Presentation Transcript

1. Enhancing the student experience workshops November 2011Liverpool John Moores University

   Sally Brown Emeritus Professor, Leeds Metropolitan University, Adjunct Professor: University of Sunshine Coast, Central Queensland and James Cook University Visiting Professor, Plymouth University
2. Introductory task Things would be much better: for me, for students, for LJMU …… if only………?
3. The national picture A cold wind blowing: tougher times than ever before in HE. Financial instability: substantial cuts (including in year) and huge uncertainty about university finances. Capricious staffing decisions as HEIs manage cuts. Long-term and even short-term planning nigh on impossible. International student visa restrictions. Intense international competition.
4. Issues that impact on the context Unmodelled student fees structure for 2012, with confusion re fee levels / numbers; Increasing importance of National Student Survey, various league tables and Key Information Sets on perceptions of quality and student recruitment; But “Education is a post-experience good”; New roles for students in quality assurance and enhancement; Uncertainties (cynicism) about the genuineness of WP and fair access.
5. LJMU The strategic plan October 2011 Period until 2017 the most dynamic & challenging in history of HE. Innovation, agility and flexibility needed for success; £9k fee level fixed and OFFA agreement accepted (but we don’t know the likely impact); Increasing competition on price from FE and private sectors; impact unknown but likely to be differentiated; LJMU must work towards favourable REF in 2014, while keeping focus on student experience.
6. Key messages Student recruitment, development and support; Learning, teaching and assessment; Research and scholarship; Commercial and international development; Excellence in delivery. Should we be doing these things? What else should we be doing? How do we measure success in these areas? What do you think is the purpose of a 21st Century university?
7. Student recruitment, development and support LJMU OFFA Access agreement – commitment to widening access, balancing this and admission standards; Enhancing the overall student experience; Employability, WOW, employer partnerships and graduate salaries.
8. Learning, teaching & assessment Student success in terms of employability and ‘good honours’; A curriculum that is challenging, current and informed by research and scholarship and the world of work; A high standard of teaching with innovation and enhancement in teaching methods, learner support and assessment; The programme of study as the primary ‘product’ with which each student identifies; Market responsive programmes, so more frequent changes in our programme portfolio.
9. Research and scholarship; A continuing focus on supporting areas of world-leading an d international research standing, whilst encouraging the development of those areas of high national potential; A positive REF outcome in 2014 and continued success in research beyond this (grants, publications etc); A clearer definition of scholarship in all aspects of academic delivery (teaching& assessment process, the curriculum, employability agenda and commercial capabilities). This will be an essential differentiator in relation to Private and FE-delivered degree programmes.
10. Commercial and international development It must enhance LJMU’s corporate reputation; It should generate high value business income for the University in ways that complement, promote and support our core academic strengths, at home and internationally; It can bring an international dimension to the work of the university; It can promote staff engagement with the business world which is critical to the success and credibility of employability/ world of work initiatives.
11. Excellence in delivery Balanced budgets and financial stability in an increasingly competitive market; including responsibility as a major employer in the city and economic driver for the region; Adding value for students, employers, and research and commercial clients; contribution to society; Improving business processes and monitoring performance; Recruiting, developing and supporting employees; Corporate governance, ethical standards and environmental sustainability.
12. Behaving strategically to enact change Its easy to set off initiatives, but less easy to deliver them; Effective change agents recognise the need to be clear about what really matters now, and what can wait a while; Sometimes, a few easy hits can be incredibly good for morale; The heavier tasks need forward thinking and action planning.
13. Theories on making change happen in universities “Too often new approaches are introduced by executive fiat or though a centralist management strategy, or, at worst through ad hoc and hurried planning interventions in response to years of benign neglect. It seems a rarity indeed for academics to genuinely feel that they are part of a meaningful, participatory decision-making process that values their experience or even their instinct for seeing potential pitfalls.” (Lueddeke, 1999 p236)
14. Whose values? “It is a very wrong-headed notion, too, one that is, ironically in an ‘age of empowerment’ and ’flatter organisations’, not only deeply disempowering, (in that it implies the way to empowerment can only be achieved by recourse to hierarchical authority), but also, even more importantly, that overlooks the crucial fact that values are only values if they are chosen voluntarily and as such cannot be imposed from the top. Thus initiatives that are solely top down are at best likely to evoke compliance with change rather than a genuine commitment to it.” (McCaffery, 2004 p237)
15. Who is pushing the change? “The more strategy in this area comes to be received as being prepared to meet external requirements, the less it will gain the acceptance necessary for implementation” (Newton, p.439)
16. The necessity of trust “Little progress is likely within the current external quality monitoring regime unless there is a radical shift to an integrated process of trust that prioritises improvement of learning” (Harvey, 2005, p.274). “A fundamental factor in reshaping culture is how well the senior management consistently model good practice” (Scott, 2004, p5).
17. The need to bring staff with you “Staff will not engage in a change effort and the learning that goes with it unless they can personally see that doing so is relevant, desirable, clear, distinctive and importantly feasible. Being appropriately involved in shaping an agreed change project and being clear on what is envisaged are also powerful motivators. Right from the outset, staff affected by each change will be weighing up the benefits of engaging and persevering with it against the costs. This is a process that carries on over the whole life cycle of every change effort” (Scott, 2004 p4).
18. What tools do you have in your toolkit to enact change? Support from on high; An evidence base of what works well to improve the student experience; Strong contextual understanding; Practising (and modelling)what you preach; Training and mentoring new staff; The power of personal persuasion.
19. Working with ‘difficult’ people Many are currently feeling very defensive, and conflict often has safeguarding the student experience at its heart; The university has a duty of care for its staff to protect them from excessive stress; Managing change requires sensitivity and tact; Not all demands are reasonable; Helping people understand the purposes and importance of a proposed change can be invaluable.
20. What does research tell us about ALT? (a personal selection) Attendance matters but student engagement is even more important; Meaningful and focussed induction activities are essential; Deep engagement at the start of a programmes enhances retention and achievement; Good assessment is crucial and prompt and developmental feedback/ feed-forward are the key loci of promoting learning (assessment for not just of learning);
21. And also Peer support and peer engagement can enhance student success; International students do best when they are well-advised, have opportunities to engage with home students and can access help when needed; Students expect technology enhanced learning opportunities but also value highly the personal touch of interaction; Students who become expert on the subject of their own learning (‘meta-learners’) are better disposed to success.
22. Why should we deeply engage with ALT issues? For post-92 universities it remains the biggest game in town; Many working in HEIs like this came into the job because of the teaching element; The student experience is recognised by senior managers as crucially important; For many, activity in and research about ALT issues can be an important focus for their personal scholarship; It’s such good fun!
23. Working together: purposes and processes Making time and space for working together; Addressing areas of divergence while recognising and working on common issues; Having clear shared goals and meaningful common ambitions; Not everyone has to do the same thing at the same time, but we will normally all cover the big issues over time; Key task is to prioritise action over short, medium and longer term.
24. What do we need to do, here, now, with whom, to what effect? Working through transitions Living with uncertainty Learning from NSS
25. Faculty L&T enhancement plans Brief summary of 2011-12 enhancement activities; 3-5 Priority areas for enhancement to include: Aim/objective Background/rationale Action Led by Timescale Support /resources needed Impact measured by?
26. References on change management Brown, S. (2011) Bringing about positive change in the higher education student experience: a case study, Quality Assurance in Education, Volume 19 No 3 p195-207. Brown, S. with Denton, S, ‘Leading the university beyond Bureaucracy’ in Denton, S and Brown, S. (eds) (2009) Beyond bureaucracy: managing the university year, London, Routledge Cuthbert, R. (2002) Constructive Alignment in the world of institutional management, presentation at the Imaginative Curriculum symposium, York ,Higher Education Academy http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/detail/resource_database/id170_constructive_alignment_in_the_world accessed April 2012 Debowski, S., Stefani, L., Cohen, M. and Ho, A. (2011) ‘Sustaining and championing teaching and learning in good times or bad’ in Groccia, J., Alsudairi, M. and Bukist, B. (eds) A handbook of College and University Teaching; global perspectives, Sage Publications Harvey, L. (2005) "A history and critique of quality evaluation in the UK", Quality Assurance in Education, Vol. 13 Issue: 4, pp.263 - 276
27. References 2 Holt, D. Palmer, S. and Challis, D. (2011) Changing perspectives:Teaching and Learning centres’ strategic contributions to academic development in Australian Higher Education, International Journal for Academic Development Vol 16 No 1 March 2011 p5-17 Routledge Abingdon Iszatt-White, M. Randall, D. Rouncefield M and Graham C (2011) Leadership in Post-Compulsory Education Continuum Press London and New York Henkel, M. (2000) Academic identities and policy change in higher education Higher Education Policy 46.Jessica Kingsley, London Kezar, A. and Eckel, P. (2002) The Effect of Institutional Culture on Change Strategies in Higher Education: Universal Principles or Culturally Responsive Concepts? The Journal of Higher Education, Vol. 73, No. 4 p 435-460 Lueddeke, G (1999) Toward a Constructivist Framework for Guiding Change and Innovation in Higher Education , The Journal of Higher Education, Vol. 70, No. 3 (May - Jun., 1999) (pp. 235-260) Marshall, P. and Massy, W. (2010) ‘Managing in turbulent times’ in Forum for the Future of Higher Education, papers from the 2009 Aspen symposium Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge USA McCafffery, P. (2004) The Higher Education Manager’s handbook: effective leadership and management in universities and colleges Abingdon Routledge Falmer
28. References 3 Newton, J. (2003) ‘Implementing an Institution-wide Learning and Teaching Strategy: Lessons in Managing Change’ Studies in Higher Education Vol 28 No 4 Quinn, R. E. (1995) Becoming a Master Manager: a competency framework 2nd Edition John Wiley and Sons, London. Robertson, C., Robins, A. and Cox, R. (2009) ‘Co-constructing an academic community ethos- challenging culture and managing change in higher education: a case study undertaken over two years’ in Management in EducationVol 23 Issue 1 Sage London Scott, P. (2004) Change matters: making a difference in Higher Education, keynote given at the European Universities Association Leadership Forum in Dublin http://www.uws.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/6892/AUQF_04_Paper_Scott.pdf (Accessed April 2011) Trowler, P. (1998) Academics Responding to Change. New Higher Education Frameworks and Academic Cultures . SRHE, Open University Watson, D. (2010) Epilogue in Kubler, J. and Sayers, N. (2010) Higher education Futures: Key themes and implications for leadership and management Learning Foundation for Higher education Series 2 Publication 4.1 London