Embedding entrepreneurship and technology literacy in the student curriculum: A case study of a module for real estate students

19 November 202422 November 2024 By michaelkilmister Comment Closed

By: Dr Matteo Borghi, Henley Business School, m.borghi4@henley.ac.uk

Decorative image — Exclusive study visit to Savills headquarters in London by students, one of the practical employability outcomes of the curriculum and assessment redesign © Matteo Borghi

Overview

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.

Impact

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.

Overview

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 3^rd 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.

Overview

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.

Table listing academic topics, timeline, duration, presenters, and suitability for different modules in the autumn term. — 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.

Exploring students’ sense of belonging in the Charlie Waller Institute

31 May 202413 June 2024 By michaelkilmister Comment Closed

By:

1. Denethri Gamagedara, Psychology Undergraduate and UROP student, d.gamagedara@reading.ac.uk;

2. Anjali Mehta Chandar, Lecturer, Charlie Waller Institute, a.m.chandar@reading.ac.uk;

3. Professor Allán Laville, Dean for Diversity and Inclusion, allan.laville@reading.ac.uk;

4. Hannah Raheja, Research Assistant, h.raheja@student.reading.ac.uk

Overview

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.

4 Teaching resources: Representation extends to teaching material. has conducted work into decolonising the curriculum, with a more recent publication in September about steps on how to achieve 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.
University of Reading (UoR). (2021). Race equality review. University of Reading. https://static.reading.ac.uk/content/PDFs/files/race-equality-review-report-2021.pdf

Links

Questions in Figure 1 are adapted from CIPD (2013)

Enhancing and developing the use of OneNote Class Notebook beyond the Covid-19 pandemic

26 February 202426 February 2024 By michaelkilmister Comment Closed

By: Rita Balestrini, Department of Languages and Cultures, r.balestrini@reading.ac.uk

Overview

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.

screenshot of the classroom notebook — Screenshot of a Class Notebook © Rita Balestrini

Implementation

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.

Reflecting on developing support for disabled students attending clinical training courses in the Charlie Waller Institute

18 February 202419 February 2024 By michaelkilmister Comment Closed

By: Natalie Meek, n.a.meek@reading.ac.uk & Fisayo Adunola, f.adunola@reading.ac.uk, School of Psychology & Clinical Language Sciences

one woman writes on a whiteboard while another watches — © University of Reading

Overview

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.

References

Scope. (2023). Disability facts and figures. https://www.scope.org.uk/media/disability-facts-figures/
HESA. (2023). Table 4 – HE student enrolments by HE provider and disability marker 2014/15 to 2021/22. https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/table-4
House of Commons Library. (2021). Support for disabled students in higher education in England.https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8716/
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.

Developing resources to support student transition into HE

18 February 202418 February 2024 By michaelkilmister Comment Closed

By: Mirjana Sokolovic-Perovic, m.sokolovic@reading.ac.uk, Jayne Freeman, j.e.freeman@reading.ac.uk, Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences

red welcome flag flying on a flagpole — Red welcome flag flying during Open Day at Whiteknights campus © University of Reading

Overview

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.

Enhancing students’ linguistic and intellectual competence through Virtual Exchanges in Chinese and Japanese

18 February 202419 February 2024 By michaelkilmister Comment Closed

By: Cong Xia Li, School of Literature and Languages, congxia.li@reading.ac.uk

Screenshot from a remote language class — Screenshot from a Virtual Exchange (VE) online workshop. © Cong Xia Li

Overview

This report details a Teaching and Learning-funded initiative aimed at advancing the linguistic and intercultural competence of intermediate-level Chinese and Japanese language learners (IWLP Stage 3) through Virtual Exchange (VE) projects. Virtual Exchange involves online collaborative educational approaches connecting learners from diverse cultural backgrounds. Our objectives include enhancing linguistic competence, fostering intercultural understanding, and evaluating/refining the VE initiatives. These objectives are explained in more detail below:

Objectives

Enhance linguistic competence. Improve students’ language proficiency through collaborative language learning activities with native speakers.
Foster intercultural understanding. Develop intercultural competence by connecting students with peers from diverse cultural backgrounds.
Evaluate and refine VE initiatives. Conduct empirical research to assess the effectiveness of Chinese and Japanese VE projects, refining tasks, settings and assessments.

Context

The VE initiative was initially introduced in the academic year 2021-22, with Institution-Wide Language Program (IWLP) students of Chinese engaging in collaborative projects with peers from Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology (NUIST), which was well-received by both Reading and NUIST students. The students were from different modules (Chinese stage 3- LA1PC3 and Japanese Stage 3- LA1PJ3) . The Virtual Exchange sessions were run in separate classes by the Chinese and Japanese course convenors. While the current project focuses on the stage 3 students (post-beginners). Additionally, a new VE project for Japanese has been initiated with Miyazaki International College, Japan, for the Stage 3 Japanese class. The VE project, an optional activity in which approximately half of the IWLP Chinese 3 students and the Japanese 3 class took part in, served as a valuable complement to standard teaching. It not only assisted students in enhancing their speaking and writing skills but also facilitated the generation of additional information for the Stage 3 summative assessment, specifically the Stage 3 Cultural Comparison project.

Implementation

The VE project entails a six-week collaboration where students engage in both spoken and written activities. The topics, spanning music and art, youth issues, literature, and environmental concerns, were chosen collaboratively by the class teacher and their international counterparts. The activities primarily involved discussions—both verbal and written—between language learners and native speakers. These discussions focused on topics chosen by convenors to gather information for the Stage 3 project. This project comprises a written report and a group presentation, aiming to research and compare cultural differences between China/Japan and Britain. Participation in the VE project was voluntary, and those not taking part had to find the required information online.

For the pilot project, 12 Chinese and 8 Japanese students were involved, paired based on linguistic ability and shared interests. Initial meetings were facilitated through Zoom/Teams, after which IWLP Chinese learners organised individual paired sessions through WeChat. Participants completed pre- and post-project questionnaires, and a focus group of Chinese and Japanese students recruited from LA1PC3 and LA1PJ3 modules provided additional opinions and feedback.

Impact

The project’s objectives (enhance linguistic competence, foster intercultural competence, and evaluate and refine VE initiatives) were met:

Linguistic competence. Students were able to produce complicated sentence structures and more advanced vocabulary beyond the level accurately . For example, they were able to produce sentence that the first clause has an interrogative pronoun in their group presentation, like 无论有多大的胆子，中国学生通常都不会质疑老师的观点（Regardless of how bold they may be, Chinese students usually do not question the teacher’s viewpoints).

Intercultural competence. Intercultural competence was evident as students demonstrated the ability to discern between formal and informal behaviour and language use in various situations. One student from the focus group noted, ‘The language and manners employed during discussions with our Japanese partners were markedly distinct from what we learn in the classroom.’

Refine VE initiatives. Most of the students preferred to talk to the native speakers than have a formal language lesson. They reported that their partners were too eager to correct their grammar mistakes in formal lessons; rather, they would have preferred more open discussions of the topics. The VE initiative in Chinese is continuing this year. We have made several adjustments to the activities of the VE program. For example, the aim of the VE project is emphasised at the initial meeting, following feedback from the focus group.

Student testimonials underscored other positive receptions of the initiative, highlighting perceived improvements in various areas:

Enhanced language proficiency. Participants demonstrated heightened language skills, observable through assessments and student testimonials. Engagement in learning activities increased, with a notable enthusiasm in communication with native speakers. This was reflected not only in enhanced fluency and accuracy but also in the use of advanced vocabulary and sentence structures.

Cultural exchange. VE projects facilitated meaningful interactions that broadened students’ understanding of Chinese and Japanese culture beyond traditional classroom teachings. Through discussions with peers, students learned informal ways to interact in Chinese and Japanese, gained different perspectives on contemporary youth challenges in China and Japan, and developed a more in-depth understanding and analysis of cultural aspects in Chinese novels and literature.

Increased global awareness. Students developed a broader perspective on cultural diversity, with two focus group participants noting that the experience heightened their sensitivity to cultural differences, boosting their confidence to work or socialise in multicultural environments in the future.

Reflections

Overall, the designed and delivered VE projects in Chinese and Japanese met our objectives. Collaborations with native speakers provided invaluable opportunities for cultural exchange, benefiting both UK and international students. However, certain observations and reflections were made.

While both Chinese and Japanese learners expressed positive views on VE projects, compared with their Japanese counterparts, the Chinese learners found them less useful for developing linguistic and intercultural competence. In follow-up interviews, these students preferred physical collaboration on campus over virtual interaction.

For future studies, recommendations include employing different communication approaches for synchronous and asynchronous interactions, providing clear instructions for the VE program’s aims and expectations at the initial meeting, and finding ways to leverage the large international student body on campus to facilitate physical meetings with native speaker.

Follow up

The project was presented at an international conference in Poznan, Poland, in May 2023. VE projects with NUIST continue, and efforts are underway to establish collaborations with native speakers on campus. The positive outcomes and lessons learned form a foundation which approach can be expanded to other languages, benefiting a wider student population. The report encourages colleagues in other languages and disciplines to consider VE projects for international collaboration program. I am delighted to learn that a colleague at the Economics Department is exploring the VE approach with the students at NUIST who are enrolled in the 3+1 programme (a joint programme offered by NUIST Reading Academy and UoR that runs for 4 years).

Empowering tomorrow’s marketers: A journey through real-world skills and engaging learning in consumer behaviour group projects

13 October 2023 By michaelkilmister Comment Closed

By: Dr Bahram Mahmoodi Kahriz, Henley Business School, bahram.mahmoodikahriz@henley.ac.uk

woman and man sitting in front of a computer — Photo by Desola Lanre-Ologun on Unsplash

Overview

At Henley Business School, our Consumer Behaviour compulsory module for Part 3 undergraduate students involves a group assignment on creating a consumer insight report. Students are urged to investigate emerging aspects of consumer behaviour, apply relevant theories, conduct research, and offer insights to marketers. This fosters teamwork and enhances research skills, enabling students to apply theory to real-world marketing challenges.

Objectives

The primary aims of the consumer behaviour group project were:

Enhance collaborative skills and research competency: This module strengthens teamwork and critical group project abilities, facilitating research competence through the guidance of students in collecting, evaluating, and integrating information sources.
Apply theoretical knowledge: Students employ theoretical expertise in Consumer Behaviour and marketing to enhance critical analysis.
Develop of report writing skills: The module sharpens writing and presentation proficiencies essential for professional communication in a business context.
Encourage peer evaluation: The module encourages peer review, promoting individual contribution assessment within a team framework and fostering a sense of teamwork responsibility.

Context

The consumer behaviour group project aims to help students understand consumer behaviour’s various facets and impact. Given the dynamic changes in consumer behaviour due to global events like COVID-19 and supply chain disruptions, grasping these shifts becomes crucial for marketers. The group project within this module equips students with teamwork, critical thinking, and real-world application skills. It prepares Part 3 BSc Business and Management (Marketing) undergraduates for future career challenges by setting realistic expectations and improving necessary skills.

Implementation

Step-by-Step Guide: Implementing the Group Project

Step 1: Team Formation

In the first step, we form diverse groups of 4-5 members to simulate real work situations.
This diversity fosters familiarity among students with future workplace dynamics and encourages effective brainstorming.

Step 2: Brainstorming and Topic Selection

In this step, we emphasise brainstorming and topic selection.
We provide topic examples related to recent changes in consumer behaviour.
Active participation in topic selection within random groups encourages critical analysis.

Step 3: Refining Topic Choices

After selecting topics, students share them with their assignment groups.
Collaboratively, they refine their final topic choices.

Step 4: Research

In this step, students initiate the research phase, focusing on their selected topics.
We instruct them to review various sources, including contemporary examples, industry reports, academic studies, and relevant theoretical frameworks.

Step 5: Report Structuring

Here, we guide students in structuring their reports, which should include:

- Executive summaries
- Introductions
- Discussions of chosen issues
- Theoretical frameworks
- Marketing advice
- Reference lists

Stressing the importance of formatting and style consistency.
Encouraging the integration of theories from consumer behaviour lectures and other relevant sources.
Promoting the use of relevant statistics to support their chosen topics.

Step 6: Peer Collaboration and Review

In this step, ongoing peer collaboration and review are emphasised.
Students are encouraged to share ideas, review each other’s work, and seek advice from other groups.
The project concludes with peer reviews assessing individual contributions, promoting teamwork.

Step 7: Revision and Submission

In the final step, teams make revisions based on peer feedback.
We ensure that teams complete their reports.
Students are instructed to submit their reports via the university’s Blackboard platform by the specified deadline.

This comprehensive process equips students with valuable skills for real-world scenarios, nurturing critical thinking, teamwork, and research capabilities.

Impact

Aim: Enhancing collaborative skills and research competency:

The assignment encourages effective team collaboration, enhancing teamwork, communication, and task delegation based on individual strengths. Students gain a deeper grasp of consumer behaviour, market trends, and the practical application of marketing theories in real-world scenarios. They improve research skills, sourcing relevant materials and statistics, as well as identifying supportive theories from lecture materials to share within their groups.

Aim: Application of theoretical knowledge:

Brainstorming, research, and theory application develop critical thinking, empowering students to analyse emerging consumer trends. They translate theoretical knowledge into actionable insights and advice for potential clients, applying marketing expertise to real-world situations.

Aim: Development of report writing skills:

Students master group report writing, understanding report structures and effectively conveying the topic’s significance. They contextualise arguments with relevant statistics related to changing consumer behaviour and culture, supported by theories and research findings that inform marketing recommendations.

Aim: Encouraging peer evaluation:

Peer reviews promote self-reflection and continuous improvement, allowing students to assess their contributions and those of their peers.

In the year 2022-2023, in their feedback, students appreciated the relevance of topics to real-life examples, which enhanced their understanding of techniques and theories. They also welcomed the integration of current events and social media into the lessons. They found the Group Assignment allowed them to delve into interesting topics of their choice. Seminars were particularly beneficial for fostering in-depth discussions, which contributed to their improved comprehension of the subjects.

Reflections

The group project achieved its objectives with remarkable success. The assignment’s deliberate focus on contemporary consumer behaviour and evolving market trends delivered it both engaging and profoundly relevant to our students. Consequently, their motivation to actively participate can be increased. Relatedly, previous research has also indicated that students engage in group projects, resulting in higher levels of understanding of the material. In addition, they learn how to study more independently, improve their critical thinking and problem-solving abilities, and ultimately, exhibit high levels of motivation (Hidi & Renninger, 2012; Johnson & Johnson, 1989; Prince, 2004).

Moreover, the project excelled in encouraging diverse team compositions, which, in turn, facilitated remarkably rich brainstorming sessions. This diversity led to a broader range of insights, precisely aligning with the assignment’s goals. Research suggests that diverse teams tend to be more creative, come up with innovative solutions, perform better, and make improved decisions (Kristinsson et al., 2016; Lattimer, 1998, Wang et al., 2019).

From a practical standpoint, the project provided a unique opportunity for students to produce a report similar to industry-standard thought leadership pieces. This experience afforded them a taste of the demanding, real-world work involved in marketing consultancy, an invaluable experience for their future careers.

In addition to the practical aspect, the project allowed for a peer review process, a crucial element. This process introduced a sense of accountability among students, prompting them to engage in self-assessment and provide constructive feedback. Consequently, this enriched the overall learning experience, nurturing valuable skills.

However, there is room for improvement in the form of enhancing theoretical integration. While the assignment successfully included theory, emphasising theory application more explicitly throughout the report could strengthen its theoretical foundation.

Follow up

Since the consumer behaviour assignment, our approach to teaching and learning about consumer insights has significantly improved. We have embraced a more interactive approach, fostering greater student engagement in exploring emerging consumer trends. Moreover, we have integrated ongoing peer review practices into various modules, aiming to promote collaborative learning and effective teamwork skills across disciplines.

For future activities and slides, we plan to maintain the same structured format. However, we intend to create more opportunities on Blackboard, where students can actively participate in a group community. This platform will serve as a space for students to engage in discussions, ask questions, and share ideas with one another and with me. This shift to a broader online setting on Blackboard aims to enhance student collaboration, transitioning from in-person seminars to a more inclusive digital environment.

References

Hidi, S., & Renninger, K. A. (2006). The four-phase model of interest development. Educational Psychologist, 41, 111-127.

Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. (1989). Cooperation and Competition: Theory and Research. Edina, MN: Interaction Book Company.

Kristinsson, K., Candi, M., & Sæmundsson, R. J. (2016). The relationship between founder team diversity and innovation performance: The moderating role of causation logic. Long Range Planning, 49, 464-476.

Lattimer, R. L. (1998). The case for diversity in global business, and the impact of diversity on team performance. Competitiveness Review: An International Business Journal, 8(2), 3-17.

Prince, M. (2004). Does Active Learning Work A Review of the Research. Journal of Engineering Education, 93, 223-231.

Wang, J., Cheng, G. H. L., Chen, T., & Leung, K. (2019). Team creativity/innovation in culturally diverse teams: A meta‐analysis. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 40, 693-708.

“Making it OUR Year Abroad”: A student-staff collaboration to support the Year Abroad experience for Languages students

7 September 202311 September 2023 By michaelkilmister Comment Closed

By: Dr Chiara Ciarlo, School of Literature and Languages, c.ciarlo@reading.ac.uk

Screenshot of UoR Italian Year Aboard Facebook group — Screenshot of the private Facebook group created by students for their Year Abroad

Overview

In this blogpost, Lecturer in Italian Language Chiara Ciarlo illustrates how four Department of Languages and Cultures (DLC) students with experience of the Year Abroad (YA), collaborated with staff on a PLanT-funded project to help fellow Part 2 students deal with the difficulties and anxiety of preparing to study abroad in the post-Brexit era, by creating a successful network of support including a student-led Facebook group and a useful video-guide with tips on life abroad. This project demonstrates the power of student partnership for building belonging and engagement in ways that are meaningful and authentic to learners.

Objectives

The primary aims of this activity were:

– to enhance communication among students across year-groups in DLC;
– to encourage current and returning students to share their YA experience in an inclusive way, and Part 2 students to proactively seek help while preparing to go abroad;
– to identify key aspects which required more support for Part 2 students;
– to create online YA resources on these aspects that could easily be accessed by current and future students.

Context

Due to recent economic and political changes, students preparing to study/work abroad as part of their Languages degree, have had to deal with complex bureaucratic processes (e.g., visa application) and unforeseen problems (e.g., increasing difficulties in finding accommodation), which have caused them undue stress and anxiety. During her time abroad, Jess Mant, one of the student partners in the project, had the original idea of setting up a network for fellow students to offer support on the issues she had experienced when preparing to leave and while in the foreign country. This subsequently became a PLanT-supported project.

Implementation

The project was based on the students’ YA experience in Italy. After an initial planning meeting with staff, two of the student partners, Jess and Francesca Greatorex (Finalists), set up a student-led private Facebook group as a space for the Italian students to find out more about the YA. It was agreed that this group should have only students as members (i.e., no staff were allowed on it) to allow freedom of discussion. Past and present students of Italian were invited to join the group, and this was a great opportunity for alumni to contribute to the discussion and offer advice on different destinations. All student partners initially introduced themselves via videos, shared their experience and pictures, and used polls to encourage members to vote on topics to discuss. This worked particularly well and stimulated participation when Part 2 students had to choose their destinations, as questions on specific cities could be addressed.

Once the Facebook group was up and running, the other two student partners, Anna McTiernan and Rosa Lockwood-Davies (Year Abroad students), created videos on topics that had become popular in the Facebook discussions and in YA preparation meetings with staff and Part 2 students e.g., tips on the visa application based on own experience, finding accommodation, and how to make friends in a foreign country. These videos were later uploaded on the Facebook group and were liked by members. Despite having individual roles, student partners collaborated in both areas of the project, sharing ideas and reviewing each other’s work.

Impact

Aim: To enhance communication among students across year groups in DLC.
The Facebook group created by the student partners is a permanent space that Italian students of all year-groups can join. This year, the group will welcome the new Part 2 cohort and the administration will be taken over by the remaining student partners of the project.

Aim: To encourage students returning from the YA to share their experience in an inclusive way, and Part 2 students to proactively seek help in preparing to go abroad.
This aim was achieved through posts and videos (and the use of captions in the videos, which helped students focus on the content). Videos on some more sensitive topics (e.g., making friends) were carefully planned to include all types of personalities. Polls were particularly effective in stimulating members to ask questions and contribute.

Aim: To identify key aspects which required more support for Part 2 students.
The use of polls and discussions in the Facebook group, and the participation of student partners at YA preparation meetings, helped create a pool of topics to cover in the video-guide.

Aim: To create online YA resources on these aspects that could easily be accessed by current and future students.
The Facebook group became “the space” were all material could be found in one place by members: this included the videos and several useful links which were recommended by student partners during preparation meeting and immediately posted in the group. This will remain a great source of information for future cohorts.

In a survey carried out during the summer, Part 2 students commented particularly on the usefulness of this material and its ease of accessibility.

Reflections

The success of the activity lies in the determination and creativity of the student partners. From the very beginning, they all took on their role with great enthusiasm and were driven by the will to pass on their knowledge to make the YA an enjoyable experience for current and future cohorts of Languages Students. Additionally, other students who were on the YA found the initiative very stimulating and began to give their contribution, both in group discussions and by posting extra material that they had created to document their experience abroad e.g., a written guide on the student experience in Padua.

Student partners encountered some difficulties while creating and running resources, namely in making students interact in online exchanges and in producing videos whose format would appeal to peers. To overcome these issues, they came up with creative ideas, like the use of polls and the creation of shorter videos, to encourage viewings. For staff, having the input of the student partners was invaluable, as every activity was designed with the students and their needs in mind.

Follow up

Two of the student partners, Finalists in 2023/24, will continue with the administration of the Facebook group (possibly creating also an Instagram account to complement it), and will encourage this year’s Part 2 students to join. With the contribution of other members, who have also returned from the YA, information will be regularly updated, discussions will be stimulated, and new material for the video-guide will be produced, making this a permanent and dynamic space for Languages students to meet and share their YA experience.

A special grazie/thank you goes (in no particular order) to Jess, Francesca, Anna and Rosa for the time, dedication and enthusiasm they all put in creating these resources, and for demonstrating that the Year Abroad is an invaluable experience that needs to be preserved and shared with others.

Links

Link to the “UoR Italian Year Abroad” private Facebook group.

By: Dr Matteo Borghi, Henley Business School, m.borghi4@henley.ac.uk

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By: Amanda Millmore, The School of Law, a.millmore@reading.ac.uk

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By: Dr Jayne Freeman, School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, j.e.freeman@reading.ac.uk

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By:

1. Denethri Gamagedara, Psychology Undergraduate and UROP student, d.gamagedara@reading.ac.uk;

2. Anjali Mehta Chandar, Lecturer, Charlie Waller Institute, a.m.chandar@reading.ac.uk;

3. Professor Allán Laville, Dean for Diversity and Inclusion, allan.laville@reading.ac.uk;

4. Hannah Raheja, Research Assistant, h.raheja@student.reading.ac.uk

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By: Rita Balestrini, Department of Languages and Cultures, r.balestrini@reading.ac.uk

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By: Natalie Meek, n.a.meek@reading.ac.uk & Fisayo Adunola, f.adunola@reading.ac.uk, School of Psychology & Clinical Language Sciences

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By: Mirjana Sokolovic-Perovic, m.sokolovic@reading.ac.uk, Jayne Freeman, j.e.freeman@reading.ac.uk, Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences

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By: Cong Xia Li, School of Literature and Languages, congxia.li@reading.ac.uk

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By: Dr Bahram Mahmoodi Kahriz, Henley Business School, bahram.mahmoodikahriz@henley.ac.uk

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