The Student Engagement Officer Team at the University of Chester

Partnership in PracticeWendy Garner, Senior University Teaching Fellow, Becky Lees, Institutional Student Engagement Officer (University of Chester); Sarah Mather and Lian Ephgrave Faculty Student Engagement Officers (Faculty of Education and Children’s Services, University of Chester).This poster details a case study which is about working with students as partners and change agents at the faculty level of an institution. Key statistics and the aims of the project are identified and the national, institutional and faculty contexts acknowledged. A number of projects are outlined within a critical framework and one specific project explored in more depth by a member of the Student Engagement Officer Team. Reflections of staff and students from within the team and implications for future developments, are also considered.

Student Engagement Officers NewsletterMay 2017

Faculty of Educationand Children’s Services

A Month of Wellbeing @Riverside:Chester Riverside Campus Month of Wellbeing is up and running!We are half way through our 2017 month of wellbeing! In week one @Riverside the focus was ‘Random Acts of Kindness’ with events such as CathSoc’s fantastic campaign writing messages of hope to refugees, Julie Sutton’s ‘How did you sleep last night’ introducing the basic principles of sleep hygiene and positive actions we can all take to enhance sleep and maximise our learning potential. Lauren Cooper, level 6 Psychology student ran an event ‘Time to Chat’, providing a lovely peer support group run by students for students. In addition, we had a ‘Look After Your Mate’ workshop run by Martina Ferrari offered advice on how to spot signs if a friend is struggling, how to start a conversation, how to support a friend, and how to look after your own wellbeing as a supporter.

In week two, the focus was on ‘Gratitude’ with amazing line ups such as former Great Britain Fencing Star and Ambassador, Adrian Derbyshire, who spoke to students about sports, health and wellbeing, disability awareness and tackling the stigma attached to mental

health, self-harm and bullying following the tragic passing of his teenage daughter in October 2015.

Join us for week three @Riverside for National Vegetarian Week in which our wonderful catering staff will be promoting wholesome and nutritious vegetarian dishes. Learn something new to take away with you, whether you are living at home or away, look after your wellbeing through food and share your new skills with family and friends. In addition, our level 7 Nutrition and Dietetics students will be hosting the event ‘You carb be serious!’ focusing on the truth about carbohydrates and the essential health benefits they have in keeping you energetic, happy and healthy!

Week four is on ‘Using Your Strengths’ helping you to focus the mind and body towards reaching your goals. Whether you are a sportsman or a yoga master, join Riverside for this epic event. ‘Slow Down Meditation’ will help you relax and find some quiet time after a busy day, ‘Crafternoon’ aimed at putting your creative energy to good use and a great way of meeting new people. If that is not for you, join us on the final Monday of Wellbeing week for our ‘Charity Cycle’ run by our SEO Becky Lees.

Finally, we will be joined by guest speaker Colin Dolan, Chief Executive of the Mental Health Football Association. In between working with Everton in the Community, supporting football clubs throughout the country with mental health football projects, Colin’s public speaking has recently seen him present at the Houses of Parliament. Colin gives a great account of how the power of sport and team participation literally saved his life. Colin has a diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder and discusses the benefits that football has had on his life and on those of so many other people that he has met along the way.

To see more about what has been going on @Riverside and to share your photos and experiences, go on to: https://twitter.com/FacultyHub

To see times and locations of the next two weeks events follow this link: http://www.chester.ac.uk/sites/files/chester/MoW%20Web%20Booklet.pdf

Also remember to check your student emails where you will receive weekly reminders of some key events that will be taking place during that week and to get yourselves book onto events like the one with Colin Dolan.

Taking Feedback ForwardThe Feedback Toolkit

“I’m not sure.How can I improve my

use of feedback?”

“Do you know how to get the most out

of YOUR feedback?”

Faculty of Education and Children’s Services

A recent study focusing on the level of student engagement with online feedback in the Turnitin Grademark® tool reveals:

• 37% of students do not access their feedback!• Those in the highest band access it 72% of the time.• Those in the lowest band access it 29% of the time.• And only 63% of students spend more than 30 seconds looking at

their feedback.To improve your marks and make the most out of your feedback!

CHECK HERE!

Do you know about our Study Skills Service?Click here for more information:

https://www.chester.ac.uk/campus-life/support-for-students/development/study-skills

How to access your feedback?The definitive guides are located here:

https://portal.chester.ac.uk/registryservices/Pages/students-docs.aspx

Faculty of Educationand Children’s Services

• Feedback is provided formally by tutors after your work has been marked.

• It can also be gained more informally by discussing your work and feedback comments with your fellow students and other staff who support your learning, such as demonstrators, lab technicians, PhD researchers, subject librarians, and Additional Learning Support staff.

• As you develop as an independent learner you should enhance your ability to reflect critically on your own work. This will help you anticipate likely feedback on your work and therefore improve its quality over time.

Top Tips!

Don’t wait until after the assignment is finished, be proactive in seeking feedback while you are undertaking the assignment.

Each module space has a QA Forum which the cohort can use to ask the Module Leader or designated Moderator questions about the assignment. This helps to promote consistency. Some modules, at the discretion of the module team, may offer tutorials.

Talk to your subject librarian to gain advice on finding relevant sources of information.3

1

2

Preparing for Assignments• Listen carefully to your tutor’s briefing on each new

assignment, you may get feedback on some of the common errors made by students previously.

• Make sure you understand the Assessment Criteria used for marking and how the assignment links to the Intended Learning Outcomes for the unit.

• Understand how your work will be marked.

Taking Feedback ForwardFeedback is important in helping you improve your academic work. Students who seek out feedback, and act upon it, are more effective learners. Receiving and acting on feedback is a continuous part of your learning experience and will help you to develop knowledge about your strengths and weaknesses, and improve your learning and performance.

Did you know?One recent study suggests that...• 37% of students do not access their feedback!• Only 63% of students spend more than 30 seconds

looking at their feedback...

So you’ve had your results back, what next?• Don’t just look at your mark; take careful note of the

comments, even if you have got a good mark.

• Try to relate the feedback comments to the assessment criteria and see where you can improve.

• Contact your tutor/lecturer to arrange a meeting to discuss your feedback and possible concerns or aspects that you may not understand.

• Save your your feedback for review later and REMEMBER – it is only effective if you take action on it!

Styles of feedback:People are unique, we are not robots. So are academics and teachers, regardless of what the stereotypes may say! Because of the inherent differences in the way people work, the style, delivery and mechanism of feedback employed by your lecturers will vary and the feedback should be useful and timely. Here are the possible styles of feedback that you are most likely to encounter in your studies:

One-to-one verbal feedback

Group or class verbal feedback

Peer-review feedback

Group feedback and small group tutorials

Word-processed/handwritten comments on your work

Informal chats with peers and lecturers

Taking Feedback Forward

Feedback Pocket GuideProduced by Faculty Student Engagement Officers

Month of Wellbeing @ Riverside | 1

Free Event

Month of Wellbeing @ Riverside

1st – 26th May 2017

Events Workshops

Activities Talks

ConnectBe active

Givekeep learningTake notice

Academic QualitySupport Services@FacultyHub

#MoWRiversideProgramme of Events

Faculty of Educationand Children’s Services

Key statistics • 1 Faculty

• Team of Student Engagement Officers

• 2 Members of staff

• 3 Completed projects (2015–16)

• 2 Ongoing projects (2015–17)

• 10 Current projects (2016–17)

• 19 Student Employee of the Year Awards over a two year period (2014–16)

• 2 published journal articles

National ContextFor a number of years student engagement practitioners in the Higher Education sector have experienced twists and turns in the journey to develop and embed genuine partnership across the sector. Following the rise in tuition fees in 2012 there was a significant drive by the National Union of Students (2012), the Quality Assurance Agency (2012) and The Student Engagement Partnership to support and collaborate with institutions to enable, support and demonstrate engagement at all levels of the institutions so that students may be engaged as ‘active participants in the learning process, rather than passive recipients of knowledge’ (NUS, 2012).

Institutional Context In 2015 we published the Student Engagement Strategy 2015–2018: Every student, every journey (University of Chester, 2015b) which recognises that student engagement is both necessary and valuable to students, staff, the University and the wider community, it aims ‘to embed a culture in which every student on every journey at the University of Chester has the opportunity and support to shape their own academic learning experience in partnership with the institution.’

Faculty Context The project was implemented in 2014 by Wendy Garner (Senior University Teaching Fellow, Education and Children’s Services), Liz Fleet (Deputy Dean, Education and Children’s Services) and Becky Lees (Student Engagement Officer, Academic Quality Support Services) and adapted from existing models such as The University of Exeter University Change Agents Project and Birmingham City Student Advisory Board (Rowe, Cooper, Fulford, 2013).

Project Successes Lessons Learnt

‘Staff-Student Communication Guide’

This guide was initially proposed by the SEO team and developed in consultation with senior leaders and departmental teams. It was published and disseminated as a pilot to all Level 4 students across one department, at the start of the academic year 2016–17. Feedback from staff and students has been extremely positive and particularly in relation to engendering the right expectations about communication between staff and students.

It is crucial that staff are consulted and many staff had feedback to offer and this needs to be taken into account in terms of completion timescales.

It is also important to recognise that ongoing review is necessary within the context of piloting new documentation such as this.

‘Workshop Wednesdays’

This initiative was led by the SEO Team, the study skills service and delivered by two Senior University Teaching Fellows. It was developed as a project to ensure that a specific satellite campus had easy access to generic skills workshops (but which were delivered by faculty specialists). It was open to both staff and students, as an additional aim was to build capacity amongst staff to deliver study skills sessions themselves within the context of taught modules.

This success of this project has continued to evolve and one of the challenges was ensuring equality of opportunity for all students given the complex and heavy timetabling commitments for students on professional programmes.

It is important to expect that projects will change and grow as they are operationalised. We are now looking to roll out these generic materials and to encourage the embedding of academic skills across all departments.

‘Walkthrough Videos’

This project was in relation to the Initial Teacher Education Department and was suggested due to the challenges experienced by students when on placement in terms of the range of documentation to be completed. As they are at this time remote from campus, it was felt that a series of short ‘walkthrough videos’ by students, for student would help students to remember the key messages.

This project was a great success in terms of student and staff engagement.

It is important to remember that education is a fast changing landscape, and with it comes changes in key processes and documentation. With this in mind, it is good to aim for simplicity and not to invest too much time within each iteration of support videos, as they are likely to soon need updating.

Project Successes Lessons Learnt

‘Buddy up’ for Level 4 Undergraduates

This project was set up in 2015–16 for roll out in 2016–17. The SEO Team consulted student support services and set up a campaign and shared email address.

So far there has been engagement with this localised service by some students from within the Faculty.

We were concerned that there would be an unmanageable influx of requests, but as of yet, this has not been the case.

‘Taking Feedback Forward’ Campaign

Please see Case Study outlined by Llinos Edwards (Senior SEO) below.

Project Detail

Student Advisory Panel (SAP) established as part of the faculty committee structure

The Student Advisory Panel (SAP) will act as a strategic advisory group and will carry out duties for the Faculty as appropriate. The Panel will offer objective advice and guidance founded in its members’ specific expertise and perspective, as student representatives across the Faculty.The SAP will provide the Board with key information and forward-looking intelligence regarding learning, teaching and assessment likely to affect the experience and wellbeing of students in the Faculty.

Month long ‘Wellbeing’ event by and for both students and staff

The new SEO Team has proposed a ‘Month of Wellbeing’ will take place at our satellite campus between Monday 1st May and Friday 26th May 2017. During this time a range of activities, workshops, events and talks will take place by staff, students and (where appropriate) externals for the benefit of staff, students and the wider community addressing one of more of the 5 ways to wellbeing (Connect, Be Active, Take Notice, Keep Learning, Give). It’s an exciting and popular initiative.

Example: 2 x ongoing projects (2015–17)

Example: 2 x ongoing projects (2015–17)

Projects by Phase Example: 3 x completed projects (2015–16)

Faculty of Educationand Children’s Services

ASSIGNMENTS

DEADLINES

LIBRARY

EXAMS

STRESS

WORK

ESSAYS

PRESENTATIONS

PORTFOLIOS…

NOT SURE WHERE TO BEGIN?

NEED ASSURANCE?

NEED SUPPORT?

Are you a 1st Year studying BA (Hons) Primary/Early Years-Primary Education with QTS, Early Childhood Studies or Education Studies (combined)?

OUR FACULTY STUDENT ENGAGEMENT OFFICERS CAN HELP YOU

We are introducing a ‘Buddy Service’ from February 2017 which will link you up with aFaculty Student Engagement Officer. You can ask them questions or even just have

contact with someone for a bit of general peer support.

Email buddy.up@chester.ac.uk to make contact.