This poster presentation
outlines the experience of developing and delivering a week of activities
entitled: ‘OUR UCLan: Making a Difference Together’ in February 2013. The
approach taken was that of working with ‘students as partners’ and was aligned
with current behavioural research and business ideas that aim to influence
behaviour through making things “fun to do”.[1]
The work of academics such as Pieter Desmet[2]
shows that evoking an emotional response to motivate engagement through
enjoyment or delight is very effective, as well as being commercially
viable. Education and creativity expert
Sir Ken Robinson suggests that the instigation of this type of change in Higher
Education, which is often perceived as being traditional, is always going to be
a challenge[3]. However,
this project offers a positive step in this direction. The focus of the week
was on:
·
Building on existing good practice and what
works in relation to student engagement, rather than the giving and receiving
of negative feedback.
·
Students having a good time whilst engaging in
working with UCLan, and building a sense of pride and commitment to the
institution.
·
Bringing together a large and diverse group of
people to facilitate the students in giving their input and making them central
to the process.
In line with the aims of the recent HEA “Students as Partners Change
Programme”[4],
students were invited to be part of the Project team and were included in all
stages of development and delivery. The project was designed to act as a
‘pilot’ with a view to expansion in the future. Activities included: Video
diary booth; OUR UCLan Roadshow with Career Cloud/Comment/Twitter walls; ‘An
Audience With’ event; ‘world-café’ event; etc. A staff/student partnership
framework was created that is applicable across the university. The events,
resources and activities were designed to be inclusive and diverse in order to
encompass all Schools and all types of students. This poster will share some of
the results of the evaluation of the OUR UCLan week with a view to ‘sharing
good practice’ and ‘lessons learned’.
[2]
Desmet PMA, P. Hekkert, and J.J. Jacobs (2000) ,"When a Car Makes You
Smile: Development and Application of an Instrument to Measure Product
Emotions", in NA - Advances in
Consumer Research Volume 27, eds. Stephen J. Hoch and Robert J. Meyer,
Provo, UT : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 111-117.
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