The Student Voice

The Student Voice 

What students are saying about their learning experiences

Andy CoverdaleClaire Mann

Odessa Petit dit Dariel

www.visuallearninglab.ac.uk

Presentation outline

Part 1: Background & context• Process: PAR - Participatory Action Research• Output: Video of the student voice• Outcome: Video workshops w/ staff - iterative cycles

Part 2: PAR - the methodology & the VLL project• Foundations: Participation, Action, Research• Cycles & Stages

Part 3: the Video• Staff workshops• Future developments

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Background & Context

Theme 2: Challenges in HE

• Digitisation of education

• Student as consumer – empowered

• Student feedback & assessment

• HEFCE - students to take a central role in quality assessment & feedback in QAA

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Process: Researching the ‘Student Voice’

• Not a unique concept:

• JISC “In their own words” (3rd party)

• VLL: student interns as researchers

• Nature & development of research = PAR

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Output: SFG & video development

• SFG around the university

• What is visual learning?• What have been your best & worst learning

experiences

• Transcribed & coded in Nvivo

• Video developed using students’ voice

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Outcomes: Feedback Loop

• Education Pilot

• Vet School

• Classics

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Participatory Action Research (PAR)

"Research which involves all relevant parties in actively examining together current problematic situation in order to change and improve it. They do this by critically reflecting on the historical, political, cultural, economic, geographic and other contexts which makes sense of it."(Wadsworth, 1998)

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History of PAR

• Psychology, social and educational research• Action Research (Kurt Lewin) - Action / reflection

cycle• Participatory dimensions – critical, social and

educational

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PAR: Participation

Research Parties (Wadsworth, 1998)• The researcher(s), the researched, and the

researched for 

Authentic Participation• Empowering and emancipatory• Democratic and non-coercive 

Collective Self-reflective Enquiry• Record, collect and analyse reactions and feedback

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PAR: Action

• Not end product!

• Affect positive change – improvement / reproduction 

Critical Inquiry• Circumstances, actions and consequences• Political process – wider contexts• Resistance to change (participants and others)

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PAR: Research

  Start Small!• Small cycles and groups (McTaggart, 1989) • Manageable, controllable and realistic• Bottom-up approach

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Cyclical Model

Kemmis and McTaggart (1988)

4 ‘Moments’ of Action Research“Self-critical communities of people participating and   collaborating in the research processes of planning, acting, observing and reflecting.”(McTaggart, 1989)

Interdependent and cyclical

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Stages of PAR

• Action-reflection cycles occur through a number of stages

 Granularity• Action and reflection determined by scale• Cycles within cycles• Stages and cycles can overlap and take place

simultaneously

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Preliminary StagePLANStudent interns as researchers

ACTVLL core team engaged with student interns

OBSERVEIdentify relevant learner issues

REFLECTRole of student interns - unique position

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Stage One: Student Focus GroupsPLANEmpowering / promoting the student voice

ACTConducting and analysing student focus groups

OBSERVEKey themes / categories emerged from the data 

REFLECTRoles as ‘students as researchers’ 

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Coding: Themes and CategoriesLearning ContextsLecturesSmall Groupwork / SeminarsOther (inc. Online, Field, Lab Work)

Themes / CategoriesInteractivity and EngagementPersonalised LearningSelf-directed Learning and Student ChoiceVisuality and MultimodalityTechnologiesTeaching Styles, Competencies and Training

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Stage Two: Video WorkshopsPLANDisseminating findings to practitioners

ACTDesigning and presenting video workshops

OBSERVERecord feedback from practitioners 

REFLECTOngoing discussion

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Stage Three: Wider Dissemination

PLANDisseminating to external audiences

ACTPresenting at the SRHE Conference

OBSERVEWhat’s happening here!

REFLECTReflect with other student interns

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Stage Four: Future Development

PLANDisseminating to a wider internal audience 

ACTPlanning to present to PGCHE and MA(Ed.) students

OBSERVE

REFLECT

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ReferencesHughes, I. & Seymour-Rolls, K. (2000). Participatory Action Research: Getting the Job Done. Action Research E-Reports, 4. http://www.fhs.usyd.edu.au/arow/arer/004.htm

Kemmis, S. & McTaggart, R., Eds. (1988). The Action Research Planner. 3rd Edition.  Victoria: Deakin University.

McTaggart, R. (1989). 16 Tenets of Participatory Action Research. The Third World Encounter on Participatory Research. Managua, Nicaragua. September 3-9. http://www.caledonia.org.uk/par.htm

Wadsworth, Y. (1998). What is Participatory Action Research? Action Research International, Paper 2.  http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/gcm/ar/ari/pywadsworth98.html

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