Students on Tech – an innovative partnership

Mary Jacob

Authors

Mary Jacob Aberystwyth University

Keywords:

eLearning, Video, Social Media

Abstract

'Students on Tech' is an innovative partnership between students and the E-learning Group at Aberystwyth University. A talk on the project was jointly presented by one of the students and the staff member who led the project at the Jisc Change Agents Network conference, University of Exeter, 20-21 April 2017. The case study offers a model for partnership with students for effective change. Our aims were to listen to the student voice to improve technology-enhanced learning (TEL) provision and raise the profile of good teaching.

The E-learning Group had carried out a TEL Learning Experience Survey in 2010 and again in 2013 (Gwella Team, 2011). For this project, we hoped to gain an even deeper understanding of student needs and behaviour. We wanted to make our Blackboard site easier to use and to help staff understand better: students’ needs; how students are using technology; what technology helps them.

Author Biography

Mary Jacob, Aberystwyth University

Mary Jacob specialises in the pedagogy of e-learning. in 2017, she attained Senior Fellow status in the Higher Education Academy. In 2013, she was awarded the AU Learning and Teaching Fellowship. She has been E-learning Advisor since 2006, developing and delivering training sessions in the use of technology to enhance learning. She has played a key role in projects such as Aber Academy, AU Exemplary Course Award, HEA e-learning benchmarking, HEFCW Gwella, JISC Building Capacity, and Techdis HEAT4Wales. She has presented at conferences including HEA Future Directions, Blackboard Teaching and Learning, the Association for Learning Technology, e-Assessment Association, and the UCISA Innovation Forum. Prior to coming to AU, she was a lecturer in Chinese at UC Davis, where she developed online materials for her classes. In recent years, she has coordinated AUTEL, the Aberystwyth University Learning and Teaching Conference, which is organised by the E-learning Group.

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