The document discusses student partnerships and the potential for students to help drive social and educational transformation. It provides examples of initiatives from Jisc and the Higher Education Academy that engage students as partners and change agents. Benefits are outlined for students, staff, and institutions, including enhanced learning, skills development, and institutional retention and engagement. The Change Agents' Network aims to support curriculum innovation through peer support and resources for student change agents and staff working with them.
2. ‘Students as partners is not just a nice-to-have, I
believe it has the potential to help bring about
social and educational transformation, as long as
we know what we are trying to do and we maintain
a critical attitude about the ways the concept is
adopted and used.’
Rachel Wenstone, Vice President (Higher Education), NUS
– A Manifesto for Partnership (November 2012)
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3. Background and context
» NUS Student Engagement
model
» Thinking about the outcomes of
engagement activities and the
impact that policies and
practices have on students
» Recognition of the importance
of staff - student partnership
working in curriculum
innovation projects involving
technology
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4. Student partnership activities/initiatives from Jisc
» Summer of Student Innovation - http://www.jisc.ac.uk/student»
»
innovation
Digital Student project – http://jiscinvolve.digitalstudent.org
Students as Digital Pioneers
› Oxford Brookes InStePP project
› Greenwich Digital Literacies in Transition project
› Reading Digitally Ready project
› Student Fellows at Bath Spa and Winchester FASTECH project
› University of Exeter - Students as Change Agents – Integrate and
Cascade projects
› Birmingham City University – Student Academic Partners – T-Sparc
project
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5. Student partnership activities/initiatives from HEA
» Students as Partners is a key theme of the HEA and is structured around three
dimensions:
› the individual student experience of engaged learning and research
› students as change agents in learning and teaching enhancement at
institutional and national levels
› student participation in the HEA's own strategic direction and programmes of
work.
» http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/students-as-partners-work
» http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/detail/studentengagement/studentengagement-resources
» Students as partners in Wales – case studies of best practice
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/wales/students-as-partners
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6. Benefits of student partnerships/change agents
» Benefits for students:
› Gain an experience of leadership and influencing change.
› Gain experience of using research to shape change.
› Students can gain recognition through awards such as leadership
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awards, academic credit, extra-curricular awards and awards
accredited through external bodies.
Enhances student experience.
Increases confidence & skills (e.g. communication, teamworking, management, research skills).
Enhances networking with e.g. employers, community.
Improved employability and job prospects.
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7. Benefits of student partnerships/change agents
» Benefits for staff:
› Closer working/learning engagement with students.
› Learning from students – and an important dimension to their
CPD.
› Raising of individual profiles in their institutions and in the
sector.
› Enhanced input into research and papers via student
engagement.
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8. Benefits of student partnerships/change agents
» Institutional benefits:
› Opportunity for students to gain skills to support
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employability, and greater involvement in the learning and
teaching experience.
Aids retention.
Develops enhanced working/learning/assessment engagement
between students and tutors.
Engages students with research-led change.
Students inspire academics in technology-led educational
innovation.
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9. The Change Agent Network and Advisory Group
» Jisc supported the creation of the Change Agents’
Network as a network of staff and students aiming to
support curriculum enhancement and innovation
» It offers peer-support for students working as change
agents and staff working with students in this capacity
» Also available is institutional guidance, support and
consultancy
» Advisory group membership includes
NUS, QAA, HEA, HEFCE, RSC Wales…
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10. Key objectives/activities of the CAN
» Enhance student change agents’ understanding of effective
practice and change issues.
» Identify and share effective practice in the area of
students/student groups as change agents.
» Provide a forum for support and sharing of ideas.
» Create and link to resources to support staff and students
promoting the use of student change agents sector wide.
» Develop a framework to support possible accreditation.
» Develop a Journal of Educational Innovation, Partnership and
Change.
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11. Future activities – next steps?
» Supporting the accreditation of the ‘Institutional Change
Leader Award’ through SEDA
» Supporting the launch of the Journal of Educational
Innovation, Partnership and Change
» Future expansion to further education and to include
employers
» Exploring plans for sustainability of the network
» Ideas to take away from this event
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12. Find out more…
Change Agents’ Network
Sarah Knight
s.knight@jisc.ac.uk
www.changeagentsnetwork.co.uk
#CAN2014 @CANagogy
Except where otherwise noted, this
work is licensed under CC-BY-NC-ND
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Editor's Notes
Using the four-stage picture of engagement as a reflective tool, this exercise challenges students’ representatives and institution managers and academics to evaluate their currentstudent engagement practices. The focus of this task is to think about the outcomes of engagement activities and the impact that policies and practices have on students.
Oxford Brookes InStePP project - Student partnerships offer a way to join up provision for digital literacies for staff and students across the institution by establishing, supporting and building recognition for the role of student ‘ePioneers’ within existing core academic and e-learning development activities. Greenwich Digital Literacies in Transition project - cross-university studentships foster a community of student-led research to support and feed into all other aspects of the project. Termed the IRG (Interdisciplinary Research Group), this group of students, their mentors and members of staff from all aspects of the institution will engage in baselining activities as well as develop OERs that link attribute development to DL skills and opportunities. Reading Digitally Ready project has worked with students as partners in digital projects with academics, students as researchers, students feeding in their stories to inform work on the project and students undertaking work directly for the project. Student Fellows at Bath Spa and WinchesterThe FASTECH project is focused on enhancing feedback and assessment processes through the use of technology. The project has recruited Student Fellows to participate in research activities, generate ideas, develop case studies, write blogs and attend and present at conferences. They are the interface between the project team and students and lecturers. Further guidance on the student fellows scheme is available here University of Exeter - Students as Change AgentsStudents have been given opportunities to work in partnership with university staff in order to address the challenges of using technology with large and diverse cohorts. They have undertaken research on student views and perceptions, provided recommendations and solutions for practice, and have supported staff in bringing about wide-scale changes in teaching. Much of this work evolved through the Integrate project . Resources are available on the project website. The work continues through projects such as the CascadeDigital Literacies project which involves postgraduate researchers. Podcast : Students as Agents of Change at Exeter Birmingham City University – Student Academic PartnersThe T-SPARC project engaged with students through the University’s Student Academic Partners (SAP) programme as part of a review of curriculum design practices and processes. SAP aims to integrate students into the teaching and pedagogic research community within BCU in order to develop collaboration between students and staff. The T-SPARC project also produced a wider stakeholder engagement model which could be used when considering the development of student engagement activities. This video collates student voices to influence curriculum design (format - wmv, mp4)
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