positive
university experience is strong
relationships. At least one strong
relationship with a tutor and two
with peers…
At the turning point in students’
undergraduate lives, it was people,
not programmes that proved
critical.
Chambliss and Takacs 2014

23. It was like ‘Who’s
Holly?’ It’s that
relationship where
you’re just a student.
Because they have to mark so
many that our essay becomes
lost in the sea that they have
to mark.
Here they say ‘Oh yes, I don’t
know who you are. Got too
many to remember, don’t
really care, I’ll mark you on
your assignment’.
YET…

24. The feedback relationship

25. Irretrievable breakdown…
Your essay lacked structure and
your referencing is problematic
Your classes are boring and I
don’t really like you 

26. Looking for a dialogue?

27. Try the Critical Incident Questionnaire
Stephen Brookfield’s Critical Incident Questionnaire http://bit.ly/1loUzq0

28. Taking risks to kill alienation…

29. Read more, write more

30. Ending with a poem
Line 1: Your Name
Line 2: Four character traits
Line 3: Lover of… (list three things)
Line 4: Who feels… (three items)
Line 5: Who needs…. (three items)
Line 6: Who fears…. (one item)
Line 7: Who hopes for… (three items)
Line 8: And who finds … (three items)
(Adapted from John Bean, 1996, 110)

31. From alienation…

32. …to the adult equivalent of this

33. References
Arum, R. and Roska, J. 2011. Academically Adrift. Limited Learning on College
Campuses. Chicago. University of Chicago Press.
Baxter Magolda, M. 2001. Making Their Own Way: Narratives for Transforming
Higher Education to Promote Self-Development. Virgina. Stylus.
Bean, J. 1996. Engaging Ideas. San Francisco. Jossey Bass.
Brookfield, S. 1995. Becoming a critically reflective teacher. Chapter 6. Understanding
Classroom dynamics: The Critical Incident Questionnaire. San Francisco. Jossey Bass.
Carr, N. 2010. The Shallows: How the internet is changing the way we read, think and
remember. New York. Newton and Company.
Chambliss, D. and Takacs, C. 2014. How College Works. Harvard University Press.
Collini, S. 2012. What are universities for? London. Penguin Books.
DiPietro, M. 2017. ‘How Learning Works: 7 Research-Based Principles for Smart
Teaching’. Workshop at ISSOTL Conference, Calgary.
Mann, S. 2001. Alternative Perspectives on the Student Experience: alienation and
engagement. Studies in Higher Education. 26(1) 7-19.
Perry, William 1981. ‘Cognitive and Ethical Growth: The Making of Meaning’. In
Chickering, A. (1981) The Modern American College. San Francisco. Jossey Bass.