The Student Voice (by Ann Rumpus)

Some of you may remember a previous project undertaken by the EIC with Edinburgh Napier University, Birmingham City University and Leeds Metropolitan University (funded by ESCalate, the HEA’s education subject centre) which looked at using the “Student Voice” in staff development.

A second stage of this project has just been completed; this looked at gathering and using students’ voices in informing curriculum design. This consisted of a number of case studies from across the 4 institutions, using different ways of collecting students’ input and applying their views to the development of both the subject content and learning and teaching elements of the curriculum.  Westminster participated in this with case studies looking at direct interaction with students within modules in Life Sciences (Mark Kerrigan and Mark Clements) and in Media, Art and Design (Katie Hayes, this was linked to the InCurriculum project) and through online comments in SSHL and ECS (Tim Taylor with Maggie Sumner and Sue Black). These cases studies, with 7 from other Universities, are included in the final project report; with an overview of the issues involved and the ideas which emerged about gaining student input to curriculum design. 

This can be found on the website and presents a useful source of ideas about gaining input generally, not only at the point of course development: please visit the website at:

 http://www2.napier.ac.uk/studentvoices/curriculum/index.htm 

or ask Ann Rumpus for more information.

Report from a seminar presentation we gave by Ann Rumpus

On the 20th January Mark Kerrigan and Mark Clements from the School of Life Sciences presented a very effective seminar entitled: ‘Supporting face-to-face tutoring and enhancing the student experience of assessment & feedback - A JISC funded project (e-Reflect)’  as the first in a series of seminars in learning and teaching organised by Westminster Exchange.  This session considered aspects of the work they are doing, with other colleagues, to support students’ learning from feedback on assessment. The team has built on work with students to identify their perceptions and needs in relation to feedback, and how this ties in with staff views. They have created a web-based self-evaluative and reflective tool, linked to the students’ own courseworks, which helps students identify generic areas for improvement in their assessment performance across a number of modules. This information is immediately shared with the student’s tutor who can then work with them to develop a strategy for improvement, though online activity and face-to-face interactions. 

Mark and Mark addressed a number of issues in relation to the development of this tool and the training and support needed to implement it; it is now being used across level 4 in Life Sciences and has received some very good feedback from both staff and students. The project team is keen to extend this work to other areas of the University so please get in touch with them if you are interested in developing this for your students.

A tactile education

Today has been a good day. Today saw my first PhD student pass his viva with only minor corrections lasting under two hours. I am a mix of emotions, happy that he has passed, proud of what he, and in a smaller part we, achieved. At the same time I am sad knowing that this chapter of life is closing but as I left the pub, after quite a few hugs, Al’s final words of the day made me smile: ‘ Get used to this, there is a lot of this to come”.

This has got me to thinking about how both my students and I approach education.  I am trying to remember the last time I felt like this and I have to be honest, it has been a while. This is not good. With huge classes, people snapping at my feet with the next technological advance, which may or may not improve the educational experience, I ask you, when are we ‘tactile’ with our students? By that I do not mean introduce group hugging into the curriculum, I am far to stoic for that, but more when did undergraduate students and their associated academics embrace each other’s ideas and philosophies?

I miss knowing the people I am teaching and I want them to know me. I don’t want to know the details of their lives and what they had for breakfast but I do want to learn their motivations, their interests and ideas so we can better work together. This all sounds very leftie and that is not the case. I still want strict professional boundaries but perhaps every now and then we can dally into each other’s worlds a bit further than a grade. Is this really to much to ask? Have these days gone already?

I am worried that as we move thought this difficult educational climate, and the inevitable decrease in staff numbers throughout academia, this is only going to get worse. What will our student ratio be? Will we even have a University education that we recognise or will all Universities just end up turning into another ‘sixth form’ college. So I ask you, the next time a student achieves, give them a ‘hug’ as who knows what the future may hold.