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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.

Real life experience. For you.

Student as Producer is picking up speed as it becomes the focus of national press and international conferences, but the key to our success is continued and improved engagement with the students who we want to be producers.

In what is set to be one of the most significant student-led projects ever seen at Lincoln, we are looking to put together a media team who will be responsible for planning, implementing and reviewing a programme of publicity and engagement programmes that will inspire students to crave discovery-based-learning.

Our methods of communication need to be rich and creative so we are looking for students of all levels from all disciplines with skills in the following areas:

• Social Media
• Public Relations
• Copywriting
• Broadcasting
• Advertising
• Marketing
• Media Production
• Web Development
• Photographers
• On-campus promo
• Face-to-face networking
• Lecture shout-out speakers
• Campaign planning & strategy

This work is real, is serious and is meaningful. You will have tangible outputs to use in your portfolio and on your CV when applying for work in a tough jobs market for graduates.

If you’re interested in finding out more, you can:
Come along to our info & brainstorming session: Tuesday 1st November, 5.00pm – 6.00pm, in MB1019 (Main Building).
Or if you can’t make it, email Dan Derricott ( 3rd year student) : dderricott@lincoln.ac.uk

Unleash your inner creative – Student as Producer (PPT)

Student_Engagement_and_Promotion_Strategy

 

Student as Producer has been getting a lot of very positive coverage recently in The Guardian’s Higher Education Network website:

On the 22nd of September the website featured an article Mike Neary had written on Student as Producer: Reinventing the Undergraduate Curriculum.

On  the 11th of October  Student as Producer was the central item in an article about putting student engagement at the heart of higher education.

On the 18th of October 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.

In the meantime, Mike Neary and  Dan Derricott, last year’s Vice President for the Student’s Union at Lincoln, have been asked to be panel members for online group discussions about the future of Higher Education.

All of this shows very cleary the amount of interest there is around the sector for Student as Producer and the impact this project is having.

Student as Producer has been on tour in New York, 11 – 14th October, 2011. Mike Neary and Joss Winn spoke at several universities in Manhattan, including Baruch College – City University of New York (CUNY), the Adelphi University and the New School. Mike and Joss gave their talk at Baruch College ( CUNY) alongside Jim Groom, from Mary Washington University. Jim’s work shares similar objectives with Student as Producer. You can see photographs from the presentation here, as well as listen to an audio recording. The talk was well received. There is a great deal of interest among the academics and students who attended the presentations on Student as Producer.

The focus of the first year of the project has been on preparation for institutional change, with many activities aimed at raising awareness among staff and students. This includes informing new students coming to Lincoln for the academic year 2011 – 2012.

The key activities and outputs so far have been:

• Briefing sessions and workshops held with staff across the university in both academic and professional support departments
• Setting up of Fund for Educational Development projects to support curriculum re-design initiatives
• Setting up Undergraduate Research Opportunities Scheme projects to support student involvement in the research work of the University
• Development of a ‘user guide’ and identification of eight key features of Student as Producer
• Self-assessment tool completed by all programmes across the institution, identifying existing practices in line with the eight key features, and planned developments
• High profile project launch and development of project website
• one-day Festival of Teaching and Learning showcasing student-led activities across all departments
• Establish with colleagues and students from other universities the inaugural British Confernce for Undergradaute Resaerch, at UCLAN, and send nine students to present their research
• Establishment of student group: ‘Producers’ as key agents of change
• Promotional materials designed by students, for students, including video, business cards, etc
• Development of evaluation framework
• Keynote presentations given at a number of institutions (UCS, DMU, Newcastle, Galway)
• Conference presentations at HEA and ALDinHE conferences
• Published book chapters and peer-reviewed online journal article
• Article published in THE, April 2011 http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=415973

Key to achieving the intended outcomes of the project is the revision of Quality Assurance and Enhancement Processes in relation to programme approval, monitoring and review, in order to embed Student as Producer fully across the institution. Revised documentation is now in place, ready for implementation during year 2 of the project.

Standout events already planned for next academic year 2011 – 2012:

• Teaching and Learning Festival to take place in early March 2012, dates to be confirmed
• Student as Producer will play a leading role in the organisation of the British Conference for Undergraduate Research  (BCUR) to be held at University of Warwick in March 2012
• Student as Producer will host a national conference for student computer developers and programmers in collaboration with JISC  in November 2011
• Relaunch ‘Neo – a journal for student research’ at the graduate conference. This journal is an outlet for student work that is reviewed by academics. Students take key roles in the management of this journal
• Publish single authored volume:  ‘Student as Producer: How do Revolutionary Teachers Teach’ with Zero Books