Student Experience Proceedings (LJMU)
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University walking classrooms: is there potential to maximise engagement, academic outcomes and holistic health in students?
No full textFollowing recent COVID-19 related restrictions and changes to working and studying practices, it has been noted that student (and staff) wellbeing, mental health, engagement in teaching and learning (online and F2F) may have been negatively impacted upon. All of which could have potential implications for current and future academic outcomes. Wellbeing (physical, mental and social), cognitive performance, attention, concentration and engagement have been shown to increase and improve during and following time spent outdoors and/or with exposure to natural spaces, in both children and older students.
Walking classrooms and seminars, where students are tasked to complete curriculum-based activity away from desks and outside, have also been shown to have positive health and/or academic related outcomes. This is contrary to traditional indoor teaching spaces (online and F2F), where students are often sedentary for extended periods and dependent on teaching and learning styles may allegedly disengage or lose focus after just 10 minutes
Whilst most walking classroom work has been undertaken with children, recent research has suggested that academic and holistic health related benefits could also be seen in and accrued by HE students. It is also recognised as an area of work that requires further investigation within an HE setting to examine viability and potential outcomes
Session purpose:
To provide an overview of walking classrooms and current research findings (10 mins)
To engage the audience in a workshop task to ascertain their (students and staff) thoughts, perceptions and feelings (positive and negative) about the use of and participating in walking classrooms at university. (15 minutes)
To utilise collated information to design and deliver walking classroom activity and related impact measurement in the 22/23 academic year
Communicating with students: what works, what doesn’t and how to get your message across
No full textAcross the university, communicating with students is key.
However, disseminating important messages, getting students to engage with course information, events, or feedback surveys can often be difficult. Messages often get lost or confused, and students have fed back that they struggle with the sheer volume of emails and ‘important’ messages coming their way.
This workshop, delivered by Corporate Communications, will explore the best ways of communicating with students, when to do it, when not to do it, and how to make best use of the platforms available from central comms. It will cover social media, Canvas announcements, emails and digital signage.
The workshop will also consider how individuals and teams can best utilise student-friendly language to increase engagement using some key case studies of what has worked well over the past 12 months.
At the end of the workshop, delegates should have insight in to how they can improve communication with students, as well as a few practical tips and techniques on how to manage different approaches, dependent on the channel.
Any potential delegates who currently run LJMU-related social media channels, or communicate with students regularly will find this session particularly useful. Please note this session will not explicitly address one-to-one communication, although many of the principles may still apply
Developing hybrid work-based learning placements to transform the university experience
No full textThe current economic climate dictates that students engage within the world of work to help them gain the knowledge, skills and experience needed to prepare them for their graduate careers (Huddleston and Stanley 2012). This is supported by The LJMU Student Employability, Enterprise and Employment Strategy 2019-2023, which states undergraduate students should undertake a meaningful work placement or Work-Based Learning (WBL) experience as part of their degree.
BSc Nutrition students are required to complete four weeks WBL with an external provider. The COVID pandemic meant in-situ placements were suspended. Authentic virtual placement experiences, which enabled an equitable experiential learning experience for all students, therefore had to be provided. During the pandemic, students worked virtually with external partners, engaged in projects and explored future career options. Virtual placements added real value creating a modern student experience, enabled students to develop transferable skills including adaptability and digitally literacy, tailored in real-life opportunities and highlighted real-world applications of knowledge and skills.
Changes from in-situ placements to virtual placements were successful and mirrored opportunities and constraints of a physical workplace. We recognised the positive outcomes for student employability, viewing the impact of COVID as an opportunity to re-evaluate our WBL offering. Building on the success of virtual placements and the relaxation of COVID restrictions, we have moved to student-focused hybrid placements designed in conjunction with all four LJMU values to provide a transformational student experience. Embracing LJMU’s vision, values and civic agenda and working in active partnership locally, nationally and globally, hybrid placements offer authentic, personalised student experiences outside the classroom. Hybrid placements allow students to learn actively, to work proactively, to drive innovation and to effect change which enhances the students’ academic and intellectual journey whilst supporting future aspirations.
This will be presented collectively by Faculty staff, Professional Services staff and Students.
References
Huddleston, P and Stanley J, (2012) Work related teaching and learning: A guide for teachers and practitioners, Abingdon, England: Routledg
Designing assessment for neurodiverse students
No full textA presentation to disseminate the results of a 2021 Curriculum Enhancement Project.
The project involved 2 student interns from FET and was aimed at ensuring the inclusivity of students who are neurodiverse.
Neurodiverse students typically make up between 5 and 6 percent of the student population. Neurodiversity represents cognitive diversity – the way we think, act, and communicate. Our neurodiverse systems are biased towards specific skills and challenges.
Many of the assessment methods adopted on Civil Engineering and Built Environment programmes seek to evidence skills around communication and team working and therefore students are asked to participate in group work and presentations to meet learning outcomes. This and other assessment challenges may limit students in achieving these learning outcomes as the assessment methods do not allow for or consider neurodiversity. Neurodiverse people need to be able to engage in a neurotypical world, although most of them mask and do not disclose their condition, adding in other mental health issues such as anxiety to their disability.
In addition, the ambition of most students on accredited degree programmes is to gain some form of professional body recognition post-graduation. Many of the attributes to become Incorporated or Chartered require demonstration of good communication skills, leadership skills, management skills and confidence, neurodiverse people regardless of their technical ability and intellect may not fulfil these requirements.
This project aimed to gain a deeper understanding of assessment methods most preferred by neurodiverse students and how students with neurodiverse conditions may navigate professional body requirements. The project also looked at levels of disclosure and if more needs to be done in this area.
The objectives of the project included gaining a deeper understanding of the alternative assessment methods more suited to neurodiverse people, determining the percentage of students at LJMU/FET/CBE who have disclosed this information and compare against the sector, deciding if more needs to be done to ensure students disclose to the University, allowing support to be implemented during their studies and highlighting the disadvantage posed to a person with SpLDs (Specific Learning Differences) in meeting professional body competency requirements. The intent following this project is to develop the research further with the hope of influencing professional bodies, to ensure their competency requirements value difference and value neurodiverse people within the workforce
Creativity for inclusion: empowering the margins
No full textAssessments are often the most important part of a module for students, dominating their attention throughout. As practitioners, we need to create inclusive assessment practices if we want to dismantle the social and cultural barriers that prevent students from achieving. With this in mind, I developed a creative independent project that allows students with a diversity of non-traditional historical skills to showcase their talents. For the past eight years, students in my final year nineteenth-century British urban history module, ‘Victorian Cities’, have taken charge of their assessments to either produce a faux primary source or independent project. This follows the North American assessment model of the ‘unessay’. Little did I know that I would be marking assessments in the form of board games, radio shows, sewing projects, creative writing projects, and interactive exhibition boards when I first embarked on this assessment model. These creative outputs are not normally the staple form of student assessment in history / humanities teaching. In this paper I will introduce you to the creative independent project. I will show how this assessment model disrupts the standard norms of historical pedagogy to give power to the student, which in turn creates an authentic assessment experience. After all, the student chooses what form their output takes and utilizes skills usually developed beyond the classroom. Finally, I will discuss the ways in which this assessment model empowers marginalised students and staff
How do we ensure students are actively engaged in contributing to our Student Experience Strategy?
No full textThe session will set out plans and aspirations for how we can embed our students as co-creators of our Student Experience Strategy. It will be structured around an initial short presentation, followed by a series of questions for participant engagement on how we can celebrate, reward, and recognise our students as central to the university’s success
They made me believe in myself: women\u27s stories
No full textOn International Women\u27s Day the Faculty came together to share stories of their working and academic lives. Through conversation, coffee and using sticky notes a collection of student and staff stories was formed detailing the importance of friendship, connectivity and the creation of self-belief. Bringing students and all staff (not only academics) into the conversation supported inclusivity but also required courage to participate. The lightning talk summarises the themes from the stories told that day and looks forward to live library and library book events in the future. The event created a space for people to come together and although we had a focus on International Women\u27s Day this format could be used to prompt conversation about a wide range of topics and so is both portable and transferable. In curating future events we will be more aware of the power of 10-15 second video clips in capturing the atmosphere as the participants respond to the focus of the day
Embracing the voices of people with autism: a participatory study
No full textA recent study of the destinations of graduates found that of all disabled graduates, autistic individuals are least likely to be employed (Allen & Coney 2021). Unfortunately, these findings are widely recognised in literature (Vincent 2020, Remington & Pellicano 2019). The disappointing outcomes for autistic graduates in the UK highlight the way in which these individuals are in danger of being marginalised.
In this session, a careers practitioner and a student will outline the participatory activities and study conducted here at LJMU which explored how to provide effective careers and employability support for autistic students. Understanding that in order to create such support, it would be important to involve the intended recipients, the careers practitioner recruited volunteers to act as consultants. These autistic student consultants were engaged in all stages of the project, from analysing an initial survey of all autistic students in the University, to co-designing the careers-related activities, to evaluating the effectiveness of these activities.
This participatory method not only provided the careers practitioner with real insights into what provision to include in the future, but also had a transformational impact on some of the student consultants and others involved. In addition to the creation of a community, there are signs of a ‘ripple effect’ within the university, as those students and staff involved continue to seek to make courageous and positive changes for the sake of autistic students and disabled students as a whole
What would a more holistic model for supporting students with disabilities look like?
No full textStudents with disabilities at LJMU may receive support from many different services, as well as from academic staff that support learning in their specific subject area. However, the different services and staff that are involved in providing support rarely speak to each other and may not even know of each other’s involvement.
In this lightning talk, we explore some of the potential benefits that a more holistic model of support may bring to students with disabilities. We have some ideas of what such a model should look like, but the primary purpose of this talk will be to open a dialogue with interested members of staff and discuss how such a model could be brought to life.
 
Embracing change: nurturing equity, diversity, inclusivity and respect within the postgraduate community
No full textEquity, diversity, inclusivity and respect (EDIR) are essential to the development of a welcoming, educational environment where all students can flourish. However, at the doctoral level there is a significant lack of formal EDIR training, which members of the postgraduate researcher (PGR) community find problematic. Inclusion of EDIR training at this level would be highly beneficial to the institution, students, staff and non-academic partners. Firstly, to train PGRs in the value and importance of EDIR would align with LJMU’s new vision and values. Student experience could be improved through the embracing and respecting of diversity and through the increased visibility and representation of under-represented and marginalised groups. Moreover, the introduction of EDIR training would contribute to research excellence with the view that current doctoral students are future academics and leaders. Therefore, instilling the importance of EDIR early in the academic journey will help in the development of responsible, global citizens. This is essential as it prepares our community to address societal problems, which is integral to achieving social sustainability. Demonstrably, EDIR should not be an afterthought. Instead, EDIR should be firmly embedded within the institutional culture to enable a non-judgemental platform for dialogue: a dialogue that involves individuals and communities in the decisions that impact them. Thus, work needs to be done to encourage societal change through advocating autonomy and enabling students to become active agents of change. To achieve this aim, a cross-faculty collaborative of students approached the doctoral academy with the ambition to improve EDIR practices. This has led to the co-creation of a new EDIR PGR workshop, which is in the preliminary stages of development. It is hoped that this workshop will be the beginning of a novel and exciting initiative that uses student voices to embrace change and shape our futures
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