Ways to engage student participation - example activities
Student consultation and listening to the voice of your students is key from day one. This is a proactive rather than reactive relationship in which students shape elements of the coming weeks. It is important to find a pattern of delivery and the right set of tools that will work for the group and, given the complicated teaching situation, this may change on a weekly basis. Getting the balance right may involve compromise; any discussions with students should aim to be honest about what is possible.
Set ground rules and a values base with a Learner Agreement
A Learner Agreement is co-authored by students and staff. The document is a set of principles and code of behaviour that students and staff mutually agree to uphold. This can be done at course or module level. It is a quick process and can be done face-to-face or digitally using a shared Google Doc or Padlet Board in Moodle. The idea is to discuss a set of rules (5–10 max), which everyone agrees to sign up to in order to make the module a success. The students can suggest some for the staff (for example, ‘always prepare interactive and enjoyable sessions/keep Moodle up to date/don’t make last minute changes to the timetable’) and the staff can suggest some for the students (for example, ‘always do the preparation for the seminar/turn up on time/be respectful of one another’).
This could then be developed to cover online etiquette and group work. The Learning and Teaching workstream will shortly provide an animation covering online etiquette.
Partner with your Student Representative to stay in touch
As a team you will need the support of your Student Representative to stay in touch with how students are experiencing the blended and connected learning experience. All departments will have course/subject level Moodle pages to assist you with this. These pages include a space for Student Representatives to communicate with the cohort. If you wish to ask questions of the course/module then you can do this by working in partnership with your Student Representative, and feeding forward how the student voice is taken into account.
Stop/Start/Continue
This tried-and-tested evaluation tool will give you a snapshot of where you are as a cohort. This is a quick way of checking in and can be repeated at regular intervals. Students write for a few minutes under the following headings:
What is something that I should stop doing?
What is something that I should start doing?
What is something that is working well and should continue?
This can easily be converted to an online poll or collaborative document with these headings. To make this a success, publish a brief response each time, and outline what you have done to address it in your weekly video introductions. At mid-module, the consolidation week provides time for more in-depth consultation which may pick some of these up and find agreed solutions in partnership with students.
The Learning and Teaching workstream will also provide some suggested questions to use for a short pulse survey with your students.
Allow flexibility with a weekly topic ‘Student Takeover’
Make space later in the teaching schedule for one empty week in which the students can determine what happens with that timetabled session. This may be a catch up with elements of the curriculum, a session focused on assessment, a writing workshop, guest speaker, or a choice of activities. Give the students a few options to consider and perhaps vote to decide a preference. If you have a high proportion of non-campus students, you may wish to move this session online so that it can include them.