Dear Eloise
It does rather important to create more than a sense of student ownership of this, so at the very least of partnership. I wonder if the Student Learning & Teaching Network might be involved somehow? I have copied in one of their lead organisers...They have a Ning site which they use to draw in the students and network etc.
On a similar note students set up a collaborative network for peer mentors in the 5 NE universities. Admittedly it has a slow start because it takes a while to:
A - gain a critical mass of (active) members
B - be perceived as useful so thus people both join and participate...
One thing I do note when it comes to student participation in such 'community projects' that it seems rather important to use media which is easily accessible on smartphones.
all best
Colin
Colin Bryson
Director of the Combined Honours Centre
Level G Daysh Building
Newcastle University
http://raise-network.ning.com/
0191 222 6389
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From: learning development in higher education network [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Eloise Sentito [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 09 August 2012 17:27
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: 'Talking of learning...' a student Jiscmail?
Dear all,
I find our Jiscmail so valuable that I'd like to set one up for students. Having discussed it with my colleagues, read the Jiscmail smallprint and approached my institution's online and social media policy advisor, I would like to test out my ideas on you if I may.
I work for a central academic skills study support team (to use problematic language for the sake of ease, ironically). I would like to set up a Jiscmail list as an informal, safe-but-challenging(!) space for students to talk about learning and study in order to conscientise processes and feel part of a community in which they can exchange ideas and support. This apparently simple project could I think be fraught with pitfalls! I'm really interested in online peer support for writing, and would hope that this could play a part in facilitating that. A Jiscmail is just one of the media I'm considering for it, and is I think the simplest and easiest which I hope should allow for emergence and self-organisation (as well as potential chaos and complexity!). Key questions that arise thus far are:
1. What would its focus be? (I'm thinking if calling it either 'Talking of learning...' or 'Talking of writing...')
2. Who would the target group be? (I'm thinking all students at my institution as per our other face to face and online services and resources, to be invited ideally as soon as a place has been secured so as to aid transition by starting community-building straight away; there could of course be a case for doing this at programme, school or discipline level, and/or for spreading it nationally and further...)
3. As a discussion list especially for students, how appropriate/valuable would it be to open it to staff too? (All can benefit for their learning and teaching, and segregation might have more disadvantages than advantages.)
4. How would it get going? (Apart from inviting people to sign up, I expect I'd need to post to begin discussions until people got confident; perhaps I'd post study resources, guidelines, links, news, events, and/or 'teaser' questions, e.g. 'what's the difference between opinion and critical analysis in academic writing?')
5. How could this endeavour nurture existing good practice (e.g. students supporting each other, engagement with assessment criteria and feedback), inform best practice (e.g. by promoting development of writing by offering opportunities for people to explore and develop analytic, proofreading and other skills) and avoid supporting poor practice (e.g. collusion, plagiarism etc.)?
6. To what extent is the listowner/team/institution responsible for members' posts and their impacts on other subscribers, and what precautions should be taken? (Tailored guidelines can obviously be sent out to new subscribers, and perhaps posted as and when a need arises.)
7. How can students be supported to feel a sense of ownership and responsibility for, plus engagement in, such a staff initiative?
So the biggest tensions seem to be on the intervention/direction-caretaking-light touch continuum.
I realise that 'try it and see' might be the only answer to some of these for some people. I would welcome relevant and constructive thoughts, experiences and research pointers from you all. I know of projects like SWORD but could not find anything similar on Jisc's list of lists. Does anyone know anything else like it?
Thanks in advance.
Eloïse
Eloïse Sentito
Learning Development with Plymouth University
www.learningdevelopment.plymouth.ac.uk
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