The University of Northampton: Northampton Open Journals
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Understanding student engagement with social entrepreneurship: a case study of the University of Northampton
No full textThe development of skills for social enterprise is a key learning outcome in UK higher education. Using semi-structured interviews and questionnaires with students at the University of Northampton, this study aimed to examine the key factors that impacted upon student engagement with social entrepreneurship. The study showed that while levels of engagement were generally low, there were significant opportunities to improve these levels. A range of psycho-sociological factors (e.g. behavioural intentions, fears of debt, and awareness), as well as socio-demographic factors (e.g. gender), were found to have impacted upon student engagement with the concepts. Recommendations for increasing engagement including improving awareness, being mindful of terminology used, access to funding, and the need for greater cross-faculty working are suggested. While this is only a limited case study, the implications of the findings for wider UK HEIs such as provision of adequate funding and support, and the need to address key concerns such as student perceptions of links between grants and loans to debt, and limited awareness of social entrepreneurship, are also discussed
Using focus groups to enhance student voice: a work-in-progress exploration of student learning experiences in large classes
No full textWhile course evaluations are traditionally used to gauge teaching effectiveness and provide an outlet for student voice, this metric does not integrate students as collective partners in the teaching and learning process. In promoting a shared learning experience between teachers and students, this project uses a focus group approach to solicit student feedback and ideas, and disseminate the results to faculty. This paper explores the results of a qualitative pilot focus group study related to student engagement in large classes and demonstrates that a focus group approach is an effective and empowering way to prioritise student voice
‘During the course of the programme my attention shifted and deepened – I was more interested in developing myself as a person’: Evaluating a careers award in higher education
No full textIn the past few years, there has been a proliferation of employability and skills awards across higher education in the United Kingdom (AGCAS, 2011). These schemes have generally been developed by careers services in response to national policy agendas on improving graduate ‘success’ and enhancing graduate employability. Thus far, evaluation of employability awards has been largely restricted to measuring quantifiable employment outcomes. This article extends existing understandings of the impact of such schemes with reference to small-scale evaluation research undertaken with students on a pilot award at University of Westminster. Drawing upon qualitative data, the programme is evaluated in relation to soft outcomes (Dewson et al., 2000) including student motivations, student belonging and active learning styles, with particular reference to the experiences of non-traditional, or non A-level, entrants to higher education
Being there: strategies for incorporating the student voice into the learning experience of a large first-year marketing course in a New Zealand university
No full textHigher education (HE) researchers and practitioners comment regularly on the difficulties of encouraging students to be fully present in the large-class learning experience. Educators who want to honour and promote the student voice need to design teaching and learning spaces that help students make emotional and cognitive connections with course learning, enabling them to be partners in directing the learning and to assume the role of co-inquirers. This paper describes a case study in a first-year marketing course in a New Zealand university in which a student tutor’s photo-narrative was designed to achieve these goals. Students’ evaluations indicated that the strategy promoted personal engagement and increased ownership of the learning. Photo-narrative storytelling offers HE practitioners an effective means to connect theoretical content to students’ own lives, and enhance student ownership of the learning. Inviting students to create their own photo-narratives could create a learning experience that approximates more closely to a learning partnership
Using the student voice to enhance the teaching of undergraduate courses with high failure rates
No full textWhilst it is likely that some students will fail a course, it is important for universities to determine whether such failure is a personal outcome or whether there are aspects of the course that could be more conducive to student learning. In adopting a student-centred approach, this research analysed data drawn from student evaluation questionnaires (SEQs) in order to establish how students thought the teaching of undergraduate courses with high failure rates could be improved. Many higher education institutions use SEQs as tools for gathering data on the teaching and learning experience, but the emphasis here is on how such data can be used. Content analysis was used to map the SEQs of students enrolled on 19 courses with high failure rates against a baseline developed from the SEQs of students enrolled on 19 courses with low failure rates. This paper examines these responses and makes five recommendations specifically aimed at improving undergraduate courses with high failure rates
Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Capturing the Distance (Online) Learner Experience
No full textThis work in progress paper presents the findings of a small scale study conducted to gain insight into the ‘distance learner’ experience at a higher education institution. The study was undertaken in support of a wider project to improve and enhance online learning. Primary research was undertaken by an undergraduate student who conducted virtual focus groups with currently enrolled students using face to face video technology. This report documents the method and limitations of undertaking the research and summarises participants’ thoughts. Initial outcomes from the study suggest that students are generally content with learning and teaching online, but experience frustration with aspects of administration and course material signposting. Participants make a number of recommendations for overall improvement and this report concludes with plans for going forward and embedding their ideas into the wider project and developing opportunities for further student input to their learning
Book review: A Very Short, Fairly Interesting and Reasonably Cheap Book about Qualitative Research (Silverman, 2013)
No full textBook review: A Very Short, Fairly Interesting and Reasonably Cheap Book about Qualitative Research (Silverman, 2013
Doctoral Training Partnerships: a work-in-progress review of the postgraduate researcher experience
No full textRecent changes in research council policy and postgraduate funding have seen the beginnings of a fundamental reconfiguration in how some PhD students are recruited and trained. This report is a work-in-progress review of early student evaluation data from a single doctoral training partnership (DTP) within this new doctoral training landscape. It gives a broad overview of historical and contemporary challenges in researcher development before summarising the results of evaluation data from the first year of the BBSRC DTP. It goes on to discuss how these preliminary findings might be followed up and what they might hint at in terms of the model’s potential to influence researcher development in the future
Using culturally relevant case studies to enhance students’ learning: a reflective analysis of the benefits and challenges for social work students and academics
No full text‘Internationalising the curriculum’, ‘multi-cultural education’, ‘culturally sensitive’ education, and ‘culturally competent teaching’ are terms often used to describe teaching and learning which provides opportunities for learning about multiple and diverse contexts in which specific aspects of knowledge can be applied. In social work education, there is a growing call for an international outlook in teaching and practice learning to enhance the experiences of learners and also to prepare graduates for working in a global context. Using a case study approach, this article will explore the particular experiences of a student of Zimbabwean origin and the adoption of an African focussed example used to facilitate the particular student’s learning. In particular, Bandura’s Social Learning Theory (1977) will be discussed drawing upon themes and ideas from Africa with the aim of demystifying and making accessible social work theory to a diverse student group. The paper concludes that the use of culturally relevant case studies is an effective and beneficial strategy to engage a diverse student group and calls academics to make creative and innovative use of their skills, knowledge and expertise in the area of social work pedagogy