Partnership setup

Positioning questions

• Are there already any student-staff engagement initiatives across the institution?
• How ready and motivated are students and staff to work and learn in partnership?
• How ready are institutional practices, policies and processes to support student-staff partnerships?

Top tips for developing your approach

• Areas to research include technology, policy and strategy, institutional processes and systems, infrastructure, support services, learning, teaching and assessment practice and expertise, professional skills development for staff and students (including digital literacy – the capabilities which fit someone for living, learning and working in a digital society), employers and apprenticeships, management information systems (MIS) and infrastructure, communications, stakeholder needs, views and expectations, other institutional initiatives, student employability skills and graduate attributes.
• Use baseline evaluation data to establish your starting point and inform planning at initiative and institutional levels
• Develop a set of impact indicators and measures of success to allow change and impact to be evaluated and measured
• Use both qualitative and quantitative approaches
• Use research and evaluation data from a range of sources, for example, student surveys, course reviews, learner voice feedback, data from research projects
• Use multimedia and technology-based approaches such as process maps, rich pictures, video interviews and social media as well as established research techniques

Additional guidance and resources

Our design studio contains the following resources relating to baselining and which have been developed as an output of previous e-learning work. Many of the links include example baseline reports as well as useful baselining tools and resources:

• Baselining digital literacy. This page brings together several resources for conducting a baseline review of digital literacy at an institutional level. See also examples of digital literacy baseline reports
• Digital literacy baseline framework for projects. This page outlines areas in which projects conducted baselining for digital literacy
• Baselining approaches and findings for assessment and feedback projects. This page presents approaches and findings from a series of projects that used qualitative and quantitative evidence from a range of stakeholders and information sources to provide a baseline review of assessment and feedback practice in their institutions
• Tools and resources for digital literacy baselining. A list of tools and resources that were used for baselining in relation to establishing digital literacy practices

Positioning questions

• Is there a clearly identified reason and purpose for student-staff partnership working?
• Which institutional policies and initiatives will benefit from student-staff partnerships?
• How can student-staff partnerships support the development of employability skills and graduate attributes?

Top tips for developing your approach

• Identify the drivers behind the need for partnership work for students, staff, the institution and other stakeholders such as employers
• Identify potential benefits and impact for students, staff, employers and the institution
• Map the potential benefits and impact to institutional strategies such as those relating to student experience
• Don’t be afraid to think big, but ensure there is buy-in to a clear vision
• Engage stakeholders from across the institution in establishing the case for student-staff partnerships
• Engage employers and professional/sector bodies
• Where possible, try to keep partnership voluntary and focus on recognition and rewards such as enhanced employability and potential accreditation
• Map the potential benefits and impact to policies, for example, graduate attributes, employability, digital literacy (the capabilities which fit someone for living, learning and working in a digital society), career planning, student experience, Management Information Systems (MIS), technology enhanced learning (TEL) etc
• Establish cross-institutional approaches to working collaboratively

Additional guidance and resources

The Higher Education Academy (HEA) commissioned research on student engagement in 2010 which was conducted by Professor Paul Trowler and Vicki Trowler and this led to the development of:

• An evidence summary (PDF, 784KB) including some useful key statements in the executive summary
• An international literature review (PDF, 472KB)
• A framework for action for institutional decision-makers (PDF, 196KB)
• A set of case studies (PDF, 1,240KB)

The value of student engagement as an important factor in educational gain was also highlighted by an HEA publication authored by Graham Gibbs, ‘dimensions of quality’.

The story of students as change agents at the University of Exeter: from slow beginnings to institutional initiative a blog post by Liz Dunne et al – this blog is useful to read both when you are at the start-up stage in student partnership work and also while you are focusing on embedding your initiative more widely across your institution and how the initiative can be sustained.

Positioning questions

• Have the pros and cons of different ways of motivating and rewarding students and staff been explored?
• How could recognition for partnership work support students in gaining employment and in developing their employability skills?
• How might a student-staff partnership initiative support and extend the work of other institutional departments such as careers and employability services?

Top tips for developing your approach

• Identify incentives for students, such as:
  • Payment – whether this is to be made, and if so, what type of payment
  • Improving job prospects
  • Developing personal, academic and professional skills
  • Working with employers
  • Apprenticeships
  • Academic and professional accreditation and recognition
• Consider the pros and cons of alternative ways of engaging students, for example:
  • Paid internships
  • Casual employees of the institution
  • Unpaid volunteers
  • Participants on an accredited module of study
  • Participants on a co-curricular programme which contributes to, for example, a graduate award, e-portfolio or Higher Education Achievement Report (HEAR) record of achievement or additional units of credit
  • Participants engaged in research projects as part of scholarly culture
• Work with partners to establish pathways for student and staff recognition (for example, professional institutions, HE/FE sector bodies) and aim to build on established accreditation frameworks and opportunities for certification
• Work with institutional employability and careers departments to join-up approaches and initiatives
• Ensure there is mutual benefit for both staff and students
• Provide regular opportunities to allow students to showcase their achievements, including with external audiences such as employers and professional bodies

Additional guidance and resources

Our design studio offers useful guidance in relation to motivation, reward and recognition for students and staff under the themes of student digital pioneers and developing digital pioneers.

Examples of how others have motivated, rewarded and recognised student and staff involvement in partnership work can be found in the case studies section. In particular, see case studies on:

• Oxford Brookes University e-Pioneers
• University of Bath – Bath award
• University of Greenwich graduate recruitment intelligence project
• The University of Nottingham students as change agents initiative

Positioning questions

• Have the skills and attributes for students been defined?
• Are traditional recruitment processes suitable for identifying students with the right skills and attributes?
• Have effective guidance and induction resources been developed to help potential participants decide whether they want to engage in partnership work?

Top tips for developing your approach

• Define the skills and attributes that you feel students will need to participate fully in student-staff partnership work, for example:
  • A broad skill set
  • A high degree of motivation
  • The ability to work independently and communicate with a broad range of stakeholders
  • The ability to work as a dynamic member of a team and to work across disciplines and academic years
• Set up and support an online social media forum to encourage student recruitment and networking
• Design recruitment processes to allow students to demonstrate their strengths and abilities, for example:
  • Effective working in diverse groups
  • Motivation to work on a student-staff partnership initiative
  • The ability to research and present new ideas in a clear way using a variety of digital tools
  • The ability to show initiative, creativity and working in a range of situations
• Develop contract and compliance documents covering topics such as data protection, health and safety, privacy, ethics, copyright, intellectual property rights (IPR) etc
• Develop clear briefing guides and resources to explicitly describe the why, what, how, when, where, who of the initiative, covering topics such as:
  • Needs and benefits
  • If payment is to be made, how and when this will be done
  • Activities
  • Roles and boundaries
  • What can be expected from staff and other support roles
  • Reward and recognition
  • Making use of digital tools
• Develop and run briefing sessions for students, building on the briefing guides and resources
• Instead of traditional recruitment techniques consider techniques such as:
  • A student produced video or web resource for a defined purpose
  • Participate in workshops where they have to engage with teams to carry out a range of activities (using digital tools)
• Consider branding student-led initiatives (for example, the University of Greenwich interdisciplinary research group)

Additional guidance and resources

Examples of how others have approached student recruitment and induction in partnership work can be found in the case studies section. Specific examples include:

• The University of Greenwich who developed a novel student recruitment process
• Oxford Brookes University’s e-Pioneer recruitment and briefing pack

Positioning questions

• Have a range of different student roles been considered?
• Have a broad range of opportunities for student-staff partnerships been identified?
• To what extent will student-staff partnerships support employability agendas and initiatives?

Top tips for developing your approach

• Identify at what level it is most appropriate to set up partnerships, eg institutional, faculty, programme area, curriculum team, cross-disciplinary
• Identify who should be involved, for example:
  • Academics, teaching staff and teaching instructors
  • Professional support staff
  • Students
  • Alumni
  • Prospective students
  • Employers and employer, sector and professional bodies
  • Local community
  • Internal and external experts
  • Mentors and assessors
• Review the various models of student-staff partnerships that different institutions have adopted and develop an appropriate model for the institutional and or local contexts appropriate to your needs – you may wish to prioritise some areas and phase in others over time
• Integrate with employability agendas and activities
• Develop an academic lead or champion at each local level
• Identify a broad range of opportunities for student-staff partnerships in educational innovation and change to focus on, for example:
  • Curriculum design and delivery
  • Assessment and feedback
  • Digital literacies
  • Library, learning resources and information services
  • Student experience, support and guidance
  • Digital resources
  • Staff development
  • Learning resources
  • Student records, administration, management and information systems
  • Institutional processes such as quality assurance and induction
  • Institutional polices
• Based on the defined partnership model, develop options for different student roles, for example student as researcher, resource creator, expert, mentor, change agent student as trainer (staff and peer trainer), evaluator, recruiter or advisor.

Additional guidance and resources

Examples of how others have explored and developed different student roles within partnership work can be found in the case studies section. In particular, see case studies on:

• The University of Exeter’s integrate project frameworkwhich identified four key student roles
• Oxford Brookes University’s InStePP project, which explored how roles varied according to the setting
• The different roles of students involved in partnership work at the University of Lincoln
• The University of Greenwich creation of a cross-university community of students engaged in research as part of their digital literacies in transitionproject
• The establishment of Student Fellows at the University of Winchester and Bath Spa University as part of their FASTECH project

‘Student as change agents: new ways of engaging with learning and teaching in higher education’. Elisabeth Dunne et al, University of Exeter

Positioning questions

• How can you make the development of a project plan a collaborative exercise?
• Have measures and indicators of impact been identified?
• Are there appropriate governance measures in place?

Top tips for developing your approach

• Develop an outline project plan for setting up and implementing student-staff partnerships
• Use the practice points from this guide as a check-list for the project plan
• Adopt an agile and flexible approach to project planning. This will allow the initiative to adapt to problems, emerging opportunities and changing contexts
• Ensure that the project plan has clear overall aims and objectives as well as defining outputs and outcomes – particularly potential impact on institutions, the sector and individuals
• Aim to develop indicators of impact, though this might need to wait until a baseline position has been established
• Ensure the plan is developed in partnership with representatives of all key stakeholder groups
• Put a strong focus on stakeholder communications and engagement – both formal and informal – and use social media to underpin this
• Develop appropriate governance structures including the formation of a steering group that represents a broad cross-section of roles and interests (including external representatives)

Additional guidance and resources

Guide to project management.

From our blog – listen, understand, act: social media for engagement

Positioning questions

• Have experiences and lessons learnt from other student-staff partnership initiatives been researched and contextualised or related to your own situation?
• How have these experiences and lessons learnt been shared with all stakeholders?

Top tips for developing your approach

• There have been many student-staff partnership and engagement initiatives undertaken by institutions and much can be learnt from their experiences. It is worthwhile taking the time to learn from these
• Identify likely issues and challenges and how other institutions and partnership initiatives have addressed and managed them
• Look for existing partnerships in your own institution – these are not always visible
• Use the lessons learnt to inform the development of your own principles of good practice in student-staff partnerships
• Ensure you share the lessons learnt from the exemplars (examples or models) and case studies with all those involved in setting up and implementing student-staff partnerships by facilitating discussion on how any lessons can be used in the development of your own initiative
• Maintain a shared online resource of links to exemplars and case studies

Additional guidance and resources

Examples of student engagement/partnership initiatives can be found on the case studies section and also on partner agency sites such as the Higher Education Academy (HEA), National Union of Students (NUS) and The Student Engagement Partnership (TSEP). See other agency initiatives and useful links.

Student engagement: identity, motivation and community – book by Claus Nygaard, Stuart Brand, Paul Bartholomew, Luke Millard, Libri Publishing, ISBN 978 1 907471 65 0

Building student engagement and belonging in Higher Education at a time of change: a summary of findings and recommendations from the What Works? Student retention and success programme, HEA, HEFCE, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Action on Access (2010)).