European First Year Experience Conference 2019 Engagement Through - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

European First Year Experience Conference 2019 Engagement Through Partnership: Students as Partners in Teaching and Learning In the context of digital literacy skills development Staff Partners - Nurun Nahar @mandrakenoor Dr Duncan Cross @Duncan_Cross Student Partners - Jose Botelho de Vasconcelos , Maribel Ojeda, Abiy Haile, Leonardo, Ospina Vanegas, Kaizemi Karuhe Faculty of Professional Studies, University of Bolton, University of Bolton Date: 18/06/2019 Cork institute of Technology Cork, Ireland

Overview Engagement Study design Introduction Conclusion process and Discussion Holistic Project Focus group Summary of approach to Background evaluation outcomes Partnership SSP – The action Thematic Context of Challenges research content study and project analysis opportunities Students’ Digital Research Perspectives Conclusion applications aims (Video) explored Nurun Nahar 18/06/2019 EFYE Conference 2019 2

Project Background As part of a postgraduate teaching qualification assessment, it was necessary to review the curriculum design of a 1 st year undergraduate module for possible weaknesses . The instructions were The contexts in which A key weakness was students’ digital literacy to: identified in relation to: skills can be- 1. evidence any - a module learning weaknesses identified - developed or the outcome that using an action resources to be used for emphasised on research approach; this purpose; developing students’ 2. and implement a - was not clearly defined digital literacy skills . transformative change . in the module curriculum. Nurun Nahar 18/06/2019 EFYE Conference 2019 3

Context of study - Students as Partners for curriculum delivery One of the many approaches to SSP for curriculum delivery can be curriculum delivery is to: traced in a number of contexts including: engage students as partners (SaP) in the Involving students in the teaching and learning processes through – co-delivery of the curriculum through student-staff partnership (SSP). contents curation, co-creation, course design or pedagogical planning processes. (Bovill et al., 2011; Healey et al., 2014) (McCulloch, 2009; Bovill, Cook-Sather and Felten, 2011) Nurun Nahar 18/06/2019 EFYE Conference 2019 4

Context of study – Co-creation using digital application  Research studies on the use of technology in higher education (HE) suggests using digital applications in the classroom to create e-learning materials since it:  Enables learners’ to make use of web enabled devices to truly enhance their learning;  Hones learners’ digital literacy skills;  Allows educators to personalise teaching learning;  Assist educators to track individual student achievements (Curtis, 2014). Nurun Nahar 18/06/2019 EFYE Conference 2019 5

Context of study- curriculum delivery through co-creation Higher Education (HE) students today are most likely to use a web- enabled device with access to digital applications to avail e-learning materials. Design and deliver a curricula that However, relatively few students can claim to be creators or promotes digitally producers of e-learning materials using digital applications enriched learning (Jones, et al., 2012) environment. Provide leaners ’ with According to Neary et al., (2013) educators can partner with the opportunity to students to co-create digital materials to support curriculum develop their digital delivery in the classroom. literacy skills to Applying this form of an initiative will provide a scope to the survive in a digitally teachers to : connected world (Terrel, 2017). Nurun Nahar 18/06/2019 EFYE Conference 2019 6

Research aims . The following aims were set to address the weaknesses identified in the module curriculum Evaluate the benefits and limitations of SSP as a facilitator of: Students’ digital literacy skills Enhancing student engagement. development through co-creation using digital applications. Nurun Nahar 18/06/2019 EFYE Conference 2019 7

Holistic approach to Partnership- 4 Stages Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Consultation Involvement Participation Engagement • Consult a co-hort • Involve students • Determine • Engage students of first year in a workshop students' as partners over students decisions to a 4 week period. participate in the • Ensure they project. • Discuss about • Co-create and inform the engaging in a selection of co-deliver e- • Ensure clarity of SSP process to appropriate learning materials co-create e- digital roles and within a module learning applications for responsibilities curriculum. materials. co-creation. involved. Healey et. al., (2014) 8 Nurun Nahar 18/06/2019 EFYE Conference 2019

The Action Research Project Research design: Action research for work-based learning over a period of 4 weeks (Millwood et al., 2008) Student partners involved: 35 first year (HE4) students undertaking a BA (Hons) degree in Accountancy. Digital applications explored: Nurun Nahar 18/06/2019 EFYE Conference 2019 9

The 4 week engagement process Weeks SSP engagement processes Outcomes 1 Curation of online resources using Sutori for Database of online resources for storytelling flipped learning. 2 Design infographics for group discussion Compilation of infographics for curriculum delivery. 3 Creation of short length topic related educational videos Selection of online videos co- created by students for curriculum delivery. 4 Co-delivery of a lecture session using Prezi to present Extended the skills and and Kahoot for game based formative assessments awareness's of learners about curriculum development process. 10 Nurun Nahar 18/06/2019 EFYE Conference 2019

Evaluation – Week 5 All 35 student Responses were Focus group partners were 6 student analysed using session sent an partners thematic conducted using invitation to responded to content analysis Loop feedback participate in a participate (Braun and application focus group Clarke, 2006) Nurun Nahar 18/06/2019 EFYE Conference 2019 11

Results – 4 key themes identified SSP for digital SSP for enhancing literacy skills student development engagement through co-creation Benefits of SSP for SSP for research first year student and inquiry skills engagement Nurun Nahar 18/06/2019 EFYE Conference 2019 12

Students’ perspectives Nurun Nahar 18/06/2019 EFYE Conference 2019 13

Summary of outcomes Engaging students in curriculum delivery SSP enables a lecture to be imparted through co-creation of e-learning in a more relaxed and collaborative materials can promote active student environment. engagement in a class. Using digital applications for co-creation SSP makes the class academically can enable students to improve their engaging and improves student digital literacy skills by enhancing their participation. confidence in using technology for learning. Nurun Nahar 18/06/2019 EFYE Conference 2019 14

SSP -Challenges and opportunities Challenges Opportunities • • The success of a SSP project is based on Provides scope to learn mutually through excellent and constructive communication peer collaboration by overcoming any between both parties. barriers to express concerns and asking questions more confidently. • • Difficulty in overcoming the power It can change the sense of belonging and hierarchy barrier between staff and university experience for students students. through active engagement and staff- student collaboration. • Students may perceive staff members as peers who must be treated with utmost respect. • • Finding the time in the curriculum to It can assist in improving communication engage in SSP initiatives since it can be between staff and students. Nurun Nahar 18/06/2019 EFYE Conference 2019 15 resource and time intensive.

Conclusion  SSP proved to be effective as an approach for enhancing student engagement.  SSP provided an collaborative platform for exploring digital applications in the curriculum for co-creation of e-learning materials.  Embedding digital applications in the curriculum for co-creation and delivery could assist in digital literacy skills development processes of learners. Future recommendations  Conduct another cycle of action research to gather further empirical data to support the rational for using digital applications for co- creation to develop students’ digital literacy skills.  Undertake a systematic review of SSP literature to navigate around the power hierarchy issues to make the process of partnership more evocative. Nurun Nahar 18/06/2019 EFYE Conference 2019 16