Mechanisms for listening and responding to students need to offer space for diverse voices and meaningful dialogue for greater student-staff partnership. This study explores the beneficial impacts and challenges of using creative pedagogical methods to support rich dialogue for module evaluation. A variety of evaluation activities were embedded throughout a postgraduate module, using creative materials and metaphorical reflective questions. Whilst there are logistical and perceptive barriers to adopting creative approaches, this paper demonstrates the beneficial impacts on both students' and staffs' experiences of learning and teaching, and the culture of partnership it develops. Deeper reflection and evaluation from students enabled inclusive student-staff dialogue. More nuanced and richer feedback allowed staff a responsive approach to module design, empowering the students and cultivating trusting student-staff relationships. Supporting the transferability of this practice across non-arts disciplines, principles for using discipline-specific materials and metaphors, for triggering reflection and evaluation are proposed.
There is growing interest in understanding how international students can best be enabled to adjust to, participate in and learn within Higher Education (HE). This paper explores literature and examines findings from exploratory interviews in a UK institution in order to investigate the contribution the Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) scheme makes to this process.Interviews with international students were analysed using Lave and Wengerââ¬â¢s (1991) social-learning model, Communities of Practice (CoP), for exploring the role of PASS in supporting international studentsââ¬â¢ transition and learning in HE. Using themes of community, practice and participation, findings illuminated the role of PASS in providing international students with an intermediary CoP, providing transition support into the CoP on their course and university life. PASS facilitated their social integration with students of other nationalities, developing relationships with peers and PASS leaders, contributing to an increased sense of belonging to a community. Through the mutual engagement of attendees and leaders, students developed shared language, values and practices relating to their discipline and studying in UK HE. Established PASS leaders shared first year experiences with ââ¬Ënewcomerââ¬â¢ international students, supporting their transition into UK HE culture and enabling their legitimate peripheral participation to develop further. Participation in PASS fostered studentsââ¬â¢ engagement with learning activities and independent study habits. Limitations to the study and suggestions for further research are discussed.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.