A Day In The Life Of An Agent of Change

A day in the life of a Change AgentUndergraduate Teaching AssistantUniversity of ExeterBusiness School September 2011-January 2012

1Involving undergraduates in the design, delivery and evaluation of classroom based learning enhances student ownership of the learning environment and stimulates peer interest in the transformative possibilities of education.

Good morning ladies and gentlemen, my name is Chris Harper and I am here to talk to you today about my experience as an undergraduate teaching assistant, working here at Exeter University in the Business School alongside Jenny Wren module leader for Theory & Practice of Management. 1Contents 2Behind me is the contents of what I would like to discuss today, if I had more time. However, today I am going to give you a short taste of my work, focusing on just a few of these points.

But before I begin, I feel it is important to reassure you that all of my highlighted conclusions and recommendations can be applied in different ways across all colleges. The business school may be different in terms of having access to technology and numbers of students but solutions can be tailored to aid your departments. 2UGTA Contractual Aims3I begin with my contractual aims. These points formed the core principles of my contract and the focus of my research of which some selective results I shall share with you today. 3Undergraduate Teaching PositionIntroduction

4The Undergraduate Teaching Assistant post was an opportunistic, new and innovative idea aiding Jenny Wren, a teaching fellow in the Business.My understanding is that this type of position is most unusual in a University setting in the UK, making this experience fairly unique. However, the UGTA role is being successfully explored in the US University settings. Overall role builds on the innovation in motion at the Business School and the University. Exeter is one of the UKs leading educational institutions with regards to working in partnership with intrapreneurial, collaborative capable students as individual Change Agents on project based challenges when the opportunity arises.

4UGTA Why the Role Interested Me?

5But why did the role interest me? Curiosity and interest is an underlying factor. As a student both at my previous educational institution and here at Exeter, I was very interested in the teaching process and the preparation of content, as demonstrated by my writing of a series of GCSE to A-level textbooks. Thus I have constantly thought how I, as a student could contribute to, influence and enhance the learning process, making it more specifically tailored with a student orientated perspective. The UGTA role has allowed me to do just this and engender the innovative idea of re-personalisation of teaching within the mass educational system.

With the background aside I shall now move onto some of the findings from my investigation.

56Digital Literacy

Those of digital literacy are particularly important. I think with each increasingly technology savvy and digital generation of students, (each usually superseding the previous years), that it would be beneficial to have a digital literacy assessment. This digital literacy test would highlight the levels of technology and usage that each student has been exposed to and could help ensure that the computing provision at the University keeps up with the first years tech savvy demands and needs.

Moreover, not everybody arrives here with their technological skills being on a level playing field, and this can put many students at a distinct disadvantage. This too could increase alienation effects for less tech savvy students who are shy or unsure of how to use software compared to peers.

Thus with a digital literacy assessment we could maintain progression with students and the use of technologies. Thereafter we could build upon these technologies bringing aspects into the classroom stimulating engagement and interaction, making a dehumanised process more friendly again. However, the main aim would be to link the assessment scores to the individual and develop the skills they struggle in through the BSD1000, re-personalising the University experience.

67Digital LiteracyTest

The screenshot behind me being an example to be used in Theory & Practice of Management this coming academic year, using clickers to give instant feedback and aid feed-forward processes.78Technology Learning Champions

Technology can be thought of in two ways: as a set of tools that amplify or extend what we currently do, or as something with the potential to radically change what we do or how we do it. Videoing tutorials an innovative idea in itself is just as described and has numerous advantages: revisit, review, reflect and aids feedback and feed-forward.

Overall videoing tutorials has led to positive student feedback as they are enthusiastic about the introduction of technology in sessions to enhance the learning process. Videoing tutorials inspired active collaboration and instilled student engagement, whilst re-personalising the teaching process, as students now were part of the structural frame of learning e.g. uploading to YouTube and filming presentations. 89Technology Learning Champions Turning Point is interactive software where through the use of clickers students can participate and gain feedback in real time, plus also gain comparison to their peers. This software has great potential therefore to enhance the learning process, allowing interaction and engagement with the subject rather than simply sitting and listening.

The creation and installation of a participant list a feature of turning point meant that Jenny and I could track many variables such as attendance and scores in the background. Subsequently through this innovative solution we brought back personalisation into a mass teaching system. With students seeking more structure and feedback in their learning, having come from schools with lots of guidance, this can be considered the first step in this process, all be it behind the scenes.

910Use of Electronic Resources

1011Use of Electronic Resources

12Reviewing current use of Electronic Materials

Students still utilise and rely on ELE to access lecture notes and other important documents. However the landscape and expectations falling upon the University from students has changed.

Last year it seemed that the students were far more technology savvy and expectant of using electronic resources. ELE was therefore openly embraced and used by these students as it satisfied their needs. This year on the other hand, students although tech savvy appear to have become far more demanding and critical of the ELE system and lecture notes. Many have commented on the lack of robustness of the platform and being therefore unable to access their notes. Moreover, though the students enrolled are not subject to 9000 fees, it looks to have given them the ideological mind-set that they expect more from the university as a given right. When asked if lecture notes should be provided in printed form 2/3s of students said yes! We used this feedback and provided lecture notes, just one way of re-personalising their learning experience. 1213Reviewing current use of Electronic Materials

Based on these expectations and students seeking introduction of more technology in the learning process I conducted a study using the Economic departments online resource MyEconLab to see if further electronic resources would be beneficial in different areas of teaching. One example to highlight is1314Reviewing Current Use of Electronic MaterialsStudents expectations are evolving year upon year and also appear more savvy/confident in utilising technology.

General consensus is positive - tailoring the online resource and student engagement in decision making on how technology can be adopted is crucial.

Brings re-personalisation back into education system.

Whether students would like to see a similar resource to MyEconLab used on other core modules. As you can see the consensus is positive and the majority of students would like extra electronic resources to aid the learning process. However, as depicted here this is only acceptable if students can become part of the process of development and tailor the resource to suit the majority of their needs, thus stimulating engagement and participation, but most of all reasserting personalisation, structure and feedback/feed-forward into the University teaching/learning environment. 1415RecommendationsImproved structure around course learningTeaching structure needs to be made more transparent and easily understood by students

Briefs and tasks need to be clearer to allow equal opportunity.

2. Increased digital technology usage/interactive use in teaching deliveryStaff given specialised training to maximise teaching qualityRe-focuses students and personalises experienceEncourages interaction

3. Introduction of a digital literacy test each year for arriving studentsGauge students levels of competence utilising technology.Undertake OCR or Clicker Assessment during Welcome Week.Unique result providing a re-personalised approach in University.

Improved and more timely feedback and feed-forward for students

Extra financial investment to investigate ICT system robustness & contingencies + compulsory training and annual updates on how to successfully utilise technologies.So to conclude my presentation are my recommendations, based upon my conclusions. Transparency in teaching structure is important as is addressing expectations of keeping up and utilising technology in the learning process.

Students too are seeking increased use of technology with higher degrees of interaction and engagement in the teaching environment. Lecturers being the frontline, therefore need help and persuading to utilise this further.

However, as I have mentioned everyone has differing levels of technological experience thus a simple assessment to re-personalise the experience and provide feedback and suggested feed-forward actions are one route forward.

1516Key Themes CoveredSo I hope you picked up on the key themes throughout that are listed behind me. Engagement and interaction, re-personalisation and feedback/feede-forward are important factors which will aid the University to enhance the student centric learning process in the future. Moreover having broken into the top ten in the Guardians University rankings, lets progress together and build on these foundations and reach Sir Steve Smiths vision of making Exeter a renounced a world class academic setting. 1617Thank you for listening!Since we only had a short time today if you are interested and like further information or would prefer to see my full report, please ask and I will send you an electronic PDF copy.

My email address is: ch406@ex.ac.uk

Any Questions? Just ask!Thank you for listening. 17