Student-Staff Partnerships

Partnership is based upon valuing each person, whether student or staff member, as an individual. Within a trusting and respectful environment, everyone's contributions are considered equally. Partnership provides opportunities for creativity, challenge, compromise and cooperation.

Partnership values diversity and creates a safe space for ALL students and colleagues to work together. It provides an opportunity to learn from the diversity of unique experiences. Partnership empowers all participants to feel encouraged and valued in the process and to benefit mutually from developing new skills, knowledge and experiences.

Partnership encourages colleagues and students to work together towards shared goals, creating positive change that is meaningful and sustainable. This is realised through the co-design and delivery of a project from conception to evaluation. Partnership is based on shared responsibility and accountability and requires active collaboration from all involved. Collaboration can take on a variety of forms – e.g. small-scale T&L initiatives, research projects, co-designing events or actively involving students in curriculum enhancement.

Partnership builds the foundations of a thriving university community. By actively involving students in shaping their educational journey, partnership activities can support learning, increase engagement and develop cohort cohesion. Partnership can help foster a sense of belonging to the University of Reading, as we work together to enhance teaching, learning and the experiences of both students and colleagues.

Amanda Millmore - School of Law

1. Context for working in partnership with students: I worked with a group of 5 students to design module assessments for a new module. The aim was to diversify the timing, type and weighting of assessments, whilst also embedding employability attributes into the assessments. The students also ran focus groups with their fellow students to find out their views before coming up with the final module diet.

2. Ways in which students were engaged in the process: It gave me a really good insight into the students' views on different assessments. In particular I was surprised at how traditional they were in their views, as they all wanted an assessed essay as it was familiar territory. It has positive benefits for the sense of community and was an example of genuinely listening to the student voice (not merely consulting them but working in genuine partnership).
For the students they feel more included, have greater insight into the issues of designing a module and assessments so empathise more with staff, the real benefit was that the students developed their own employability skills; 4 of the 5 have presented this work at a national conference, and they have also presented at the University of Reading T&L Conference and the T&L Celebration. They have developed their leadership skills, their presentation and public speaking skills and one student was invited to write something for WonkHE due to speaking to Debbie McVitty who was the keynote speaker at the Advance HE conference at which she co-presented with me. The involvement of students in the module design has assisted in promoting the new module as other students want to be involved and were arguably more interested in taking the module (we were oversubscribed and had a waiting list for the module and sadly could not offer everyone a place on the module).

3. What are the benefits and challenges for students and staff of working in partnership? One of the biggest issues was time. The project was time intensive, although the students gave their time freely. The project required many hours of collaborative work which we had to fit into our busy timetables. Surprisingly recruitment was not an issue and we were inundated with volunteers, which meant that we ended up turning away some volunteers. The University timescales were challenging - to get the module designed quickly enough to have the MDF in on time.

4. What key advice would you give to staff and students who want to work collaboratively on a project? This was the key advice that I gave at the various conferences where I presented. It was vital to get the students involved at the outset and to ensure parity with them. I did not want an "us and them" attitude and treated them as genuine partners in the project, this was easier as I gave them full control of a limited area of the project, but as a result they were the leaders in that area and had true ownership of it. With more time we could have extended their involvement (e.g. they could have worked on the assessment criteria for the assessments that they had designed) however they had time pressures with assessed coursework deadlines and then exams, and the timescales of the University's module process requiring MDFs to be approved by a certain date added pressure.

5. What would staff and students need to consider? What steps might they take to initiate a project? It's important to plan the entire lifecycle of the partnership to map out the intended student involvement (bearing in mind the other time pressures for them - unless you are doing it out of term time). For us a lecture shout out in a core Part 2 module enabled us to explain what we were doing and seek volunteers - our initial call led to 10% of the cohort volunteering. I found Google forms were a good way of getting students to sign up and indicate that they were interested in getting involved. Clear explanations of the time commitment and different levels of involvement (eg. core project partners and focus group participants) allowed students to get involved in a way that worked with their own availability and the time that they were prepared to commit. Having a good dialogue with students helps, and I would recommend spending time building the relationship at the outset with the partners is time well-spent.

6. What resources and support might be needed? The PLanT funding was incredibly valuable as it enabled us to offer refreshments to the students within the planning and focus group sessions. More importantly the money awarded (plus some additional from the School) enabled our student partners to travel to conferences to present the work; the gaining of employability skills by their involvement in the project was important to encourage them to offer their time. I actually think that not paying students was key - they were volunteers but never felt obliged to attend planning sessions, whereas if I'd paid them an hourly rate it would have been more transactional and I don't think they would have bought into the project and "owned" it in the same way. Their motivation was really important.

Allan Laville – SPCLS, Dean for Diversity and Inclusion

1. Context for working in partnership with students: Our project was exploring student experience and more specifically, the experiences of LGBT+ students at the University of Reading. Therefore, it was very important to have a student working on this project, particularly for recruitment and data collection, where other students could see the student-staff collaborative nature of this research.

2. Ways in which students were engaged in the process: The student was engaged in all stages of the research process including an upcoming presentation at the Student Mental Health Research Network Conference at the University of Cambridge in December. This process supports the student to develop their research skills including public speaking. We are currently writing up the project for publication, which will include important skills such as creating a manuscript as well as how to respond to peer-review feedback. More broadly, the 10 students who took part in the study have been able to contribute to changing practice within the University, which is fantastic.

3. What are the benefits and challenges for students and staff of working in partnership? There are clear benefits to working in partnership with students, such as collaborative learning. It was a great benefit to me to hear about students’ experiences as well as the recommendations that came out of the research. My student nominated me for UROP Supervisor of the Year 2019 and so, I am pleased that my student also learnt from my experience as well. In regard to challenges, we did not face any as the collaborative student-staff partnership worked very well. However, this was largely due to the fact that we adopted the stance of ‘shared power’. In other words, we were both very open and honest about the expertise that we each bring and how collectively, this will support us in exploring student experience.

4. What key advice would you give to staff and students who want to work collaboratively on a project? My key advice would be to listen to, and take on board, student views. It is all too easily to come up with your own idea, which is then completed by a student, but true collaboration is to include students at all stages of the process – in a meaningful way – which results in refining parts of the research. It is also important to provide the student with time for reflection as this often allows deeper level learning, which results in more insightful and original contributions to the research. For students, I would say that you should never be afraid to voice your view and to make your valid contributions - as staff, we are all learning all the time!

5. What would students and staff need to consider? What steps might they take to initiate a project? I would advise that ‘shared power’ and collaborative working are at the heart of a student-staff partnership. In terms of steps, I would meet with the student to see what they would like to get from the project and which skills they are keen to develop. From this, I would involve the student in all parts of the decision-making process as well as within each core part of the project.

6. What resources and support might be needed? As these projects take a significant amount of time, I think it is a very good idea to apply for funding – whether this be through the UROP scheme or CQSD’s Partnerships in Learning and Teaching (PLanT) Projects Funding Scheme or the Teaching and Learning Enhancements Projects (TLEP) scheme.

Anna Tsakalaki (IoE), Daniel Barker (CQSD)

Find out about the partnership project here

Jeanne-Louise Moys – Typography, SACD

1. Context for working in partnership with students: Typography students engage in a great deal of independent learning. This includes a significant amount of online research that students conduct in relation to their studies. The Department wanted to find ways to support this and extend it through Technology Enhanced Learning.

2. Ways in which students were engaged in the process: First, tutors and students took part in collaborative brainstorming workshops, in which the main issues which the project sought to address were discussed. These workshops fed into the creation of a short questionnaire, which the student project leaders used to elicit feedback from their peers about their preferences and common methods of working and communication both among themselves and with staff. The findings of the questionnaire, which was completed by 25 students, reinforced the need for a new online resource interface and allowed the creation of a focused design brief to guide the development of the prototype.
As a result of the questionnaire feedback, the prototype prioritised ease of navigation, as respondents had indicated that they wanted the resource to allow them to browse well-structured categories, and also to make searches for specific resources.
Following the development of the prototype, a series of semi-structured interviews with staff and students was conducted, to gain feedback on the resource, with this feedback being used to refine the prototype. For example, feedback indicated that students wanted to be able to search for resources thematically rather than necessarily be limited to a structure that reflected the structure of particular modules taught within the Department.

3. What are the benefits and challenges for students and staff of working in partnership? The project has enabled staff within the Department of Typography & Graphic Communication to improve their understanding of students’ preferences and needs and the ways in which they engage with online learning resources. This forms a useful foundation that can inform the ways in which we continue to support teaching and learning. The prototype that has been developed is an excellent starting point, and has received positive feedback from both students and staff.
Given the positive feedback of students and staff, there is a strong desire within the Department to continue to explore ways of implementing the resource to benefit students for the long term. Two Study Abroad students continued to work on developing and testing materials for the proposed resource over the summer. The project is on-going, although resourcing it sufficiently continues to be a challenge. One of the main difficulties faced during the project was timing. As a result, the opportunity to use the full budget was missed, and a number of the resources that were originally envisaged could not be utilised within the time available.
The success of the project is fully attributable to the efforts of the three students who worked on it. As the project was student-led, this allowed the project to respond directly to the challenges that students face. The student team benefited from their involvement in the project as they gained experience of conducting end-user research, and using this research to iteratively design and develop a prototype, as well as developing skills such as the ability to work effectively within a team, and written and verbal communication within a number of different contexts.

4. What key advice would you give to staff and students who want to work collaboratively on a project? I would highly recommend anyone new to partnership projects engages with some of the pedagogy publications in journals like IJSAP and from the RAISE network. Really important to be aware of the principles of partnership and some of the challenges to putting them into action, so that colleagues can anticipate how things evolve and provide good support to students and colleagues involved (so that no one is going in blind).

Jenny Eyley – SCFP

1. Context for working in partnership with students: I ran a project with Foundation Chemistry Students to develop resources for use in and in addition to lectures to highlight the importance of chemistry; how it is a cross-disciplinary subject applicable to a wide range of degree programmes and also how it could help them in their careers.

2. What are the benefits and challenges for students and staff of working in partnership? My challenge was that I gave them the independence and freedom to research anything that interested them related to their degree programme. The scope was too large and I had to narrow this down later in the project. On a more practical note, a lot of students were very willing to take part in the project, but when it came to arranging meetings they often had other commitments so a very small group of students contributed.

3. What key advice would you give to staff and students who want to work collaboratively on a project? Make sure it is a project you are passionate about. Talk to students before setting the project about what they think they would be able to achieve. Make sure the help and guidance that they will need to complete the tasks is there from the very beginning. Establish an expectation of commitment to the project and set dates for meetings before advertising the project to students so they know when they would be expected to attend. Don’t try to achieve too much!

4. What would students and staff need to consider? What steps might they take to initiate a project? Consider the timings of the project carefully. There is quite a long lead time between submitting the application and finding out if you are successful. Think ahead to how you would make time for the project in the spring term. Also students who show interest at the application stage may have changed priorities by the spring.

Emma Pape - Psychology

1. Context for working in partnership with students: We ran a Big Science project during Week 6, whereby students were involved in the design, creation, and ultimately data collection/ analyses of a large scale project of their choice. Ahead of Week 6, students attended a briefing session, where they were asked to think about any research interests that they may have, and students were able to submit a project proposal. These were considered by a panel of judges, and three selected to present to the entire school at the start of Week 6, whereby students voted for their favourite (this was to be the Big Science research project). The winning proposal intended to investigate the relationship between personality traits and preference for cats vs. dogs. Over the course of the week, there were several activities (design and ethics session; creation of an online questionnaire; data collection; data analysis) and the sessions were student-led, with members of staff being on hand for guidance. The entire process was filmed, and a video made (and disseminated to students).

2. Ways in which students were engaged in the process: The students who were involved with the various elements of this project all reported that they really enjoyed the process, and that it gave them a much clearer understanding of how research is conducted. It was particularly encouraging to see students take the lead on activities and, as a result, grow in confidence.

3. What are the benefits and challenges for students and staff of working in partnership? While the Big Science project was open to all students, there were only small groups attending the individual activities (circa 20 students in each session). However, a much larger amount of students engaged with the data collection process (which simply required them to post the survey link on their social media profiles), meaning that we were able to collect data from around 2000 participants in approximately 24 hours. A lack of engagement is not uncommon in Week 6 activities, as they are not compulsory, but it was a shame that more students didn’t get involved, given the positive responses from those who did.

4. What key advice would you give to staff and students who want to work collaboratively on a project? Before applying, I wasn’t aware that the PLanT fund was available for projects (like ours) where the students may not have yet been identified. However, after seeking advice on this, I discovered that we could apply for the funding for an idea generated by staff, with the intention to involve students at a later date. I think it would be helpful to make staff aware of this, as they may not necessarily apply to the fund if they don’t realise this is an option.

5. What would students and staff need to consider? What steps might they take to initiate a project? Staff generated the general idea of Big Science, with students coming on board at the proposal/ design stage. The briefing was a really helpful way of getting students interested/ involved, and I would recommend this as a first step, in order to ensure that the project is open to any willing students.

6. What resources and support might be needed? We applied to the PlanT fund for help with the cost of filming, which was our ultimate output; however, this was simply a product of a really successful week and, had we not received funding, the project would have been just as positive. As such, don’t be put off if you don’t have funding – think of how you could do this without the money, as it’s a really positive experience for all involved (and we could have done this with zero funding, had we not wanted to generate a video). Our Head of School was exceptionally open to this project idea, and so I received workload points for the Week 6 activities – this is something to think about, as it can be quite time consuming, especially if you are doing something on a large scale, like we did.

Maria Kambouri-Danos (IoE)

Find out more about the partnership project here 

Jane Setter - English Language

1. Context for working in partnership with students: Based on my first PLanT project, supporting transition from Part 1 to Part 2 in English phonetics and phonology. Part 2 students approached me to ask if we could develop some materials for a practice session, similar to the existing one for Grammar, to assist students with transition (the step-up) from Part 1 to Part 2. This was at the time when we had 3 x 10 week terms with post-exams activities for students.

2. Ways in which students were engaged in the process: We worked together to identify activities which would best support the Part 1 students. We then delivered the session together in the post-exams period and reviewed the success of the activities based on Part 1 student feedback. We also looked at alternative methods for delivering the Part 2 content which would mean more time for rehearsal of practical skills in class and better learning out comes for students, and decided to adopt flipped learning based on some positive research in that area on phonetics teaching using that approach.

3. What are the benefits and challenges for students and staff of working in partnership? Benefits for staff: A student viewpoint, enabling the tutor to reflect on how students learn and how best to support learning, particularly in a technical subject like phonetics on a largely non-technical programme; the impetus provided by students for change. Benefits for students: Development of personal and professional skills relevant to the workplace; an opportunity to support and get to know upcoming cohorts. Challenges: none in this instance.

4. What key advice would you give to staff and students who want to work collaboratively on a project? Just do it! My students had their own suggestion based on their experience; perhaps pick up on something arising from a feedback session or from a Student-Staff Liaison Committee. There are a number of different ways for staff to work with students – e.g., consultation, involvement, participation and partnership (see attached). For it to be a true partnership there must be joint ownership and decision-making over the process and outcome, but other levels past consultation can be just as valuable.

5. What would students and staff need to consider? What steps might they take to initiate a project? Students: If you spot something you think could be done differently or better, don’t be afraid to approach the staff member and ask if they are thinking about developing their assessment / activity / module / programme – then offer to help. Think about what has supported your learning or skills development on your programme and whether that would work in a different module etc.. Staff: Encourage students to approach you with ideas for improvement or changes. Be open to those that do, whether you have encouraged them or not. Tell students you are thinking about making changes and ask for volunteers to assist. Both: Be prepared to commit the time to carry the project through.

6. What resources and support might be needed? PLanT offers £500 to support various expenses, and there are other opportunities to apply for funding (e.g., internal: TLDF; external: SRHE). Work out what kind of resource would be useful and see where you might apply for suitable funding. Alternatively, start with a PLanT project and see if you want to develop it for a larger grant proposal.

Jeanne-Louise Moys (SACD)

Find out more about the partnership project here

Parastou Donyai – Pharmacy, SCFP

1. Context for working in partnership with students: I joined the University of Reading 11 years ago. Before that, as a lecturer elsewhere, I had run summer projects over four consecutive years, finding the experience fulfilling and mutually beneficial: the students would get paid to complete a project, and I would get some preliminary data. Then a couple of years ago, I decided to revisit the summer studentship idea, mainly as I wanted to progress a project idea with Alzheimer's Society involvement. So, I set out to find a student who would be interested in working with me to develop the funding application as a first step.

2. Ways in which students were engaged in the process: I put out a general call to students on our main programme in years 2 and 3, the middle two years of the course. I received only one response, despite several reminders. Luckily, the student who responded was really enthusiastic, had reason to apply for the project, which was one of the main criteria for the funding application. We put the application together and received the funding, which meant the student could then be employed to complete the work over that summer.

3. What are the benefits and challenges for students and staff of working in partnership? The main benefit for me was that I had recruited someone to help me collect the data on this specific project. The student had something to do over the summer, was getting paid and could potentially learn more, outside of the standard curriculum. One of the main challenges for me was to make sure that meetings with our external stakeholders were accessible to the student, who had to travel on public transport to get to the different hospital sites. The student ended up living on his own in his shared student house, as everyone else had gone home for the summer. He hadn't anticipated this. But when he reflected back on his 10 weeks, he felt he had learnt a huge amount from completing the project, helping him during his 3rd year on the course.

4. What key advice would you give to staff and students who want to work collaboratively on a project? Make sure that you both understand the nature of the work you are planning to complete and assign roles and responsibilities in advance. Make sure that you have an honest conversation at the start about each of your respective expectations on meetings, targets and contingencies. Pencilling in regular meetings in advance is a must, as is a more informal chat over coffee, outside of scheduled meetings. Make sure you are clear on what the student is gaining from working with you. What will their memory be of this experience, say in 5 years’ time?

5. What would students and staff need to consider? What steps might they take to initiate a project? Make sure that you both understand the nature of the work you are planning to complete and assign roles and responsibilities in advance. Make sure that you have an honest conversation at the start about each of your respective expectations on meetings, targets and contingencies. Pencilling in regular meetings in advance is a must, as is a more informal chat over coffee, outside of scheduled meetings. Make sure you are clear on what the student is gaining from working with you. What will their memory be of this experience, say in 5 years’ time?

6. What resources and support might be needed? If you are developing a project for completion over the summer, definitely make sure that the student has a peer support mechanism in place. Whether this is through other students in your research group or the university, or their own personal and social groups, this is an essential way of making sure that the student copes well with the ups and downs of your joint project.

Dan Jones – Psychology, SPCLS

1. Context for working in partnership with students: The project was designed to bring our university community and local communities closer together using a seminar format as a focal point to facilitate interactions between groups that would not normally connect. A platform is provided in which students, staff and local older adults come together to exchange different ideas on culture, heritage, customs, values and traditions. Presentations have been delivered by staff, students and members of the local community, with each seminar followed by an informal drinks reception to facilitate further discussion and interactions between our communities. The event intends to bring all groups together to learn from, celebrate, and promote diversity and culture in the School of PCLS and beyond. The main objectives of the project were:
• to bridge interactions between students and local communities
• to facilitate interactions between different students from diverse backgrounds.
• to provide students the opportunities to learn experiences, wisdom and social skills from older adults in the community
• to provide a chance for our international student community - one of the most under-represented and minority groups in the student community - to socialise, share and learn about Reading and its local cultures, and to share their own with others.

2. Ways in which students were engaged in the process: PLanT funding allows the opportunity to run projects that you perhaps have wanted to run for a while but have not found the space, both in time and resources, to run in the past. My PLanT funding has enabled the launch of a new seminar series that is still running a year after receiving the funding.

3. What are the benefits and challenges for students and staff of working in partnership? Workload; there is excitement from all parties at the beginning, but it becomes a bit of a challenge when students get busy later down the line.

4. What key advice would you give to staff and students who want to work collaboratively on a project? Arrange in advance the time commitments involved and agree to this. If you are working with a committee/group of students have regular meetings to keep the whole team on track.

5. What would students and staff need to consider? What steps might they take to initiate a project? Discuss with the relevant staff/student in advance. Get the support of your School to run it as well. Also, think about the impact that the project will have: who will it benefit? How will it be delivered? Will you disseminate the findings/output?

6. What resources and support might be needed? I have applied for some school funding to continue the project after the PLANT funding finished. Administration support in the School was essential to the delivery of the project as well.