Last week was an important time for Student as Producer:
Andy Hagyard and I attended an induction session for the projects that have been funded by the National Teacher Fellowship Project fund. This fund is providing £200k over the next three years to fund Student as Producer. The event was held at the Higher Education Academy’s HQ in York. For more information about the NTFS scheme see – http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/ourwork/supportingindividuals/ntfs/ntfsprojects.
Student as Producer held its first online meeting of the Steering Committee using FlashMeeting software – http://flashmeeting.e2bn.net/. The system is fun and easy to use, and is a great way to speak with colleagues around the world, including Germany and Australia. We are writing up meeting notes which will be posted shortly.
The Project Management Group held a meeting, which was well attended with colleagues from all parts of the university, including representatives from the faculties, the library and Registry. Minutes will be posted soon.
The Vice Chancellor has been making a series of presentation to all staff. In these talks she has been stating her commitment to Student as Producer and how she regards it as a key initiative for the University. This support is vital for the success of the project and it is much appreciated by all of us working on Student as Producer.
Student involvement is key to the success of the project. Working closely with the Students Union we are starting to identify students who can act as advocates for the project.
Events to look forward to this week include the publication of a chapter co-authored by myself and Andy Hagyard. The title of the chapter is ‘Pedagogy of Excess – An Alternative Political Economy of Student Life’. It will appear in an collection edited by Mike Molesworth, Elizabeth Nixon and Richard Scullion called The Marketisation of Higher Education and the Student as Consumer. The book is published by Routledge.
