British Conference for Undergraduate Research 2012  was held on the 19th and 20th of March 2012 at The University of Warwick and was organised by Institute for Advanced Teaching and Learning. It was open to all and featured spoken papers, lectures, poster presentations, performances and workshops delivered by undergraduate students presenting their own work, as well as discussion on developing undergraduate research in UK universities. Prof Mike Neary ran a speed networking session for the students and gave the closing keynote.

 

Student as Producer – Project Report: End of Second Year, 2011- 2012

 

Vision

The vision of student as producer remains unchanged: to restate the meaning and purpose of higher education by reconnecting the core activities of universities, i.e. research and teaching, across all subject areas at the University of Lincoln.

Student as Producer has never been restricted to the Project team, but has, from the outset, involved academic and support staff, students and senior managers from across the University of Lincoln; as well as staff and students from other HE providers. One of the most exciting aspects of Student as Producer is the way in which the concept has been taken up by other HE providers, including the HEA, as a concept around which to build a progressive pedagogy for students and academics.

 

Intended Outcomes

The purpose of the Student as Producer project is to establish research-engaged teaching and learning as an institutional priority at the University of Lincoln. This means that research-engaged teaching and learning will become the dominant paradigm for all aspects of curriculum design and delivery, and the central pedagogical principle that informs other aspects of the University of Lincoln’s strategic planning.

Student as Producer is designed so that it has beneficial effects on a wide range of activities across UL and other HE providers, students, academic staff, professional and support staff.

Although focussed on one institution, a key aspect of Student as Producer is its impact at the sector level.  Student as Producer continues to engage with other HEIs as well as with key individuals at the local, national and international level.

A detailed evaluation framework has been developed, detailing the evidence to be collected in order to assess the achievement of project outcomes. These will include both qualitative and quantitative measures, such as interviews with key stakeholders, external examiner reports, student satisfaction data through NSS and internal methods, etc

 

Activities and Outputs

Some of the main activities and outputs this year include:

• Teaching and Learning week, March 12 – 16th, involving the whole University of Lincoln, showcasing Student as Producer across a range of different teaching and learning activities.

• Running two funding schemes: The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Scheme (UROS), as well as the Fund for Educational Development, both of which are paid for out of Student as Producer funds.

• Regular Student as Producer Project Management meetings, chaired by DVC for Teaching Quality and the Student Experience including workshops on evaluation frameworks, and related issues.

• Publication of a book ‘Towards Teaching in Public – Reshaping the Modern University’. This is an edited collected with chapters from members of the project team. The concept of Student as Producer is a key framing concept for the very practical teaching activities going on at Lincoln which are described in the book. Endorsements for the book include:

‘This book is an inspiration’, Professor Monica McLean, University of   Nottingham

‘Mike Neary and his colleagues…are proposing practical ways forward for higher education that will keep enquiry and reason alive in dark times…Their initiative…embodies an ideal for contemporary intellectuality which deserves the attention of staff and students across the sector’ Patrick Ainley, University of Greenwich

‘..it is refreshing to see a set of authors willing…to offer some constructive proposals that promise to advance the cause of democratic education.’ Professor Steve Fuller, University of Warwick, UK

• The journal Enhancing Learning in the Social Sciences (ELISS) is producing a special publication on the subject of Student as Producer, September 2012, with articles written by academics and students from across the sector.  ELISS is published by the HEA.

• One of the key aspects of Student as Producer are the connections it makes with other HE providers. Student as Producer continues to attract interest across the sector. In 2011 – 212 Prof Mike Neary has given keynotes presentations at Teaching and Learning Conferences at University of Galway, , University of Warwick, University of Southampton Solent, University of Leeds, University of Leeds Metropolitan University, University of the West of Scotland, Canterbury Christ Church University. Forthcoming keynote presentations include the Australian Conference for Undergraduate Research at the University of Sydney in Sept 2012. Professor Neary has led workshops on Student as Producer at Nottingham Trent University, University of Hertfordshire, University of Cambridge, University of the West of Scotland,  and at  the  HEA  conference ( with Andy Hagyard) 2011.

• Student as Producer has received considerable publicity on the Guardian Higher Education Network website this year: 22nd of September, 2011 the Guardian featured an article Mike Neary had written on Student as Producer: Reinventing the Undergraduate Curriculum; 11th of October 2011 Student as Producer was the central item in an article about putting student engagement at the heart of higher education; 18th of October 2011 the Guardian published an article, written by Joss Winn and Mike Neary, where they argued that hackers are vital to higher education’s culture of openness and innovation. Mike Neary and  Andy Hagyard were invited panel members for online discussion on the Guardian Higher Education Network relating to undergraduate research

• The Centre for Educational Research and Development, the site which organises the development of Student as Producer across UL, has been in receipt of JISC grants based on university wide development for educational technologies within which the principles and project of Student as Producer is heavily featured.

• This year has seen the embedding of Student as Producer in the University’s Quality Protocols and Procedures, including (re)validation of programmes, Periodic Academic Reviews, Annual Monitoring Reports and External Examiner reports. These activities are providing a rich source of data for the ongoing evaluation.

• Student as Producer  was originally conceived as an undergraduate programme, but has been extended to include programmes at the Masters level

• Student as Producer has appointed a 0.5fte for one year to act as the internal evaluator for the project, working closely with Professor Mick Healey, the external evaluator. The monies to fund the internal evaluator are provided by the Centre for Educational Research and Development.

Critical Reflection

The rationale for Student as Producer has been written up in a range of publications, including book chapters and peer-reviewed journal articles. The basis of Student as Producer is the principles derived out of research-engaged teaching radicalised through making connections with critical pedagogy and popular education.

None of the assumptions on which Student as Producer are based hinder the progress of Student as Producer. One of the main issues for Student as Producer is the extent to which it is able to critically engage with the assumptions underpinning the concept of Student as Consumer which has pervaded the policy of governments over the recent period.

 

Thinking Ahead

New activities for the coming year include:

•  Major international conference at the University of Lincoln, 26 -27 June 2013 – at the end of the funding period, drawing work done on Student as Producer together so as to provide a coherent and consistent picture of what Student as Producer has achieved
•  Extending Student as Producer into all aspects of student engagement and involvement, as the organising principle not only for curriculum development but the production of the university.
•  Setting up a Learning Spaces Working Group, together with professional and support staff from Estates, Timetabling, as well as academics and students. The purpose of this group is to embed the principles and ethics of Student as Producer within the design and refurbishment of teaching and learning spaces at the University of Lincoln.
•  Publication of monograph by Mike Neary: Student as Producer: How Do Revolutionary Teachers Teach?’. This book will be published by Zero Books.

 

 

 

 

Academics in the School of Media present Student as Producer as Photography Education (audio/video/text).

 

Students at the University of Lincoln arranged ‘I’m a Producer day’ on the 20th of  November,  2011. At the University of Lincoln the concept of ‘Producer’ is  used as a title for students who are working closely alongside academics and support staff to develop the Student as Producer programme across the University.

 

This was the timetable for the day:

10.00 – 10.50 Designing the ideal graduate workshop
11.00 – 11.50 Critique your course workshop
12.00 – 12.50 Atrium Takeover
13.00 – 13.50 Presentation of Student Projects
14.00 – 14.50 Designing the ideal graduate workshop
15.00 – 15.50 Critique your course workshop
17.00 – 18.30 Uni with a difference!

 

Wes Wesley, one of the student Producers, explained the purpose of the day:

‘The main purpose of the day was to raise the level of awareness among students about Student as Producer, and to get them involved in discussions about how the ideas behind Student as Producer might be set to work on their courses.’

 

One of the most popular workshop events on the day was ‘How to critique your course’. Professor Howard Stevenson, one of the facilitators of the workshop, said:

 

‘Participants identified and discussed the many different ways that students can provide feedback on their courses.  However, there was a recognition that Student as Producer is about much more than providing “feedback”, and is about engaging students and lecturers in a dialogue about the learning process in ways which  shape the nature of the work.  A key element of Student as Producer is the notion of student engagement in research; but an equally important aspect is that of students and staff co-constructing the learning experience.’

 

Dr Karin Crawford, who has written on working with students as consultants on teaching courses, worked with Howard as a co-facilitator in the workshop.  She drew attention to the significance of  different kinds of student engagement:

 

In the sessions we identified the various contexts in which these sorts of discussions might take place.  Subject Committees, and Student Reps, were recognised as being a very important part of the feedback process, but Subject Committees, by their nature, are formal and rather bureaucratic.  We all agreed that Student as Producer called for a more radical practice. Formal University committees are an important opportunity to raise issues, but are not always a productive environment to discuss issues in detail.  Moreover, because the number of representatives is necessarily limited, there are restricted opportunities for wider student engagement.’

Howard Stevenson continued:

‘In the workshops we explored different ways in which a richer and more participatory dialogue between students and staff might be facilitated.  Suggestions such as within course meetings were discussed. A lack of time prevented these issues being developed further, but the quality of our discussions was excellent and certainly generated an appetite to continue to explore these issues in the future.’

 

The last session of the day took place in the new Graduate School on the Brayford campus. Dan Derricott, one of the main student organisers of the day, gave a presentation on the importance of Student as Producer for the University of Lincoln, and the HE sector.

Following this presentation, there was a very lively debate about the connections between Student as Producer and other forms of critical pedagogies, as well as the politics of the current student protest against fees, marches and occupations. One of the students said: ‘Student as Producer feels more like a social movement than a teaching and learning strategy.’