Students as change partners in the School of Literature and Languages at the University of Reading

Authors

  • Lucinda Becker University of Reading
  • Joy Collier University of Reading
  • Jane Setter University of Reading

Keywords:

student engagement, students as partners, change partners, change agents

Abstract

The pedagogic landscape in Higher Education has certainly witnessed change in recent years and involving students as partners in aspects of degree-programme development is part of that change. Darling-Hammond (2009) described how educational systems internationally are changing priorities to enable students to "cope with complexity, use new technologies, and work cooperatively to frame and solve novel problems" (p. 45). Zhao (2011) asserts that it is vital to engage students as partners in change, giving them an active hand in programme design, to enable students to develop into creative individuals who leave education with much more than just an academic qualification; it is an "authentic way to develop professional skills" (Giles et al., 2004, p. 681) as well as an opportunity to develop a positive and autonomous approach to lifelong learning. The case study which follows involved students' working cooperatively with each other and with staff in a school of English language and literature. Together, we redesigned a new module aimed at: developing students’ understanding of the demands of university-level study and writing; supporting them in their transition from sixth form to higher education.

Author Biographies

Lucinda Becker, University of Reading

Lucinda Becker is the School Director of Teaching and Learning in the School of Literature and Languages at the University of Reading. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Lucinda specialises in the development of graduate attributes amongst students and leads projects in student engagement and partnership. She has written numerous student study skills books.

Joy Collier, University of Reading

Joy Collier is an Academic Developer in the Centre for Quality Support and Development at the University of Reading. With a background in 14-19 education, Joy is passionate about the creative potential of students to contribute to the design and development of their education. She founded, and led the University-wide roll-out of, the PLanT (Partnerships in Learning &Teaching) scheme at Reading which funds curriculum based collaborative projects where students and staff work in partnership to influence T&L in a local context. She leads a number of student engagement initiatives, often in collaboration with the Students’ Union, most recently as project lead on a TSEP/HEFCE funded pilot of student voice mechanisms in Annual Provider Review. Joy is a Senior Fellow of the HEA.

Jane Setter, University of Reading

Jane Setter is Professor of Phonetics in the Department of English Language and Applied Linguistics at the University of Reading, UK.  She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, Chair of the University of Reading Teaching Fellows’ Community of Practice, and sits on the Electronic Submission, Feedback and Grading board of the university’s Electronic Management of Assessment project. A former Head of Department and BA programme director, she has worked on several successful projects with students as partners and has presented at conferences and led workshops at local and national events. Her research interests centre around prosodic features in global Englishes and in children with speech and language deficits, and she is probably best known as co-editor of the Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary (Jones, 2011). Jane is frequently interviewed by the media on issues to do with accents of English and speech and, in her spare time, she is a rock vocalist.

References

Cook-Sather, A., Bovill, C. and Felten, P. (2014) Engaging students as partners in teaching and learning. A guide for faculty. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Darling-Hammond, L. (2009) ‘Teaching and change wars: the professionalism hypothesis.’ In: Fullan, M. and Hargreaves, A. (eds.), Change wars. Bloomington: Solution Tree Press, 45-68.

Delpish, A., Darby, A., Holmes, A., Knight-McKenna, M., Mihans, R., King, C. and Felten, P. (2010) ‘Equalizing student voices: Student-faculty partnership in course design.’ In: Werder, C. and Otis, M.M. (eds.), Engaging student voices in the study of teaching and learning. Virginia: Stylus Publishing.

Giles, A., Martin, S.C., Bryce, D., and Hendry, G.D. (2004) ‘Students as partners in evaluation: Student and teacher perspectives.’ Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education 29(6), 681-685. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Deborah_Bryce/publication/228703992_Students_as_partners_in_evaluation_Student_and_teacher_perspectives/links/5429f0240cf277d58e8701bd/Students-as-partners-in-evaluation-Student-and-teacher-perspectives.pdf (Accessed: 8 March 2018).

Lowe, T. and Dunne, E. (2017) ‘Setting the scene for the REACT programme: aims, challenges and the way ahead.’ Journal of Educational Innovation, Partnership and Change, 3(1), 24-39. Available at: https://journals.gre.ac.uk/index.php/studentchangeagents/article/view/678 (Accessed: 8 March 2018).

RAISE: Student engagement in higher education journal. ISSN 2399-1836. Available at: https://journals.gre.ac.uk/index.php/raise (Accessed: 30 January 2018).

T&L Exchange. Available at: https://blogs.reading.ac.uk/t-and-l-exchange/ (Accessed: 19 October 2017).

Turnitin. Available at: http://www.turnitinuk.com/ (Accessed: 7 February 2018).

The Reading Student Charter, (2012) Available at: http://www.reading.ac.uk/internal/student/OnlineStudentHandbook/osh-student-charter.aspx (Accessed: 5 October 2017).

Zhao, Y. (2011) ‘Students as change partners: A proposal for educational change in the age of globalization.’ Journal of Educational Change 12(2), 267-279. Available at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10833-011-9159-9 (Accessed: 8 March 2018).

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Published

04/04/2018

How to Cite

Becker, L., Collier, J., & Setter, J. (2018). Students as change partners in the School of Literature and Languages at the University of Reading. The Journal of Educational Innovation, Partnership and Change, 4(1). Retrieved from https://journals.studentengagement.org.uk/index.php/studentchangeagents/article/view/712

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 1 (2018)

Section

Case Study

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