Student and staff insight scheme handbook 2013 14

Student &

Staff Insight

Scheme

Guidance to participating staff and students and notebook

Student & Staff Insight Scheme: Guidance to participating staff and students

Handy Information

I am paired with _______________________________________________________________

Job / Course _______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

Email Address _______________________________________________________________

Phone number _______________________________________________________________

Manager’s PA _______________________________________________________________

PA’s email address _______________________________________________________________

Help & Support

Dan Derricott, Student Engagement Officer

Vice-Chancellor’s Office (2nd Floor, Main Admin Building)

[email protected] | 01522 88 6275


INTRODUCTION

The Student and Staff Insight Scheme is part of the University’s

wider commitment to engaging students as partners and

producers at all levels of decision making. It is a scheme which

complements the information University senior managers

receive through student representatives and student surveys by

giving an insight into what it’s actually like for students to study

at Lincoln.

It’s also a fantastic opportunity for students to become familiar with how the

University works and to gain a first-hand insight into a career as a senior manager,

something which will no doubt be invaluable in their own career. Students will have

the opportunity to contribute through this scheme towards making the University

and the experience of all students the best it can be. The scheme broadly consists of

pairing each member of the University’s Executive Board with a student and

undertaking two types of activity during the academic year. First you will shadow

each other for a day to immerse yourselves in either the student or the staff

experience. This allows for a mutual understanding of your partner’s role to be

formed quickly and for subsequent discussions to be contextualised.

Second, you will meet each month throughout the cycle to discuss the student

experience at Lincoln in the context of the member of staff’s area of responsibility, for

example, a student paired with the Director of ICT would likely focus on students’

experience of ICT systems and infrastructure. This provides the member of staff with

an opportunity to sound out new ideas and to see the impact of the decisions. It

provides the student with the chance to understand what goes into creating a great

student experience and how managers cope with the pressures of competing

demands.

We are currently in a pilot stage as we seek to understand how to best implement the

scheme for all members of Executive Board. We hope that this guidance and space to

reflect will be a helpful tool to guide the experience, but just like the wider project we

are piloting the guidance so please do share your feedback on it.

For questions & support please contact Dan Derricott, Student

Engagement Officer in the Vice-Chancellor’s Office:

[email protected] or 01522 88 6275

Our work is informed by existing good practice in the sector, particularly that of

the LFHE funded project at the University of Exeter and University of Bath

(http://bit.ly/1cIR8Yz).

mailto:[email protected]

http://bit.ly/1cIR8Yz


notes…

dates for shadowing the manager ______________________________________

time & meeting point ______________________________________

dates for shadowing the student ______________________________________

time & meeting point ______________________________________


SHADOWING

Each partnership should begin with reciprocal shadowing days

to enable both staff and students to gain an insight into each

other’s daily working lives from the beginning. This is intended

to help foster the relationship quickly before allowing it to

mature in the following months.

By engaging directly in the student experience, staff will be able to better relate to

and contextualise discussions with their student partner in their monthly meetings.

Similarly, by engaging in the work of the manager, students will be able to

contextualise how their discussions and comments might impact upon decision

making within the University.

To make the shadowing experience successful, the following guidance is provided:

The Student should shadow the Manager for one day and vice-versa. This can be

whole days or split into half days if likely to be more fruitful. This may include

alternate half days (for example: half a day shadowing the manager, half a day

shadowing the student, half a day shadowing the manager, half a day shadowing

the student);

Once the date is confirmed for the day the manager will shadow the student, the

student should inform the Student Engagement Officer in the Vice-Chancellor’s

Office (Dan Derricott, [email protected]) of the date and which teaching

sessions that involves. The Student Engagement Officer will contact the lecturer /

tutor and check they are happy for a University manager to sit on their teaching;

Both parties should maintain confidentiality of anything they may be told by their

shadowing partner informally or of anything mentioned informally by people they

meet during the shadowing experience;

You may want to agree on the use of smart phones or keeping up with email (for

example, when shadowing the student the manager should avoid interrupting the

experience on a regular basis to take phone calls; or when shadowing the

manager);

Note-taking of the experience should be by written log. The use of video or audio

devices (including smart phones) for recording purposes must be explicitly agreed

between both parties beforehand;

Aim for your shadowing partner to experience a realistic slice of your life as a

student/manager – try to avoid arranging tailored meetings, lengthy tours or

other ‘contrived’ experiences;

At the introductory meeting both parties should consider this guidance and agree

on ‘ground rules’ for the shadowing experience;

Clarify in advance if either party has a particular interest in part of the other’s

experience - this could feature in the shadowing day / half days;

The feedback log should be updated after the shadowing experience to reflect on

the outcomes of the shadowing experience;

You should keep in mind the important role of the Personal Assistants who are

likely to coordinate the scheduling of the days and meetings the student attends.



notes…

first meeting date, time & location ______________________________________


MONTHLY MEETINGS

The primary purpose of this programme is to help staff

contextualise the impact of their decisions on the day-to-day

student experience and to expose students to the working lives

of senior professionals to aid their own career progression.

Regular monthly meetings between the student and member of

staff will facilitate this and should be used to their full potential

by both parties. To help this, the following guidance is provided:

Meetings should take place at least once per month and should usually last

between 60 and 90 minutes;

Try to avoid cancelling or moving meetings where possible;

You could try to hold at least every other meeting in a ‘public space’ – here are

some ideas:

o The Atrium

o Café Zing in LPAC

o Book & Latte Café in the Business &

Law Building

o The Enterprise Building Café

o The Architecture Building Foyer

o The Hub

o The Tower Bar

o The Shed

o The Graduate School Academic

Commons

o The Library’s Ground Floor

o Business & Law Learning Lounges

The mentoring relationship is based on trust and confidentiality. It would be

perfectly reasonable for the member of staff to use the outcomes of discussion to

follow up on something or seek clarification, but this should only be with

agreement from the student. Similarly, the student should maintain absolute

confidentiality unless otherwise agreed in advance.

Both parties should recognise that the views presented are likely to be those of an

individual student and may not necessarily be representative of the broader

student body. Whilst bringing a lot of value to the member of staff’s thinking and

decision making, the discussions should always be considered alongside other

forms of student feedback in the student engagement framework.

At the introductory meeting both parties should consider this guidance and agree

on ‘ground rules’ for the mentoring relationship


notes…


AGREEING GROUND RULES

For a mentoring relationship to be successful it should be built

on clear, mutually agreed ground rules. To help achieve this in a

consistent way, the following template agreement is provided.

Throughout the year, both parties should consider:

Focusing on understanding the real-life student experience at the University and

how the decisions of management impacts on that experience;

Maintaining trust and confidentiality. It would be perfectly reasonable for the

manager to use the outcomes of discussion to follow up on something or seek

clarification but this should only be with agreement from the student. Similarly

the student should maintain absolute confidentiality unless otherwise agreed in

advance.

Similarly, both parties should maintain confidentiality of anything they may be

told by their shadowing partner informally or of anything mentioned informally

by people they meet during the shadowing experience

Throughout the year, managers should consider:

Making students feel comfortable, perhaps by meeting in an open space

Allocating appropriate time in the diary to focus on the task / scheme

Being flexible where possible as students will need to arrange meetings around

their timetables, part-time work and other commitment

Taking the opportunity to meet in a student space to embrace the wider

experience of students

Throughout the year, students should consider:

Always attending appointments on time when booked and generally appreciating

the demands on managers’ diaries. Where changes are needed, please contact

the manager’s PA as soon as possible.

Suggesting places to meet on campus. PAs will be happy to schedule meetings in

places where you normally meet, e.g. for group work or meetings with tutors.

The student: ___________________________________________________

The manager: ___________________________________________________

Date: ___________________________________________________


notes…


TOP TIPS ON DISCUSSION TOPICS

This is an opportunity for both staff and students to learn a great

deal from each other based around your interests. You will no

doubt have a long list of things you’re keen to explore, but just

in case you need some inspiration here are some suggestions.

You may also want to pick a few things to talk about through the

year and see how perceptions / answers change.

At the introductions event:

Introduce yourself, your background and your role / course

Understand what you each hope to get out of the scheme

Get to know how the University works and how the manager’s department fits into that

and how the student’s school fits in

During the shadowing days:

Reasons for studying / working at

Lincoln

Facilities and study / group work spaces

on campus and online

Relevance of the course for the

student’s career ambitions

Opportunities for personal development

What makes the Lincoln experience

unique and how can we build on that?

The manager’s role and priorities

How students currently inform and

shape the manager’s work

How can the department promote the

great work they do to students?

During the monthly meetings:

What makes you (both staff & student) proud to be associated with the University of

Lincoln? What do you wish we were better at?

Future career aspirations of the student

o What kind of opportunities are available within the University and local

community to help gain experience / develop skills o Are there are colleagues in the University that might be able to offer support or

expertise in this area? o How is your course preparing you for this?

Explore the purpose / function of the manager’s department / portfolio and understand

their impact on the student experience. What key decisions are made that impact on the

day-to-day lives of students? How can students be more involved in informing & shaping

the outcomes of those decisions?

What are the department’s key objectives this year? What’s the current experience of the

student in those areas? How can these be best achieved from the students’ point of view?

Topics from the University’s strategic plan – how are we doing? o ‘To continuously improve our learning environment based on a personal engagement

with all students, with high quality research-engaged teaching and learning where

students create and develop new knowledge in collaboration with their lecturers’? o To help students develop into highly engaged, employable and creative-thinking

graduates who contribute to the development of the society and economy o Improving the virtual learning environment (VLE)

The percentage of modules where paper based assessments are submitted

electronically - the percentage of paper based, traditional format assignments

submitted electronically through the VLE.

The percentage of modules incorporating on-line interactive content and

activities - the percentage of students engaged in continuous and creative

interactivity including student use of wikis, blogs and discussion boards and

excludes for example student use of on-line tests.


notes…


REFLECTING AND FEEDING BACK

Before the process begins you should think about what you

would like to get from it. You can then use this as a base point

to reflect on whether the scheme has been beneficial for you.

You might also want to think about some of the points below as

you go through the scheme to help evaluate it at the end.

In addition to the introductory event and the final evaluation in April, we will check in

with you a couple of times during the year to make sure everything is going to plan

and to offer support where it is needed. If you need anything in between these times

please contact Dan Derricott in the Vice-Chancellor’s Office: [email protected]

/ 01522 88 6275

Students

You may wish to consider:

What did you learn from the process?

What do you think you gained from the process?

Did it change your perception of the management of the University?

Has it changed how you might get involved University life in the future?

What do you think are the benefits of shadowing?

Would you recommend the University continue this scheme?

Staff

You may wish to consider:

What did you learn from the process?

What do you think you gained from the process?

Did it change your perception of students’ experiences of Lincoln?

Has it changed how you might work with students in the future?

What do you think are the benefits of shadowing?

Would you recommend the University continue this scheme?



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Student and staff insight scheme handbook 2013 14

Documents

Transcript of Student and staff insight scheme handbook 2013 14