Blog post by Lucy Bingham – BA (Hons) Public Relations & Journalism
‘Student as Producer, what is that?’, I hear you say. Well, to me Student as Producer is about changing the way in which we’re taught at university. It’s about us, the students, collaborating with our lecturers to determine the best ways in which we learn, making the course more productive and ‘doing’ rather than just ‘listening’.
By 2012 the nationally recognised scheme will become compulsory, so now is the time for students and lecturers to have their input into what changes are made to the style in which modules currently run. It seems like common sense to run more workshops and become pro-active, rather than listening to that boring lecture drone on at 9am… At the end of the day, in a few years time we’ll all be out in the workplace where we’re forced to be productive rather than passive.
Student as Producer means that it is now possible to explore different methods of teaching as opposed to the lecture and seminar modules that most of us have now. It’s not about changing the content of what we are being taught, just restructuring the way in which the information is delivered to us. I definitely think everyone learns better by doing rather than watching or just listening and this can already be seen in student PR agency; Cygnet PR. This is run by lecturer Jane Crofts and consists of a range of students, me being one of them! We’re given briefs by outside organisations and basically left to get on with them, I’ve already learnt so much from this small bit of independence and it’s helped with my course; Journalism and Public Relations. Surely it’s better to get experience in your field of interest now rather than when you’re trying to get a job?
I think if more lectures became workshops where we could ‘try’ our subjects from a realistic perspective, more students would be willing to get out of bed for that 9am start! By becoming more hands-on and productive, people will interact with others, turning group work into team work – something else to put on your CV!
The ‘I’m a Producer!’ day is the perfect opportunity for an introduction to Student as Producer for those who are not already engaged in the scheme. More people will be able to see the benefits of becoming pro-active and hopefully see how this new direction of teaching and learning will benefit us all.
