This document summarizes research into staff-student partnerships focusing on digital technology from 2014-2017. It found that most projects were cross-institutional, led by lecturers or learning technologists in partnership with students to create learning resources using technologies like videos and apps. While most projects involved students participating or being consulted, some demonstrated true partnerships where students and staff collaboratively created the project curriculum.

1. Staff-student partnerships focussing on digital
technology – An overview of activities 2014-17
Dr Fiona Handley, Centre for Learning andTeaching, University of Brighton
04/12/2018

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Research into the “who, what,
where and when” of these
kinds of projects

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This presentation is going to:
Present some initial findings
from a research project
1
Consider the characteristics
of partnership and
technology in these projects
2

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Research into Students as Partners
Mercer-Mapstone et al’s 2017 literature review of 65 articles
on students-as-partners identified the following themes:
»Engaging in partnership practices in higher education –
small scale, extracurriculur and focused on teaching
and learning enhancement
»Making space for the (equal) realities of partnership –
both positive AND negative results
Mercer-Mapstone, L., Dvorakova, L.S., Matthews, K.E., Abbot, S., Cheng, B., Felten, P., Knorr, K., Marquis, E.,
Shammas, R., & Swaim, K. (2017) A Systematic Literature Review of Students as Partners in Higher
Education. International Journal for Students as Partners 1 (1)

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Research project
69 projects were identified, across 51 different
Higher Education disseminated between 2014-
2017.
106 pieces of dissemination e.g. conference
abstracts, conference papers, and journal
articles
Collecting information on who the partners
were, the technologies(s) involved, the
characteristics of the partnership
These are self-expressed by the project
participants

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What kinds of institution?
»Types of institution involved in these projects compared
to national profile*
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0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Former 1994
group
GuildHE Million+ Russell Group University
Alliance
unaffiliated
HESA Project
*Hesa Providers by mission group 2016-17 data

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Which subject areas?
»Cross-institutional = 36
»Health sciences e.g. nursing = 8
»Education and teaching = 4
»Computing = 3
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Who are the partners?
»Most projects led by
Lecturers or Learning
Technologists in partnership
with students
»Some projects partner
across several staff types,
the most common being
lecturer/ learning
technologist/ student
Academic
developer, 8
Employability/caree
rs staff, 2
Learning
technologists, 20
Lecturer, 25
Library staff, 3
Other staff,
4
Student with
coordinating role, 1 Students
(combined), 6
Lead partners of projects

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What do students do?They:
»Create learning resources such as videos
»Research how their peers use technology
are consulted
»Teach digital skills training sessions
»Give technical advice
»Present results at conferences
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Student roles
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Creator
Curator
Disseminator
Learner
Manager Mentor
Promoter
Researcher
Self-
presenterConsulted
Teacher
14
Technici
an

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Out of 106 dissemination activities, 31 involved students
Which partners took part in the presentations and
papers?
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Academ
icdeveloper
Em
ployability/career…
Externalstaff
Learning
technologist
LecturerLibrarystaff
Other-staff
StudentsUnion
Students(all)
Total numbers of participants in
disseminations

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Which kinds of students are involved in
disseminations?
04/12/2018 13
Student
(not
known)
PG student
UG
student
Student with coordinating role, 4
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
1

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What kinds of technology projects?
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What is in each category?
Creation of resources
Videos, animations,
assessment rubrics, online
assessments, Xerte files.
Research
Running focus groups,
Hack Days, looking atVLE
use, surveys, distribute Jisc
StudentTracker Survey
VLE/apps/software
Lecture capture,
Nearpod, augmented
reality, introduction of
newVLE
Social media
LinkedIn, Padlet,
Facebook, blogging,
Twitter.
Combined skills or
literacies
• Training for staff and
students
• Digital literacies

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Categorising partnership working
Inform
Consult
Participate
Partnership
Control
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Bovill, C. 2017 A Framework to Explore Roles Within
Student-Staff Partnerships in Higher Education:
Which Students are Partners, When, and inWhat
Ways? In International Journal for Students as
PartnersVol. 1 Issue 1 May 2017

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To expand on this:
»Participate
»Tutor controls areas where
participation occurs to a
greater or lesser degree
»E.g. students attend sessions
on a technology, then present
to other students in workshops
»Partnership
»Tutor and students work
collaboratively to negotiate
and create the curriculum
»E.g. students use findings of
staff-run focus group to create
schedule of workshops
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Draft partnership findings
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0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
Inform
Consult
Participate
Partnership
Control
Other
Unidentifiable

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Characterising the relationship around technology
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“Learning technology provided both a
creative outlet and a totem”
“Common ground can be found in the
difficulties everyone shares”
“create a focal point for dialogue around
the changing digital practices”
Visitors and residents.A few references to
digital natives

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In summary:
»Most projects are:
› Cross-institutional
› Led by professional services staff
› Involve students creating resources in projects defined
by staff partners
› Likely to be at a Russell Group institution
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These results show…
»That most students-as-partners projects do not
involve/identify true partnership
»This may be a symptom of early reporting in conference
abstracts
»Or lack of understanding of partnership
»Or the challenges presented by true partnership working
»However, they demonstrate that partnership and even
student-led partnership are possible in small, technology
focussed projects
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