FROM STUDENT VOICE TO CO-ENQUIRY - 2023/4

Module Overview

The importance of the student voice has grown within universities in recent years. Not only are students’ views and opinions now sought, but students are playing an increasing role in the decision-making processes in universities. The view of the student as a customer is now being replaced with the view of the student as the ‘co-enquirer’. This is linked to ideas about student learning and the transition from the view of students as ‘receivers of information’, to students as ‘producers of knowledge’. The implications and emerging issues and possibilities will be explored in this module. In addition to enhancing practice, the action research project may help the participants to think about potential perspectives for their MA dissertation.

Module provider

Surrey Institute of Education

Module Leader

MAHON Dominic (Sy Inst Educ)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 7

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 1

Module content

Indicative content includes:

TOPIC 1: Accessing and acting on the student voice (why are we interested in what students think?).

TOPIC 2: What do we mean by student engagement?
TOPIC 3: Learning from teaching vs. learning through research

TOPIC 4: Considering co-enquiry (research as pedagogy)

TOPIC 5: Designing the fit between the ‘expert student’ and the curriculum.

Within the timeframe available for a 15 credit module, we have to acknowledge that the extent of any action research will be limited. The focus in the module activity is to appreciate the process as much as to gain significant research outcomes.

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

N/A

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate their achievement of the learning outcomes. 

Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:

A 2,500 – 3,000 word written assignment requiring a critical evaluation of a small action research intervention undertaken in collaboration with one or more students (LO 1 – 3).  The will include a critical evaluation of the process. Examples of the type of assignment topic that might emerge from the seminars could be:

• evaluating student perceptions of feedback mechanisms and their need to respond


• student understanding of their role in the learning process (why should we engage?)


• effectiveness of mechanisms to enhance student perceptions of curriculum structure


• what do assessment methods say about the ‘implied student’?

 

Indicate assessment deadlines: Summative assessment: week 13

 

Formative assessment and feedback

The formative assessment will be a 500 word written proposal for the action research project, encouraging participants to find a topic that is of interest to them; is achievable in the time available and is ethical in its implementation.

 

Each seminar will be informed by the results of fieldwork and independent study tasks, which will be posted prior to the seminar and on which peers will be encouraged to reflect and comment. 

Module aims

• Encourage a reconsideration of the student role in higher education
•  Appreciate the student perspective of the curriculum (e.g. consumer, customer).
• Formulate approaches to increasing teacher-student dialogue
• Challenge the teaching-research dichotomy
•   Encourage active co-enquiry between students and academics

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to:

 

Challenge some of the dominant notions of students as passive consumers of information. Moving from the position of accessing and acting on the student voice as a democratising influence on the university, we will explore the notions of ‘research as pedagogy’ and the ‘expert student’. Participants will undertake a small scale action research project to test these ideas.

 

The learning and teaching methods include:

 

 a total of 150 hours of study. This will include:

 

40 hours (guided study) – of which 30 hours are fieldwork

10 hours (formal online interaction)

100 hours (independent study)

 

The fieldwork component of this module will require participants to engage with students in their own institutions in order to gain first hand data on the student experience and to engage in an aspect of student co-enquiry. The fieldwork may be embedded within the participants’ normal interactions with students.

 

Seminars will reflect the module content outlined above and there will be a guided study task for each seminar, the results of which will be posted and discussed online.

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: GCAM008

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2023/4 academic year.