Student Experience Proceedings (LJMU)
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Session 15: Lightning talk: The co-creation of a university sensory resource hub for neurodiverse students
No full textUniversities are increasingly recognising the diverse needs of their student populations, including those who identify as neurodiverse. Neurodiverse students, including individuals with autism, ADHD, sensory processing differences, and other neurological conditions, often face unique challenges in academic settings. Creating an inclusive and supportive environment for these students is essential for their academic success and well-being. This study presents the collaborative efforts of LJMU School of Education (SoE), Liverpool School of Art & Design (LSAD) and Lark Lane Wellbeing Hub to co-create a sensory resource hub at tailored to the specific needs of neurodiverse students. Key elements of the co-creation process included a thorough needs assessment to understand the sensory sensitivities and preferences of neurodiverse students involving focus groups, and one-on-one interviews. Neurodiverse students play a central role in the decision-making process, actively participating in planning and design sessions. Ongoing evaluation meant that the co-creation process is an ongoing endeavour, with regular evaluations and feedback loops to fine-tune the sensory hub’s design and functionality. The ongoing outcomes of our co-creation process, highlight the positive impact of the sensory hub on the well-being and academic performance of neurodiverse students. The challenges encountered during the project and lessons learned that can be applied to similar initiatives in other educational institutions. By embracing a co-creation approach, universities can take significant steps towards creating more inclusive and supportive environments for all students, including those who are neurodiverse.
The co-creation of a university sensory resource hub for neurodiverse students PowerPoint. Only LJMU staff and students have access to this resource.
 
Session 22: Lightning talk: Using writing groups to strengthen the postgraduate researcher community
No full textThe benefits of writing retreats for improving motivation, accountability and productivity, are now well established. Research has highlighted their role in improving academic writing output and developing valuable communities of practice (eg. Tremblay-Wragg, 2021; Atchison and Guerin, 2014; Murray, 2009).
Since 2017, LJMU’s Doctoral Academy has coordinated a wide range of writing retreat formats for Postgraduate Research (PGR) students. These have included 2- and 3-day writing residentials, monthly writing days, online, and now hybrid, weekly writing groups. Our experience over the last seven years has convinced us that regular, structured opportunities to write alongside others are a powerful way of enhancing the PGR student experience. Through regular peer interaction, the writing group environment can provide a sense of belonging, something that PGRs often miss out on in comparison to taught students. As some of our participants have described it, a PhD can be ‘a very insular and lonely experience’, but the ‘collegiate atmosphere’ of a group or retreat can provide ‘a renewed sense of why I am doing this research’ or simply ‘remind you that you’re in it with other people’.
Experimenting with the format and frequency of writing retreats in recent years, particularly during and after Covid lockdowns, has shown what an agile and responsive mode of support they can be. This short talk will demonstrate how retreats and groups have enhanced the student experience by providing a sense of cohort for PGRs. It will also show how participants have taken ownership of the format and helped it to evolve over time in response to their needs.
Using writing groups to strengthen the postgraduate researcher community PowerPoint. Only LJMU staff and students have access to this resource
Session 49: Associate Deans for Diversity and Inclusion: local approaches to embedding inclusion
No full textPositioning a commitment to inclusion and diversity as core to our University’s values reflects LJMU’s history within the Liverpool City Region and our future aspirations for our students, staff and partners. To support this, six Associate Deans for Diversity and Inclusion were appointed in 2023 across our five faculties and Professional Services, providing local leadership for the D&I agenda.
This session will explore how the six AD:DIs have applied area-specific knowledge, networks and best practice to key strategic priorities such as the Access and Participation Plan, Athena Swan and Race Equality Charter. In addition, the team will discuss recent achievements and future developments in the D&I space with a particular focus on shared learning across the University
Session 50: School of Education Little Book of Hope
No full textThis presentation presents a curriculum enhancement project which aimed to illuminate what students found difficult and how they overcame their challenges. By sharing and providing examples of what helped it is hoped that this will equip our students with positive strategies for ‘when the going gets tough’. In this way, instead of simply telling students to ‘be more resilient’ or encouraging them to ‘just keep going’ we can illuminate and share real-life, tangible examples of what students who have come before did.
Our presentation is Student-Centric Focused: enhancing their experience, and promoting a stronger sense of LJMU community. It shows Excellence in Teaching and Learning contributing to a culture of continuous improvement. Diversity and Inclusion: Our research captures a diverse range of student experiences, contributing to a more inclusive LJMU community. Enhancing Resilience and Well-being: directly supports LJMU\u27s commitment to nurturing resilient and well-equipped graduates, fostering community resilience through shared experiences and strategies.
Furthermore, our presentation offers our LJMU colleagues practical insights for curriculum enhancement through Informed Decision-Making: (student challenges and effective strategies for overcoming them). LJMU staff can use this information to make more informed decisions about curriculum design, student support services. Curriculum Improvement: LJMU staff can use this information to refine and adapt the curriculum, ensuring it remains responsive to the evolving needs of students. Promoting a Positive Learning Environment: Strategies shared in the presentation can be incorporated into teaching practices.
In summary, this presentation is a valuable resource for LJMU staff and students, providing actionable insights, fostering a culture of resilience and innovation.
School of Education Little Book of Hope PowerPoint. Only LJMU staff and students have access to this resource
Session 51: Artificial Intelligence in the classroom: insights from realworld experiences
No full textIn today\u27s digital era, the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into the educational landscape has become increasingly prevalent. This presentation discusses the transformative role of AI, particularly the utilisation of natural language processing (NLP) software, with a focus on its application within the classroom environment. Drawing from first-hand experiences during the previous two academic years, this presentation sheds light on the dynamic interplay between AI, lecturers, and students.
Firstly, I will highlight students\u27 perspectives - both the uses and misuses of AI, especially in student learning and assignments preparation. The latter is a particularly important area to explore, as AI holds the potential for misuse and raises ethical considerations. Through reflections on real-world encounters in my modules, the presentation will navigate the ethical dimensions of AI implementation in education, addressing challenges related to academic integrity. These considerations indeed prompt educators to reconsider traditional assignment formats, such as reports, and explore alternative design approaches.
The second part will focus on educators. The presentation will underscore the symbiotic relationship between AI and educators, emphasising how AI-powered language models can serve as invaluable tools in content creation and assessment design. Based on my own experiences, I will showcase the use of AI for designing assignments, particularly quizzes, and explore its potential applications in automatic grading
Session 56: Providing AI guidance through COMPASS: did students take the right direction?
No full textTechnological advancements in generative artificial intelligence (AI) have exacerbated longstanding assessment challenges within higher education. Against this fluid backdrop, some fundamental things apply as time goes by. Firstly, the definition of cheating remains unchanged: students who deviate from the published permissions for an assessment should expect an academic misconduct investigation. Secondly, we continue to set authentic assessments framed within meaningful contexts and these will evolve as AI becomes ubiquitous within society. Thirdly, conveying unfamiliar concepts using metaphor is known to influence thinking in profound ways.
It was within this climate that the Faculty of Science developed its protocol for communicating AI permissions in assessment (COMPASS) in summer 2023. Contemporaneous guidance from Monash University advised assessors to select one of four distinct AI conditions; these were assigned to the four cardinal points within COMPASS; N, S, E and W. The most restrictive and permissive directions are N (No AI tools) and E (Every AI tool may be used), respectively. The other directions provide opportunities for nuance; S (Some AI tools) and W (Ways of using AI tools), both having associated caveats. The Monash AI acknowledgement template, that students use to disclose their AI usage, was adopted within COMPASS. The option of a null declaration was added, enabling students to explicitly confirm that they did not use AI. This presentation will report on the outcomes of a Spring 2024 survey of staff and students who were invited to share their perceptions of COMPASS.
Lodge, J.M. et al (2023) Assessment reform for the age of Artificial Intelligence, TEQSA.Monash University (2023) Policy and practice guidance around acceptable and responsible use of AI technologies
Providing AI guidance through COMPASS: did students take the right direction PowerPoint. Only LJMU staff and students have access to this resource
Session 60: The disutility of ‘disabled’ as a category in HE analytics: an LJMU case study
No full textHEIs are striving to understand the experiences and outcomes of their students, particularly those with Equality of Opportunity Risk Register characteristics such as having a disability. Studies have demonstrated that disabled students have worse outcomes than their non-disabled peers, and Access and Participation Plans (APP) aim at reducing the attainment gap and providing support services for such students. However, the use of ‘disabled’ as an analytical unit is brutish and arbitrary. The category encapsulates a range of ‘disabilities’, each of which presents a unique set of challenges. From dyslexia to neurodiversity, or physical and sensory disabilities to psychiatric disorders, how can one category appropriately reflect the diversity of the disabled community? It cannot. The category is so generalised that analytical results lack nuance for different disabilities and the challenges they present for students, set within the context of their areas of study and the differing associated skills required. An analysis comparing the outcomes of 23,000 students from LJMU reveals that for Award GPA, on average, ‘disabled’ students do not underperform compared to their non-disabled peers at LJMU. However, this is not true at the level of specific disability types, masked by the ‘disabled’ umbrella. Those stating Physical Disabilities underperform, those indicating Mental Health and ASD outperform, and those with SLDs (e.g. dyslexia, ADHD) perform in-line with non-disabled peers. Inversely, students registering Mental Health and ASD were far less likely to complete their studies than others. This type of specific, targeted analysis demonstrates that we need to be looking in more detail at our data, to avoid drawing inaccurate conclusions. This has implications for how we support the disabled community and the diversity within it, develop our APP, and identify and provide responsive support to those who may be at greater risk, particularly considering their specific disability type and disciplinary context.
The disutility of ‘disabled’ as a category in HE analytics: an LJMU case study PowerPoint. Only LJMU staff and students have access to this resource
Session 6: Designing assessments in higher education: ChatGPT and academic integrity
No full textThe 2023/24 academic year was marked by the new, widespread availability of open-access AI tools. This technology offers exciting opportunities for streamlining tedious tasks in personal, research, and teaching settings, as well as assisting in improving the structuring and writing skills of students. However, it also raises deep concerns among educators in Higher Education about the challenge of swiftly and comprehensively updating assessments to prevent cheating. Rapidly changing large language models, highly variable individual technological skills among both teachers and students, and insecurity regarding general guidance for “AI proofing” made it difficult to predict with confidence how susceptible assignment questions and assessment types would be this year.
This TLA-funded project investigates the performance of ChatGPT4 across more than 100 assessments from 40 participating modules in the School of Biological Sciences.
By comparing the grades achieved by the ChatBot with those of the student cohort, we aim to assess the extent to which AI tools may be used as “cheating aid” across different assessments, identify assignment types that are inherently resistant to AI cheating, and uncover subject-specific and universally applicable best practice in assessment design. The modules in the School of Biological and Environmental Sciences offer a wide range of often highly creative assessments, but these have not yet been investigated in a comparative manner. I expect to identify innovative, currently hidden, examples of best practice that extend beyond mere AI-proofing, offering insights for innovative assessment strategies across disciplines.
Designing assessments in higher education: ChatGPT and academic integrity PowerPoint. Only LJMU staff and students have access to this resource
Session 8: Lightning talk: Stepping up psychosis: the use of virtual reality in preregistration education
No full textThis session will showcase the use of Virtual reality (VR) as a learning tool within mental health nurse education. Blending to the education and student experience theme for the conference and the digital, data and technologies strategy along with the student experience strategy at LMJU the session will highlight innovation within nurse education.
The session will outline how co-creation between academics in mental health and teaching and learning technicians specialising in VR enabled a unique learning opportunity for student mental health nurses. A fully immersive VR experience into the world of person living with psychosis whilst being treated within a mental health facility has enabled the team to support students to have an insight into an areas they could only previously theoretically learn about. Being able to have a short experience of what its like to have this illness has allowed the students to develop deeper empathy and compassion when caring for people living with psychosis, thus hopefully improving patient care once qualified.
This session will be able to show how VR can be utilised to teach topics or support skill acquisition in professional courses that may have before been difficult to replicate.
Stepping up psychosis: the use of virtual reality in preregistration education PowerPoint. Only LJMU staff and students have access to this resource
Session 20: Trainee psychological wellbeing practitioners perceptions of wellbeing provision across the training year
No full textThe presentation will focus on sharing our small curriculum enhancement project that is currently being undertaken to explore trainee Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners (tPWP) perceptions of wellbeing support across their training year. It will consider views of stressors in relation to their academic studies and consider what impact this may have upon wellbeing and resilience. We aim to gain an understanding of the skills students feel they already possess, in relation to managing their wellbeing, and where they feel they could benefit from further support.
It is hoped the data gathered from the project will inform the development of a wellbeing and resilience training programme that could be delivered within the training year.
The presentation will reflect on existing research in this area, share any possible findings from the project and how this could inform future programme content. We will also share expert and specialist knowledge from other teaching staff within the school of Psychology for potential collaboration in the development of such a programme.
We hope delegates will take away from the presentation an awareness of tPWP perceptions of specific stressors to their wellbeing as well as how this knowledge could inform potential content for a wellbeing programme.
Our presentation relates to LJMU\u27s health and wellbeing strategy. We hope that the project would work towards the vision of self-care and resilience by considering ways we could complement existing wellbeing provisions at LJMU to support students to manage their own health and wellbeing decisions. We are also aware that LJMU is an HEI that has signed up to the University Health Charter Framework in making mental health a priority. We feel the focus of our project is also in line with this.
Our project will also consider how a wellbeing and resilience programme could benefit the wider student population.
Trainee psychological wellbeing practitioners perceptions of wellbeing provision across the training year PowerPoint. Only LJMU staff and students have access to this resource
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LJMU Research Online (Liverpool John Moo...PATT40 (LJMU)Biomolecular Research Reports (BRR) (LJM...Design and Technology Education (LJMU)BLResearchDay (LJMU)Journal of Living Labs (LJMU)Journal of Natural Products Discovery (L...Journal of Social Media for Learning (LJ...Student Law Journal (LJMU)PRISM (LJMU)Public Health Institute Journal (LJMU)SPARK (LJMU)
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