Throughout my experience working with postgraduate trainee teachers, I have observed how important it is for trainees to feel empowered to advocate for themselves, particularly those who are parents or carers, those managing anxiety and depression, and those with additional needs like autism or ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). Balancing the demands of placement with personal responsibilities can be overwhelming, but I believe that taking ownership of our own success and finding ways to do this once qualified is critical, especially considering the recent guidance surrounding an increase in students with disabilities.
One of the key challenges I have seen is the pressure that comes with meeting the Teachers’ Standards, while managing additional personal or learning needs. To address this, I worked closely with a group of trainee teachers who identified themselves as needing extra support. I collaborated with these students to develop additional resources to help them manage their time and workload, communicate effectively with their mentors, and build the confidence to advocate for themselves during their placements.
Implementation
The group I worked with included trainees from diverse backgrounds, many of whom were balancing the demands of their training with caregiving responsibilities, mental health challenges, or neurodiverse conditions like autism and ADHD. Together, we created practical resources such as letter templates, draft timetables, and guidance on how to initiate open discussions with mentors about their needs. I found that giving them tools to better communicate with their mentors had a huge impact, helping them establish stronger working relationships and ultimately supporting their ability to meet the required standards without feeling overwhelmed.
Beyond developing communication tools, I also encouraged these trainees to review the University’s placement preparation materials. Their feedback was eye-opening, and they helped me see how we could adjust the content to be more relevant to their needs. They also suggested adding new sessions to the program that would address specific barriers to their learning, such as managing workload when living with ADHD or balancing placement duties with family care. This collaboration not only supported the individual trainees but also created a richer learning environment for everyone involved. It was a clear example of how working collaboratively and sharing best practices can benefit the entire group.
Reflections
One of the most rewarding aspects of this work was seeing how it gave these students a voice. Their ideas and experiences were crucial in shaping the resources we created. They were not just recipients of support—they were active contributors to the process, and this empowered them further. My next step is to share these resources with their mentors, helping to bridge the gap between trainees and schools. This step will be essential in creating a more supportive and inclusive placement experience.
In addition to supporting the students directly, these resources also have the potential to reduce the workload of academic tutors by providing consistent, ready-made tools that can be easily adapted to different trainees’ needs. Working closely with our Disability Advisory Service, the goal is to ensure that these resources complement the existing support provided, making placements more manageable and successful for trainees with additional needs. The ongoing aim is not only to support trainee teachers in their training year but give them the skills to use in their career after graduation.
Through this process, I have also come to realise that far more students have additional needs or unique circumstances than I initially thought. This aligns with current guidance on academic tutoring, which emphasises the importance of making adjustments to support all students and those who have not yet received a formal diagnosis.
Next steps
The next steps to the project are to create a booklet with all the resources and university support links for all trainee teachers and share them more broadly with all schools where our students are on placement.
By empowering postgraduate trainee teachers to advocate for themselves and by creating a supportive framework, I am confident that we can ensure more trainees thrive during their placements and beyond. This work is about fostering a culture of self-advocacy, collaboration, and inclusion—values that are essential for the success of all future teachers.
The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme (UROP) consists of different projects students can apply to gain research experience. Each project attracts significant numbers of student applicants, but only one is selected. This year, UROP had a project examining the impact of staff racial representation on students’ sense of belonging. I applied to this due to my interest in the topic and despite not being selected as the leading researcher, I was asked to be a research assistant, something that is not typical during UROP projects. This blog will explore my experience as a research assistant and the positive implications this has had on both my personal and professional development. To view the aims and findings of this project, please see Denethri Gamagedara’s blog.
Context
The interest in this study regarding students’ sense of belonging transpired from the Race Equality Review (UoR, 2021) findings, which suggested that staff racial representation directly impacted the sense of belonging, engagement, and attainment within the class.
Denethri Gamagedara conducted this project during her UROP placement over the summer. I (Hannah Raheja) worked as a research assistant, helping with thematic analysis and research dissemination (alongside being a UROP student on another project). This project had two supervisors: Anjali Mehta Chandar, a Lecturer within the Charlie Waller Institute (CWI) and Allán Laville, the Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor Diversity and Inclusion and Professor of Equity in Psychology. Having a research assistant is not usual practice for UROP studies due to the typical focus of one student obtaining one-to-one research experience with supervisors.
My experience as a research assistant
At first, I worried about working with Denethri as I assumed there would be challenges with power dynamics since I was the research assistant and she was the leading researcher. Furthermore, as I had interviewed for the position and had been unsuccessful, I felt that perhaps my ideas were less beneficial than the other team members. Moreover, as Denethri, Anjali and Allan had been working with each other for 4 weeks before I joined their team (they had conducted interviews and a survey with students), I was also apprehensive about how my presence would affect the team dynamic.
However, once I joined the group, I found my worries unwarranted. Denethri and I had regular Microsoft Teams meetings where we built upon each other’s ideas, collaboratively generated themes for reflexive thematic analysis (e.g. diversity in education), and asked each other for feedback. In addition, when meeting with Anjali, Allan and Denethri to discuss the codes Denethri and I had established (e.g. for the theme diversity and education, we had codes such as lecturers and teaching material address diversity), both supervisors frequently asked me for my input, affirming that my ideas were beneficial and helping me to feel like an essential member of the project. Likewise, Anjali emailed and provided me with feedback throughout my time on the team, helping nurture my research skills. I also later discovered that the research assistant position was made for myself and was funded by the Lecturer’s SDA account because I had impressed the supervisors during the interview.
Furthermore, in response to the survey and interview answers, Denethri and I collaboratively agreed upon different recommendations to foster student belonging, which we then presented to Anjali and Allán, who provided us with guidance. To begin with, I struggled to generate recommendations since I had not been present during the interviews and so I did not have an accurate grasp of the problem. Appreciatively, Denethri patiently answered my queries, helping me understand the situation and from this, we both came up with six different ways to foster a sense of belonging within the teaching environment. Denethri and I then created a screencast for lecturers within CWI explaining each of the recommendations. The recommendations include:
sharing your protected characteristics with new cohorts (as much as you feel comfortable),
acknowledging cultural events (e.g. Diwali) during lectures,
creating a diversity discussion blog where minority lecturers can share their teaching journeys and how their protected characteristics have impacted their profession,
continuing to implement diverse teaching resources by referencing decolonising the curriculum,
incorporating discussions about sense of belonging with all students during academic tutorial meetings and creating safe spaces for minority students to discuss their sense of belonging –whether in academic tutorial, online forums or other settings.
Being a part of this process has been an incredible experience as I have developed competencies as an undergraduate researcher while also having the broader implications of developing beneficial recommendations to foster inclusion within the university further. As a student within CWI, I hope these recommendations will be implemented so that all students will feel a sense of belonging within their lectures and throughout their wider university experience.
Summary
To summarise, I was asked to join this project as a research assistant and due to joining this study partway through, I experienced some initial anxiety. However, a successful student-staff partnership was formed between Denethri, supervisors, and myself, with Anjali allowing Denethri and I to express our opinions openly and Allán supporting us to engage with a project with pedagogic implications. This role has helped to develop my analytical, data, and research proficiencies further – all of which would not have been possible without my experience as a research assistant. These positive outcomes will hopefully encourage other supervisors to consider hiring an extra student to help analyse findings and disseminate their UROP project. To best utilise this additional research assistance, regular meetings between all parties should occur, supervisors should actively engage and include the research assistant in the discussions and provide them with constructive feedback on their work.
Acknowledgements
This article would not have been possible without the support and advice of Denethri Gamagedara, Anjali Mehta Chandar, and Allán Laville.
The Managing Change in the Real Estate Sector module was redesigned to embed entrepreneurship (the ability to identify and seize business opportunities) and technology literacy, aiming to bridge academic learning with real-world industry demands. The initiative significantly improved student engagement, understanding of PropTech (technology-driven innovation in Real Estate) trends and practical application of entrepreneurial skills, as reflected in enhanced student satisfaction and successful project outcomes.
Objectives
Foster students’ entrepreneurship skills (such as opportunity recognition, innovation, and problem-solving) and technology literacy, particularly in the context of PropTech (short for Property Technologies).
Encourage creative problem-solving and the development of innovative business ideas.
Enhance students’ practical understanding of industry trends through direct engagement with experts.
Improve student confidence and readiness for entrepreneurial careers in real estate through authentic assessments.
Context
The Managing Change in the Real Estate Sector module was developed to address the evolving needs of the real estate industry, particularly the integration of technology literacy (the ability to effectively use and understand modern technologies) and entrepreneurial skills. It was introduced in response to industry demands for graduates proficient in PropTech (technology-driven innovation in Real Estate) and capable of innovative thinking. In this context, entrepreneurial skills refer to the ability to identify opportunities, adapt to changing circumstances, and implement creative solutions within the real estate sector. The module, which carries 20 credits, is compulsory for approximately 120 Level 5 students each year.
Implementation
To implement the module, several key steps were taken:
Module Design and Collaboration: The curriculum was developed in collaboration with internal teams, including the Henley career services and the Henley Centre for Entrepreneurship, to ensure alignment with industry needs and academic goals.
Guest Lectures and Forums: External experts were invited to provide insights into PropTech and entrepreneurship, culminating in the Global Henley PropTech Forum (GHPTF) where students engaged with industry leaders. In the GHPTF, we included a general Q&A and an interactive co-creation session where students collaborated with industry leaders to refine the business ideas they had developed with the seminar leader during the first six weeks of the module.
Dragons’ Den Assessment: A competitive pitching event was organised, where student teams presented their business ideas to a panel of judges, simulating a real-world entrepreneurial experience. This event mirrored the format of the famous British television show Dragons’ Den, where aspiring entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to a panel of investors (Dragons) seeking promising ventures. To prepare for the Dragons’ Den assessment, students engaged in weekly seminar sessions, mock presentations with cross-fertilisation between teams, and a dedicated ‘Pitching to Sell’ workshop.
Continuous Feedback and Adjustment: Throughout the module, student feedback was actively solicited and used to make real-time adjustments, enhancing the learning experience and addressing concerns.
Support Structures: The module included mentoring and support from faculty, promoting an environment conducive to innovative thinking and teamwork.
The module successfully achieved its objectives, as reflected in students’ positive feedback on experiential learning methods (4.3/5). Integrating entrepreneurship and technology literacy greatly enhanced students’ understanding of real estate and PropTech. This resulted in improved business propositions and heightened student engagement, praised by both internal and external contributors. An unexpected outcome was the module’s selection as the main compulsory team project for future students. Additionally, a student venture developed during the module was shortlisted in the European PropTech competition, demonstrating the initiative’s success in fostering critical real-world skills such as problem-solving, creative thinking, digital proficiency, and the ability to navigate the intersection of technology and business.
Reflections
The success of the module stemmed from its integration of real-world experiences with academic learning, enhanced by effective collaboration with industry experts and external events. Key elements included the Global Henley PropTech Forum and Dragons’ Den assessments, which provided students with invaluable exposure to real-world scenarios and feedback. The responsiveness to mid-module feedback and adaptation of content and support mechanisms significantly contributed to student satisfaction and engagement.
However, some challenges remained. Coordination issues with guest speakers and unexpected withdrawals from the Dragons’ Den highlighted the need for more robust contingency planning. Additionally, while student feedback on individualised guidance was addressed, further improvement in personal mentorship could enhance the learning experience. Future iterations could benefit from more structured self-assessment and additional real-world case studies to deepen students’ understanding and application of entrepreneurial concepts. Overall, the module demonstrated a strong capacity to evolve and adapt, ensuring its continued relevance and effectiveness.
Follow up
Since the module’s implementation, it has garnered additional industry support. Savills, a prominent global real estate services provider, has endorsed a revised version of the Dragons’ Den, featuring a grand final and a study visit for the winning team (see title image above). Additionally, an exclusive internship opportunity was offered by one of the Dragons. The 2024 winning team, Senspore, also achieved significant success by securing £3,000 for the best commercialisation idea for China at Henley Business School’s IDEAFEST student business idea competition.
As a way of helping new students to transition to university, our student-staff partnership co-created a “Hidden Curriculum Glossary.” The original glossary has been shared with students in the School of Law, used as the basis for a guide for first generation students at the University of Reading and has been adopted and adapted by universities across the sector, both in Law and other disciplines.
Objectives
The “hidden curriculum” has varied definitions but relates to the lack of connection between academics’ assumptions about students and how they should behave and what happens in reality. This includes implicit aspects of the taught curriculum as well as the academic expectations. The project aimed to get first generation Law students to help new entrants to understand some of the terminology and behavioural expectations of university by co-creating supportive resources.
Context
The adverse impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on students’ sense of belonging has been challenging. This partnership project worked with first generation Law students to brainstorm ideas to improve a sense of community and belonging within the Law School. The project led to positive ideas to benefit our community, as well as the creation of resources to support transition for all students.
Implementation
We recruited 8 paid student-partners; we pay them for their time to ensure a diverse group of students and as always, we are adopting the University’s Principles of Partnership.
Together we shared ideas to improve the sense of community and belonging which were taken forwards by the School’s Student Experience Committee and we identified suggestions to help incoming students.
One important output of our partnership was our quick guide to terminology and expectations – the Hidden Curriculum Glossary. Students shared what they wished they had known before starting and in their first year of university, and we co-created a helpful and colourful document demystifying key terms and concepts, written in plain English and tailored for what new students need to know.
The glossary was printed and shared with incoming undergraduate and postgraduate students as part of their transition materials in Welcome Week. Students also created “Top Tips” videos for new students and a video guide to our building. All of the resources are also shared electronically via Blackboard.
We have updated the glossary each year to incorporate student feedback and to include any changes. So for example, in its second year we added in more information about the Careers team and how they can help students.
The glossary is designed to support student transition and retention. It received very positive feedback from Law students via a questionnaire to all who received it, for example here is some of the qualitative feedback we received:
Impact
Student partners disseminated the work at a Teaching & Learning Showcase and the Change Agents’ Network Conference 2023.
We created a Criminology version of the glossary for the new programme which was launched in 2023/24 and are now getting ready for the 3rd iteration of the glossary to incorporate the new language of semesters for 24/25.
The glossary is also a useful introduction to new colleagues joining the university, to get to grips with the language and terminology we use in Reading.
Reflections
Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best. The glossary has been a really useful exercise in co-creation with students, ensuring that we meet their needs and by making something of real value to them.
I would recommend that anyone looking to devise this kind of resource, looks to do so with student partners. Partnership working in this way ensures that the materials you produce are appropriate. As always with this kind of work, the students are fantastic at getting their teeth stuck into a project and make a real difference. Co-creation leads to sharing of different perspectives and is always eye-opening, unsurprisingly students know best as to what will resonate with their peers.
One of the biggest challenges was the timing of the project. Our funding did not kick in until August, but we needed to start work before then in order to achieve something useful in time for the start of the next academic year. Juggling student availability, when they have so many calls upon their time is always tricky, but keeping a flexible approach and realising that things do not need to be perfect, is crucial to a successful project.
Full credit to my colleague Dr. Başak Bak who worked on the community-building side of the project, and our fantastic student partners: Laura Carroll, Ambreen Azeem, Ryan Gibbard, Aina Binti Mohammad Abu Sofian, Srijanani Viswanathan, Saydee Brown, Lewis James, Hasti Houshyari and Kartiga Moganan.
Follow up
Having presented this work and its evolutions within Legal Education streams at Law-specific conferences (Society of Legal Scholars, 2023, Socio-Legal Studies Association, 2024) and at the Advance HE Teaching & Learning Conference (2023 & 2024), our glossary has been adopted and adapted by 8 other institutions (to date), many working to co-produce resources with their students:
2023
University of York (Law)
King’s College, London (Law)
University of Lancaster (Law & Student Success Team)
University of Salford (School of Science, Engineering & Environment)
2024
University of Cardiff (Law)
University of Nottingham (Law)
University of Portsmouth (Law)
University of Manchester (Law)
I am currently working with colleagues at these institutions to gather feedback and the impact of this work. With cohorts of several hundred (and in one case over 1000) our work has already supported several thousand students nationwide. They are all explicitly acknowledging that their versions were inspired by the work of our student staff partnership.
In 2024 students asked, through course representatives on the Student Staff Partnership Group, whether we could create a Careers-focused Glossary. Jeff Anderson (our Careers Consultant) is working with student representatives and me to produce something suitable.
If you are interested in adopting and adapting the glossary for your students, please get in touch with Amanda as she is very happy to share the materials, advice and wants to gather more evidence of impact of this work.
This case study reflects on an approach to enhance awareness of programme-level information in Psychology. Students often appear to have a lack of knowledge about key aspects of their programme. To address this, I introduced an approach of staggering the delivery of key programme-level messages in compulsory modules.
Objectives
To enhance undergraduate Psychology students’ awareness of programme-level information by delivering strategically-timed messages in compulsory teaching sessions across the academic year
To evaluate students’ perceptions of the usefulness of having programme-level information delivered in teaching sessions
Implementation
I developed a schedule for the timely distribution of programme-level information in compulsory teaching sessions for Part 1-3 Psychology students. This involved creating a table with a list of the key information that students might need to be aware of and some suggestions for when and in which module each message might best fit. For example, information about how to use assessment feedback was timed for when the first assessment marks were due for release. The table also specified the number of slides or approximate amount of time that would be needed to share the information and a suggestion for who might deliver it (e.g., me as Programme Director or the lecturer taking the class). I also included a link to the slides for staff to see the details of the information to be disseminated.
I then shared the table with teaching staff and asked them to indicate whether there would be sufficient time to fit the information in their lectures. In most cases, staff were able to accommodate the messages, or they suggested alternative sessions where the information could be delivered.
Figure 1: List of programme-level messages to be delivered to Part 1 students across Autumn term 2023/24
Impact
At the end of the academic year, students were asked to indicate how helpful it was to receive programme-level messages in lectures and whether they would prefer to receive such messages in lectures or in standalone briefings. They were also asked to say what they had learned from the messages that they hadn’t known before. Approximately, 83% of students reported that they found it quite or very helpful to have the messages in lectures and 65% said that they would prefer to have the messages delivered in lectures than in standalone briefings. Students reported that they had learned about a range of different areas, including student support, the library, marking criteria and other aspects of academic literacy. This suggests that the messages were providing students with important information that they had not obtained from elsewhere.
Reflections
Standalone briefings may not always be the best way of providing students with key messages about their programme as the information might not be reaching students at the optimal time. For example, information about late submission penalties presented in a start of year briefing may well be forgotten by the time students come to submit their first assessment. By strategically timing messages in compulsory lectures, students will have received the information when it was more relevant to them, thus hopefully enhancing its usefulness.
In light of the findings, we will continue to disseminate programme-level information through compulsory lectures (in addition to start of year briefings). However, for next year, I think it will be important for me to work with students to find out what information they consider would be useful and to identify what the optimal timing would be from their perspective, as this might not align with the timeline that I had proposed.
Following the University of Reading’s (UoR) Race Equality Review (UoR, 2021), this Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme (UROP) project took place, consisting of a student survey and two student interviews conducted in the Charlie Waller Institute (CWI), a department within the School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences. The aim was to investigate students’ perception of staff racial representation and its impact on students’ sense of belonging. Students felt that diversity explicitly needed to be integrated into the teaching and learning environment. A range of recommendations are provided.
Objectives
The objectives of this pilot study were:
To understand how staff racial representation impacts CWI students’ sense of belonging.
To explore student sense of belonging in CWI, a department that consciously integrates diversity and inclusion into teaching.
To contribute towards diversifying teaching and learning material and maximising student-staff interactions.
Context
The Race Equality Review (UoR, 2021) underlined racial representation as a salient factor for fostering sense of in its students. As Strayhorn (2018) outlines, sense of belonging is broadly defined as “students’ perceived social support on campus, a feeling or sensation of connectedness, the experience of mattering or feeling cared about, accepted, respected, valued by, and important to the group (e.g., campus community) or others on campus (e.g., faculty, peers).” Focus groups within the review highlighted that a lack of staff from minor ethnicities reinforced students’ isolation and lack of belonging within the university. When present, sense of belonging promotes successful learning by improving student engagement, encouraging students to seek campus resources and acting as a buffer from mental health issues (Gopalan & Brady, 2019). This was consistent with comments made in focus groups, where inclusion and sense of belonging were seen as important to the student experience.
The primary reason for conducting this study within CWI was because of the institute’s particular interest in ensuring diversity and inclusion (D+I), and it has an award-winning D+I working group. An institute in the School of Psychology, CWI specialises in postgraduate, vocational training for mental health practitioners. Within the teaching material, students are taught to think about a therapy client’s protected characteristics and engage in conversations about their diverse cultural backgrounds. It was deemed interesting to see how students at an institute that overtly discusses diversity felt about their sense of belonging to the university (potentially based on their racial identity).
Denethri Gamagedara conducted this study as part of UROP. This study was particularly important to her because of the possible implications of institutional improvement for students similar to herself. The project had two supervisors: Anjali Mehta Chandar, a Lecturer in CWI with a keen interest in D+I, and Allán Laville, both a Professor in the department and the University’s Dean of Diversity and Inclusion. Hannah Raheja, a CWI undergraduate student, aided in the project in the role of a research assistant, particularly supporting with the thematic analysis and dissemination.
Implementation
The study involved conducting a survey and two individual participant interviews with the students of CWI. The questions were co-designed by Denethri and Anjali. Sixteen students responded to this survey while three students volunteered for the interview, however only two proceeded to be interviewed due to availability. Responses were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis and discussed with Anjali and Allan. Coding and clustering were completed by Denethri and Hannah, with inter-coder agreement scores of 95.5% and 85.3%. Figure 1 and Figure 2 below outline the themes and sub-themes that emerged from the data.
Figure 1
Themes from the survey
Figure 2
Themes (dark green) and sub-themes (light green) from the interviews
Impact
The research team devised the following recommendations for teaching staff to foster a sense of belonging for students and address diversity.
1 Openness in introductions: Lecturers to mention their own protected characteristics and routes to becoming an academic can be beneficial, particularly during their initial introduction to the cohort e.g. first teaching session. Students had perceptions that only individuals who fit certain criterion could become lecturers (e.g., majority ethnicity and higher socioeconomic status).
2 Showing cultural awareness: Acknowledging cultural events in lectures, Blackboard announcements or emails helps students feel accepted and valued. This allows for better student-staff connection.
3 A discussion blog: Implementing a blog where lecturers can talk about being a professional from a minoritised background is helpful. For example, departments might like to host this on Blackboard, with a new blog each month, or in the student newsletter which is sent out once a term. Students recognised the importance of holistic diversity and wished for more openness about this.
5 Discussing belonging with academic tutees explicitly: Students reported that openness was crucial and belonging involved feeling comfortable and valued. Figure 3 (below) provides examples on how to address sense of belonging.
6 Discussing diversity, notably race, with tutees: Students mentioned that acceptance contributed to belonging. Creating a safe space for students may improve student-staff relationships. Figure 3 (below) has potential questions related to race.
Figure 3
Questions related to sense of belonging and diversity to ask tutees
Reflections
Conducting the study was extremely beneficial as it created the opportunity to think about recommendations to improve student sense of belonging. The results showed that only 31% of students agreed to the statement “I feel a sense of belonging within CWI”, with 25% neither agreeing nor disagreeing, 18.8% disagreeing and 25% strongly disagreeing – this suggests that there is room for improvement.
The study was successful because of the efficient pedagogical partnerships that were formed. Anjali, who was the main supervisor during the project, created a creative space where Denethri and Hannah, as undergraduates, could openly express their opinions. Whilst having Allan’s perspective and expertise helped Denethri and Hannah cluster themes effectively and think about tangible recommendations that lecturers can implement. The positive outcomes, particularly the opportunity to conduct more thorough analysis with a variety of researchers, will hopefully encourage more students and lecturers to apply for the UROP scheme in subsequent years too.
The study may have been better implemented if there was an opportunity to hear from a group of students, such as in a focus group setting. This was part of the original methodology, however, only one student volunteered for this, which therefore had to become an individual interview instead. Focus groups and/or creative styles of evaluation and student voice (such as zine-making) could be incorporated into future replications of this study.
Follow up
The recommendations have been included in a screencast for dissemination to staff groups within CWI, which is viewable here for other UoR colleagues to also view. A reflective paper about the impact of pedagogical partnerships formed from the study is in the process of being published. A pre-print in the style of a lab report is also hoping to be published. It is likely that future projects will look into the effectiveness of the recommendations, perhaps in the form of student or staff feedback.
References
Gopalan, M., & Brady, S. T. (2020). College students’ sense of belonging: A national perspective. Educational Researcher, 49(2), 134-137.
Strayhorn, T. L. (2018). College Students’ Sense of Belonging: A Key to Educational Success for All Students. Routledge.
The project built on T&L innovation embraced in the Department of Languages and Cultures (DLC), where Microsoft’s OneNote Class Notebook (CN) was trialled during the Covid-19 pandemic to overcome the constraints of teaching languages remotely. The outcomes provided knowledge of DLC students’ experience of CN and understanding of the type of support needed by CN users to staff users of CN, and to colleagues in Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) and Digital Technology Services (DTS), and informed the development of technical and pedagogical support and guidance for CN users.
Objectives
The project aimed to enhance student learning by improving the use of CN, and had the objective to facilitate sharing of knowledge and expertise, gain insights into students’ experience of CN and inform TEL and DTS decision-making on the tool.
Context
CN is a digital T&L tool to store materials (e.g. text, images, handwritten notes, links, recorded voice, videos), where students and teachers can work interactively in and outside the classroom. It is organised into three parts:
‘Content Library’ – where only the teacher can add, edit, and delete materials.
‘Collaboration Space’ – a place to collaborate in groups open to everyone in the class, where multiple users can work on a page simultaneously or asynchronously.
‘Teacher Only’ – a private space invisible to students.
‘Student Notebook’ – a private area that only a student and their teacher can see and use, where they can interact directly on a page.
CN continues to be used in some language modules as it proved to be effective beyond a remote teaching environment and offered features that supported accessibility and inclusivity in language learning.
In 2022–2023, I held three sessions with DLC staff users to share practice and ideas on using CN, and record information on what support would enhance teaching with CN. I also held in-person, small group meetings with DLC CN student users from all year groups to gain insights into their experience of CN. The feedback gathered informed the development of a branched MS Forms survey, which was completed by 28 (of 50) student CN users.
I facilitated a cross-School (DLC, Institute of Education, Law) ‘teaching conversation’ to reflect critically on the pedagogical value of CN.
I wrote a project report for DTS and TEL and shared with them the findings from the needs analysis.
Impact
The project created a ‘space’ for the sharing of practices, knowledge, experience and expertise, which in turn, enabled the enhancement of the use of CN.
It enhanced students’ learning and increased their engagement with CN learning activities – as evidenced by the students’ survey.
As part of ‘internal monitoring and review’ practice, the outcomes of the ‘teaching conversation’, informed the School of Literature and Languages (SLL) T&L enhancement process.
The project should inform the integration of CN with other applications (e.g. Teams), and the provision of technical and pedagogical support for CN users.
Reflections
CN offers a paperless learning environment and facilitates the organisation of T&L materials in a clear and, ‘potentially’ visually intuitive, hierarchical structure. Students evaluated CN positively as a useful ‘digital binder’ and ‘learning tool’ (Average Rating [AR] 4.15 and 4:00 respectively, on a scale of 1 to 5). Most of them felt that materials and resources were easy to access (AR 3.89), and it was easy to take notes within CN (AR 3.74).
CN users generally agreed that navigation in CN is quite ‘fluid’ compared to Blackboard. However, I think that for this fluidity to be fully meaningful pedagogically CN requires a thoroughly thought-out structure, with reasoned and transparent ‘labelling’ throughout the learning environment.
There can be issues in meeting current assessment policies when using CN for summative assessment. However, CN greatly facilitates the provision of feedback with a digital pen or by audio-recording on a page. Staff value the possibility of monitoring individual and group activities and providing private, individualised feedback in different formats; students appreciate highly receiving feedback directly in their personal notebook, which stands out as a noteworthy result of the survey (AR 4.26), especially considering that feedback in general ‘is often framed as the dimension of students’ experience with which they are least satisfied’ (Winstone & Carless, 2020, p. 5).
The ‘Collaboration Space’ can be used for class activities, collaborative projects, sharing resources, and a channel for students’ voice – additional uses of this area depend on the subject taught. CN allows students to take ownership of a shared area and use it for independently chosen purposes, which helps create a sense of ‘community’ and a feeling of ‘online connectedness’ (Hehir et al., 2021).
Regarding technical issues, 68% of respondents did not report any. The others mentioned a variety of problems (e.g. syncing issues, ‘handwriting’ and ‘highlighting’ not anchored to text). Many reported difficulties were linked to using different CN versions, devices, or operating systems, which suggests that improvements could come with advice from technical support specialists.
Follow up
In future, students’ experience of using CN could greatly benefit from:
staff sharing and discussing practices across different subjects to facilitate pedagogical enhancements (e.g., communities of practice, special interest groups, TEL forums);
making access to CN easier and facilitating its integration with Teams and Blackboard;
the availability of expert support from DTS and TEL (e.g. technical assistance, TEL resources and sessions for users).
References
Hehir, H., Zeller M., Luckhurst, J., & Chandler T. (2021) Developing student connectedness under remote learning using digital resources: a systematic review. Education and Information Technologies, 26, 6531-6548. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-021-10577-1
Winstone, N., & Carless, D. (2020) Designing effective feedback processes in higher education. Routledge.
By: Paul Jenkins, School of Psychology & Clinical Language Sciences, p.jenkins@reading.ac.uk
Image credit: Buro Millennial on Pexels.
Overview
The School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences (PCLS) offers several postgraduate degree programmes, nearly all of which include a placement element. Getting the assessment right is an important challenge to fairly evaluating students on placement. As part of an ongoing review of programmes with placement components, a piece of work was commissioned to look at how placements should be assessed within PCLS.
Objectives
The primary aims of this project were to explore:
What elements of placements MSc students felt were important to assess; and
How MSc students felt these elements should be assessed.
Context
As a ‘taught’ component of the course, any assessment needs to be carefully planned and contribute “directly to learning and skill development” (UoR, 2023). Student feedback indicated that the current method of assessing placements, which comprises a written report of what was done and learned on placement, was unsatisfactory. For instance, students felt that it did not reflect the amount of work put in over the course of the placement and that the final grade was too reliant on one piece of written work.
It was felt that gaining insight into current students’ views would be helpful to inform future changes to the way(s) in which MSc placements might be assessed, making this process proportionate and more useful for students.
Implementation
In February 2023, a grant from the UoR T&L Initiatives Fund was awarded to address the question of how MSc placements should be assessed.
A focus group discussion was conducted in June 2023, with participants recruited from PCLS MSc students. The focus group lasted around 45 minutes. In addition, a 1:1 interview was held in July 2023 with another individual who wanted to share their views on the subject, and this is included to add detail to the data obtained from the focus group.
To frame the focus group and interview, open-ended questions were developed to explore participants’ experiences, opinions, and thoughts regarding placement and its assessment. The facilitator (a member of staff within PCLS) was present to encourage a relaxed atmosphere and supplement prepared questions with prompts to gather participants’ views and pursue themes relevant to the research questions. The following is a sample of the questions asked during the interview:
What are the important elements of an MSc placement to be assessed?
How do you think MSc placements should be assessed?
The focus group was audio-recorded and the facilitator also kept notes to help keep track of themes and provide a more holistic picture of the discussion (Kornbluh, 2023). The students were also given a document on different types of assessment and an exemplar of how a placement might be assessed to act as ‘stimulus material’ to prompt detailed discussion of their views on assessment.
Impact
The findings of the discussions provided insight into how students think placements should be assessed. In terms what students considered important to be assessed, several different themes emerged:
Assessing what was learned
Students talked about the importance of assessing what was learned, as opposed to a more cursory assessment of the time or activities spent in placement; for instance if: “technically, you put in the work but you didn’t actually apply it to anything”. They reflected on the different environments and services within which placements took place, such as some being online and others being conducted in-person, and the importance of asking students “to prove” that they have engaged with placement. The importance of certain skills (e.g., teamworking, presentation skills) learned on placement was highlighted, and also how such skills relate to students’ futures.
Reflecting on one’s own development
Several students commented on how they have developed over the course of placement, and how this could be included in the assessment. For instance, one student suggested that assessments could cover “what skills are we learning and how much are we able to apply it… and how we’re changing”. Another noted discussions they have with their supervisors, whereby they “don’t just talk about what I do… [but] also some sort of reflection,” and that this brings in “reflection of how you see yourself”.
Capturing diversity of experiences
The discussion also covered the reality that students will have different experiences of placement and how it can be “a very subjective experience,” including different types and levels of supervision. For instance, one student commented that “the difference between person to person doesn’t always end in […] what they’re doing but also where they started from, because we also came into the programme with very different experiences”. Students also highlighted differences in effort put in by those on placement, sharing the perception that there were some students “who are doing everything they possibly can” and others who “slowly move to the back… waiting for things to be handed to them”.
As part of the project, students also discussed how these skills and elements of placement should be assessed and, again, several themes arose:
Continuous assessment
Students discussed having the opportunity to reflect ‘as they go’ and potential problems with a unitary, retrospective assessment. Whilst they felt that having a reflective piece is “a nice idea,” one student commented how a lot of experiences gained on placement are difficult to recall at the time of submission. They were also wary of having too much overlap between pieces of assessment, such as a reflective report and report of activities, and one student suggested being “forced to keep track of what you have been doing… in a detailed manner”.
Having been offered a list of potential assessment types to review in the focus group, one student felt that Reflective Diaries could be a better approach, perhaps used alongside an hours log. Another suggested that Learning Logs with “certain points to learn about” could be helpful, perhaps covering “small reports on small things”. Another suggested a “spaced out diary… or some form of input from our supervisor” could be of use, although also stated that they were unsure “how feasible that would be”. It was also suggested that a website (or blog) could be used to help students log experiences and remain accountable. Of note, some students chose to do this independently, with one saying: “I keep a log for myself”.
Oral presentations
Many students mentioned advantages of an oral presentation over written work, including being “better able to express what I’m doing when I speak”. Another commented that “when you write, you downplay” what was done on placement and that an oral form of assessment can be less constrained by “academic rules”. Another student agreed, saying that a presentation would “let someone express [their experience] much better” and another concluded: “I think just talking would be better [than a written assignment]”.
Students suggested that oral presentations offer a chance to “talk through your experience” and also to field questions (e.g., “What do you think you specifically learned?”), which “makes you reflect a lot more”. They also commented on the advantages of having other individuals present. A student noted that presenting in a group means that you “get to see what other people have been doing [and] how they’ve developed their skills” which could even “change your perspective”. It was commented that this approach can be “helpful to your peers as well, not just you”.
In a similar vein, one student suggested a viva voce (a one-to-one oral examination) whereby students “talk to our supervisors… and have that discussion” about their experiences.
Assessing the thoroughness of the experience
One student suggested that having written assignments can limit introspection, and get one “writing it for the sake of having a reflective piece to submit” rather than discussing “how much have I grown”. By contrast, they suggested that, in oral presentations, “flow is better – easier – and it really gives you cause to think about how you have developed”. Further reflecting on oral presentations, one student commented that “it’s up to you how you present it and how you convey how much you’ve learned, what you’ve learned, how much you’ve grown” and “how you justify what you’ve done in your placement hours”.
Reflections
The insight gained from this work has proved invaluable when formulating assessment for the coming academic year. Students’ views on the possibility of interpersonal assessment has informed the structure of oral presentations where students are given the opportunity to discuss an aspect of placement in front of their peers. The marking criteria have been developed to incorporate some of this feedback, such as inclusion of autonomy, personal development, and showing relevant skills.
Whilst it only represents a small study, some practical suggestions could be proposed. For instance, when evidencing and discussing their placement experiences, students were clear that oral presentation offers several advantages over written methods (a more common approach to work-based assessment; Ferns & Moore, 2012). The importance of assessing skills development over time was highlighted, which could be considered when setting and providing structure for both formal and informal assessment (e.g., Bates et al., 2013). Finally, it is perhaps also important for educators to keep in mind that students begin placement with different experiences, variation which has the potential to impact both their learning and achievement.
Follow up
The summer of 2024 will be the first-time oral presentations have run for several ‘placement’ modules. We shall continue to refine the assessment itself (and marking criteria) based on further feedback and look into whether concerns about the written reflective piece remain; if so, an assessment that relies more on continuous engagement could be considered.
References
Bates, J. et al. (2013). Student perceptions of assessment and feedback in longitudinal integrated clerkships. Medical Education, 47, 362–374. https://doi.org/10.1111/medu.12087
Ferns, S., & Moore, K. (2012). Assessing student outcomes in fieldwork placements: An overview of current practice. Asia-Pacific Journal of Cooperative Education, 13(4), 207–224.
Kornbluh, M. (2023). Facilitation strategies for conducting focus groups attending to issues of power. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 20, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/14780887.2022.2066036
Academic tutors across the Charlie Waller Institute (CWI) courses recognised that disabled students faced specific challenges during their studies. Respecting the diverse voices of our student body is paramount, as noted within the student charter. As such we developed student led forum to access feedback and to enact change within courses. In this report we will reflect on the learning taken, and challenges met in engaging students with disabilities.
Objectives
Support students with disabilities.
Supporting students to have a reflective space to discuss respective challenges faced and to enable them to support one another and discuss helpful ways to cope.
Enact change within CWI courses, and in wider educational settings, based on student feedback.
Context
The CWI offers graduate and postgraduate clinical training courses. We have been receiving feedback from our disabled students that they were facing additional barriers and challenges in completing their courses. One area of feedback was feeling isolated within their peer group, and assessments and processes being less accessible to them.
Implementation
The group was to cover all areas of disability; neurodivergence, learning difficulties, physical, sensory and mobility disabilities. So far five groups have been conducted in the previous academic year, sadly attendance has been very low, three groups were conducted with only one student present. Although this meant a great listening space for that student, and an opportunity for the school to take direct feedback, there is little opportunity for peer support. We have identified several challenges to developing peer support groups for post-graduate training course cohorts. On the same day that our forum runs there are two other forums which are the Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) student forum and the Parent and Carers student forum. There has been some cross over as some of the trainees that have attended one forum have attended other forums.
Impact
So far, the forum has met each objective in part. However, one challenge that has arisen is attendance at the forum which has meant the reach hasn’t gone beyond a small number of students. This is a challenge we are continuing to work on as a school to enabled more disabled students to access this space. The reach of the group has also gone beyond the University or School, with contact being made with an accreditation body to respond to student feedback. An unexpected impact has been to enable undiagnosed neurodivergent students to access support through their attendance at the forum. One take away is the importance of students having more contact with the Disability Representatives (Dis Reps) and Disability Advisory Service (DAS), which this group has facilitated. In their role of Dis Rep, Natalie can offer further individual support to enable students to have further reasonable adjustments in university study and in professional service.
Reflections
Despite low turnout, facilitating the forums has been insightful in hearing the voices of students who often face barriers to social engagement within higher education and within wider society (McGuckin et al., 2013; Watson & Nolan, 2011). Our students face unique challenges due to the pressures of clinical training, which impacts their personal, professional, and educational lives. Challenges have varied from accessibility of buildings to difficulties with information processing.
Disabled students are not a monolith, so continuing engagement with diverse voices is necessary to understand our students’ strengths and challenges. The title of the group may be a barrier to engagement, the disability label holds stigma, and those with invisible disabilities may not identify with this label.
In addition to university related learning, our students have expanded on how larger systems, such as the health service and accrediting bodies, lack accessibility. This led to liaison with the British Association of Behavioural & Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP). We hope this forum will empower our students to engage equitably in our courses.
Follow up
Within CWI we have Diversity and Inclusion Support Officers (DISOs) who have been active in ensuring that the actions from the student forums are followed up and embedded within the direction of CWI. The forums are continuing throughout the 2023/24 academic year, we plan to continue responding to student feedback to facilitate engagement. A further review will be performed at the end of the 2023/24 academic year.
McGuckin, C., Shevlin, M., Bell, S., & Devecchi, C. (2013). Moving to further and higher education: An exploration of the experiences of students with special educational needs. NCSE.
Watson, D., & Nolan, B. (2011). A social portrait of people with disabilities in Ireland. Department of Social Protection.
This case study outlines how PCLS designed an induction booklet for UG programmes to provide additional pre-arrival support during transition into higher education. Psychology and Speech and Language Therapy students reported that they found the induction booklet useful and that it helped them to feel more prepared for university.
Objectives
To provide essential information about the course and university life before students arrive
To prevent information overload in Welcome Week by phasing information delivery into pre-arrival period
To support students in their transition to university by engaging them early with the School and their chosen programme
To reduce student anxiety about the transition to Higher Education
Context
Successful transition to university life is related to a range of outcomes including student retention, academic success and mental wellbeing (e.g., Cage et al., 2021). However, our students often report being concerned about joining university and feeling overwhelmed with the new information.
Traditionally, students receive a wealth of information during the Welcome Week, but it has been argued that transition should be viewed as a process. The induction could be extended into the pre-arrival period, putting the emphasis on early engagement. Successful pre-arrival interventions include various orientation plans, mentoring schemes, and programme-specific transition programmes (McInnis et al., 2000).
Early engagement should help students understand academic procedures and expectations, as well as help them develop a relationship with the institution and feel part of the learning community. Thus, we wanted to design a pre-arrival intervention to support students to feel more prepared for entering university.
Implementation
We prepared induction booklets for our UG programmes: BSc and MSci Psychology, and MSci Speech and Language Therapy (SLT), which included essential information:
key members of staff,
term dates,
an overview of teaching and assessments of Part 1 modules,
information about Blackboard and University Library,
information about various ways of supporting students and the course rep system,
how students can get involved with the School,
useful links,
a schedule of the Welcome Week events.
At the end of August 2023, booklets were emailed to all students who had accepted a place on one of the programmes.
Students were asked to fill in a short questionnaire in week seven in the Autumn term to indicate if they had read the booklet, and if they did, how useful they found it, and to what extent it helped them feel more prepared for university study (both on a scale 1-5). We also asked if they had attended the relevant ‘Programme Briefings’ and ‘Transition to Higher Education’ sessions in Welcome Week to examine if reading the booklet had negatively affected attendance.
Impact
Sixty-two UG Psychology students and twenty-six MSci SLT students completed the questionnaire. Overall, students reported that the induction booklet was useful and that it helped them prepare for university.
Students who read the induction booklet considered it useful: the average rating was 3.72 for UG Psychology, and 4.17 for MSci SLT (75% rated it 4 or 5). They also felt more prepared for university, with the average ratings of 3.39 for UG Psychology and 3.82 for MSci SLT (50% rated it 4 or 5).
Programme Briefings were attended by 81% of UG Psychology and 92% of SLT respondents. Of those who had read the induction booklet, 75% and 92% (respectively) attended this session. ‘Transition to HE’ sessions were attended by 42% of UG Psychology and 77% of SLT respondents; 53% and 75% (respectively) of those who had read the induction booklet attended. Attendance was similar for those who had not read the booklet. Therefore, our concerns about a possible drop in attendance/engagement were not warranted.
Reflections
In light of the findings, we will continue to implement the induction booklet for future cohorts as part of our approach to supporting students in their transition to higher education.
While this investigation has given us important insights into the benefits of using the induction booklet, on reflection, we would have ideally administered the questionnaire shortly after Welcome Week while the booklet was still fresh in students’ minds. Students may not have accurately remembered the extent to which they had found the booklet useful or whether reading the booklet had impacted their attendance at the Welcome Week sessions. We will repeat the evaluation of the induction booklet again next year but will administer the questionnaire during the first two weeks of the semester to gain more contemporaneous feedback. Not all students read the booklet so we will also examine reasons why this might have been.
Follow up
There are some important questions that warrant further investigation. For example:
Whether the booklet may be more helpful for some students than for others (e.g., students with higher levels of pre-arrival anxiety and/or first-generation students)?
Which parts students found the most helpful and whether any further information would have been useful?
Why some students did not read the booklet?
References
Cage, E., Jones, E., Ryan, G., Hughes, G., & Spanner, L. (2021). Student mental health and transitions into, through and out of university: student and staff perspectives. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 45, 1076-1089. https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2021.1875203
McInnis, C., James, R., & Hartley, R. (2000). Trends in the first year experience. AGPS.
