Growing a whole institution culture of commitment to student engagement

20 January 2016

Change Agents’ Network webinar

Dan Derricott Student Engagement Manager, University of Lincoln

Presenter

Change Agents’ Network Webinar series – 20 January 2016

Dan Derricott,Student Engagement ManagerUniversity of Lincoln@danderricott

Growing a whole institution culture of commitment to student engagementAs the student engagement agenda has gained momentum in UK higher and further education, there are numerous interesting and complex issues that arise and seemingly prevent a whole institutional commitment to working with students as partners. Issues such as departmental autonomy, traditional hierarchies and power dynamics, and lack of time invested in innovative student engagement all contribute to a landscape where engaging students remains a project rather than a culture, and something done in a few departments rather than across a whole institution.

Dan will outline the university’s bold new strategic plan that aims to reinforce and move forward its commitment to working with students as partners in and producers of their university.

In particular, Dan will explore how the university will rethink how institutional systems and structures (found in most UK HEIs) can be rethought to reinforce and underpin a culture of engaging students so that the whole institution develops and evolves together.

The webinar is based on an in-depth case study* that explores the issues faced by the University of Lincoln and their efforts to take a whole institution approach to student engagement and partnership. The case study was developed from interviews with students, academics, professional service staff and senior managers responsible developing student engagement, including the vice-chancellor..

Moderators

Peter ChattertonEllen Lessner Sarah Knight* case study: http://can.jiscinvolve.org/wp/case-studies

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Sarah Knight

Growing a whole institution culture of commitment to

student engagementDan Derricott, Student Engagement Manager

@danderricott

lincoln.ac.uk/studentengagement@UniLincoln

OverviewFive themes of our institutional approach to developing student engagement.

Five challenges faced when scaling up and moving towards a culture.

lincoln.ac.uk/studentengagement@UniLincoln @danderricott

Part OneLincoln’s Approach

lincoln.ac.uk/studentengagement@UniLincoln @danderricott

Key features of our approach

Through…Institution-wide change: a long-term strategic approach to empowering staff to engage students

Moving towards…‘Working in partnership with students to improve the quality of what we do’ Building on…

Our context: Student as Producer – research engaged teaching for undergraduates

Meaning…Every area contributing: a culture of student engagement

lincoln.ac.uk/studentengagement@UniLincoln @danderricott

Culture

while universities may be porous organisations that are impacted upon by the environment they reside in, they are known to retain a great deal of their own organisational identity and culture (Lacatus, 2013; Kleijenen et al, 2014)

‘the pattern of shared basic assumptions’Schein‘s definition of organisational culture (2004, p17)

Kleijnen, J., Dolmans, D., Willems, J. and van Hout, H. (2014) Effective quality management requires a systematic approach and a flexible organisational culture: a qualitative study among academic staff. in Quality in Higher Education. 20(1). p.103-126Lacatus, M. (2013) Organizational culture in contemporary university. in Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences. 76 (2013) p.421–425.Schein, E. (2004). 3rd Eds. Organisational Culture and Leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.lincoln.ac.uk/studentengagement

@UniLincoln @danderricott

Five themes

Changing institutional

systems

Fostering departmental engagement

Building staff capacity and

expertise

Recognition, reward and celebration

Changing the conversation

lincoln.ac.uk/studentengagement@UniLincoln @danderricott

Outcomes:• Creating examples and quick

wins for others to learn from• Naturally exposing staff to

meaningful engagement• Embedding sustainable

engagement Examples:• Staff recruitment• Validation & Periodic Review• Survey action planning• Co-chairing committees• Subject Committees

Changing institutional

systemsFostering

departmental

engagement

Building staff

capacity and expertise

Recognition, reward and celebration

Changing the conversation

Changing institutional

systems

lincoln.ac.uk/studentengagement@UniLincoln @danderricott

Outcomes:• Each and every part of the

University working in partnership

• Establishing staff leadership• Bottom-up innovation

targeting genuine local needs

Examples:• Student-led re-design of

assessment feedback pro-forma

• Co-designed new module in youth justice & BA Drama level 1

• Library development informed by a Student Advisory Board

Changing institutional

systemsFostering

departmental

engagement

Building staff

capacity and expertise

Recognition, reward and celebration

Changing the conversation

Fostering departmental engagement

lincoln.ac.uk/studentengagement@UniLincoln @danderricott

Outcomes:• A network of change leaders

embedded across the University

• Increased capacity for sharing knowledge and collaboration

Examples:• Regular Champion

gatherings• Peer support between staff• High profile events to share

practice with staff body• Presenting at external

conferences (HEA, RAISE, Sparqs)

Changing institutional

systemsFostering

departmental

engagement

Building staff

capacity and expertise

Recognition, reward and celebration

Changing the conversation

Building staff capacity and

expertise

lincoln.ac.uk/studentengagement@UniLincoln @danderricott

lincoln.ac.uk/studentengagement@UniLincoln @danderricott

Outcomes:• Developing student

engagement is a credible use of time

• Student engagement is a positive agenda

Examples:• Academic workload &

promotion• SU annual awards• Case studies• Events (DVC drinks

reception)• Personal encouragement

Changing institutional

systemsFostering

departmental

engagement

Building staff

capacity and expertise

Recognition, reward and celebration

Changing the conversation

Reward, recognition

and celebration

lincoln.ac.uk/studentengagement@UniLincoln @danderricott

Outcomes:• Moving away from just

‘gripes’• Solutions focussed

engagement• Legitimising students

discussing pedagogy and strategy

Examples:• Subject Committees

becoming thematic, forward-looking

• Student Reps co-owning survey action plans

• Students Consulting on Teaching

• VC’s Student Reps Reception

Changing institutional

systemsFostering

departmental

engagement

Building staff

capacity and expertise

Recognition, reward and celebration

Changing the conversation

Changing the conversation

lincoln.ac.uk/studentengagement@UniLincoln @danderricott

lincoln.ac.uk/studentengagement@UniLincoln @danderricott

Five themes

Changing institutional

systems

Fostering departmental engagement

Building staff capacity and

expertise

Recognition, reward and celebration

Changing the conversation

lincoln.ac.uk/studentengagement@UniLincoln @danderricott

Summing up: where this took us- Staff around the university have

dedicated time to develop student engagement

- It’s usual for students to be actively involved in enhancement projects and high-level discussions. It’s not unusual for students to take the lead.

- We have a substantial bank of good practice that informs our development.

- New staff are immersed during their recruitment and in their induction. lincoln.ac.uk/studentengagement

@UniLincoln @danderricott

Part TwoChallenges of Scaling Up

lincoln.ac.uk/studentengagement@UniLincoln @danderricott

Five Challenges• Increasing ‘take-up’ by students• Student confidence and

expectations• Losing staff momentum• Limiting the boundaries of

engagement• Focus on priority themes for

quality enhancement without losing innovation

lincoln.ac.uk/studentengagement@UniLincoln @danderricott

Increasing ‘take-up’ by studentsWe focused our efforts on supporting staff to create opportunities for greater numbers of students and now need to get those greater numbers interested.

THE CHALLENGE OUR RESPONSE

Enhancing our personal tutoring and peer support provision to proactively encourage students to ‘get involved’ early on.

Classifying opportunities for engagement to think about progression routes. Which are good for new students and which will stretch an already engaged student.

lincoln.ac.uk/studentengagement@UniLincoln @danderricott

Student confidence & expectationsOur research1 shows students lack confidence to engage in roles outside of their existing constructs of their role (their expectations).

THE CHALLENGE OUR RESPONSE

We have always implicitly sought to develop student confidence but are looking again at student transitions and the first year experience.

Our students’ expectations are set before they reach us, so we are considering how we adjust those with our Marketing team.

1 Crawford, Karin and Horsley, Reece and Hagyard, Andy and Derricott, Dan (2015) Pedagogies of partnership: what works. Project Report. The Higher Education Academy. http://edeu.lincoln.ac.uk/pedagogies-of-partnership/

lincoln.ac.uk/studentengagement@UniLincoln @danderricott

Losing staff momentum

3 years in – the novelty has worn off.

Motivation knocked when students don’t take up opportunities.

Champions seen as the ones who do SE, others ‘need not bother’.

THE CHALLENGE OUR RESPONSE

Refreshing & renewing commitment in our new strategic plan.

Increased focus for new College Directors of Education – provides more hands on support.

We’ve grown from 6 to 46 Champions and need to stop supporting them as a homogeneous group, but rather tailor what we do.lincoln.ac.uk/studentengagement

@UniLincoln @danderricott

Limiting the boundaries

When staff ‘create opportunities’ they are automatically defining the boundaries of what students can engage in. This reminds us of the implicit power dynamics preventing partnership.

THE CHALLENGE OUR RESPONSE

Supporting students and staff to collaboratively develop how students engage.

Student Recruiters- Building on interviews- Assessing teaching

quality in recruitment- Student-led

development of theprocess and pilots

lincoln.ac.uk/studentengagement@UniLincoln @danderricott

Focus on priority themes for quality enhancement without losing innovationSo far, the focus of departmental partnership working has not necessarily been on priority areas (e.g. those flagged in student feedback)

THE CHALLENGE OUR RESPONSE

STUDENT FEEDBACK &

SURVEYS

COLLABORATIVE ACTION

PLANNING

CLOSING THE FEEDBACK LOOP

PARTNERSHIP WORKING

(DRIVEN BY SUBJECT COMMITTEES)

QUICK WINS

lincoln.ac.uk/studentengagement@UniLincoln @danderricott

In summaryOur approach to scaling up and embedding a culture

Changing institutional

systems

Fostering departmental engagement

Building staff capacity and

expertise

Recognition, reward and celebration

Changing the conversation

Increasing ‘take-up’ by studentsStudent confidence and expectationsLosing staff momentumLimiting the boundaries of engagementFocusing on priority themes for quality enhancement without losing innovation

Five themes Five challenges

lincoln.ac.uk/studentengagement@UniLincoln @danderricott

Find out more

lincoln.ac.uk/studentengagement

studentengagement@lincoln.ac.uk

University of Lincoln Student Engagement@LincolnEDEU

Jisc Change Agents’ NetworkStaff and student meet up Thursday 2 June 2016University of Lincoln+ networking & social event the evening before£50 for staff | students go free (2 per one paying member of staff)

Registration now open at http://bit.ly/1WZQnxm

lincoln.ac.uk/studentengagement@UniLincoln @danderricott

Find out more…

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