Dr Fiona Harvey, Faculty Learning Technology Lead for Social and Historical Sciences at UCL, shares her experience of attending a recent Jisc meeting, to which the BLE also contributed.
A couple of weeks ago we attended the JISC network meeting for Student Experience. Obviously, being JISC the focus is always on the effective use of digital educational technology to support and enhance students academic journeys. This was the first meeting I had attended since 2018 and it was great to see familiar faces and meet new people. It was the first time I had spoken in person since the pandemic, and the JISC meetings are always a good place to do that. There was a group of about 50 people and from the moment you walked into the room it was friendly and welcoming. Natasha Catnott, our Faculty EDI Coordinator, attended with me as we were presenting the outcome of The SHS International Students Digital Experiences project (report on the way). Natasha remarked about how friendly everyone was.
The focus for this meeting was on the JISC International Students work, which has produced a series of reports, briefing papers, and articles, and contributors to the day included some of the institutions involved in these projects. There were also presentations from those of us who have been inspired by the reports and articles and included The Bloomsbury Learning Exchange (Sarah Sherman), who introduced their new Mooc ‘Is a PhD Right for Me?, which is designed to encourage participation from a whole range of different groups of students, especially under-represented students.
Having been part of this network for many years, it was interesting to see who was now attending these events. In the past it was digital education folks, those who were actively supporting and introducing educational technology and included academic staff as well as educational developers and some learning technologists. This event was different in that there were representatives from across support services for students who were actively considering how digital technologies are applied in the context of their work. It was the first time that we were asked “How many of you are actively involved in your institutional Access and Participation Plan?” I thought that was an interesting question to ask but completely relevant. My recent research on how we perceive and make decisions on behalf of non-traditional students reflected on that very point. We must demonstrate a whole institutional approach and yet many not directly involved in preparing their APP feel that it is nothing to do with them.
The themes for the day were inclusivity and belonging which was exciting and interesting to hear about. Particularly how the impact of educational technology and administrative systems that students need to engage with can impact the student experience. From the presentations and the discussions during the day it was clear that this work had shone a light on the kind of support we provide for the ‘standard student’ (white, middle class and domestic) and how that doesn’t allow for any kind of difference. It sounds obvious when you say it out loud, but there are so many assumptions made about students prior digital experiences, and we just don’t make it clear enough to our students from different cultures about what happens when they come to the UK. JISC called these experiences ‘Digital Shocks’ which is a good
way of describing it. When we spoke to students in our study, they didn’t describe shocks, but they were confused and bewildered about the unwritten rules of engagement with non-university based systems, especially social media.
The presentations that focused on Belonging were creative and inspiring. There was a thoughtful approach taken to helping students become accustomed to the ‘ways of digital’ for their UK institutions. Sumeya Loonat from De Montford University introduced us to the Business and Law faculty initiatives to help students feel part of the university by using digital technology to help them cope with the various challenges of being in a new place and not knowing anyone. Finding out about the city (Leicester) by producing maps and finding out about each other by creating a Digital Cookbook (such a great idea) and sharing tips and experiences through podcasts. All of these initiatives help to build a community and a supportive environment.
Dr Patrice Seuwou from Northampton talked about their strong focus on social justice, equality and inclusion and made a strong case for raising awareness across the support services for international students as they recognised that the digital challenges were in addition to many cultural challenges their students faced. There was a clear emphasis on Global Ethnic Majority (GEM) students and they had made changes to the information they provided students before they arrived as a result of their involvement with the JISC projects. They also made use of the JISC Digital Insights surveys to monitor and enhance their students digital experiences. They hoped to focus on developing their digital education services to include a more integrated approach. This will, of course, help all students.
With a focus on student partnership, Plymouth University was represented by Hannah Miles and Dr Helen Bowstead, who built on their raft of peer learning activities (including PALS, Hello Project, Digital Champions, and Writing Cafe Mentors) by bringing in a focus on international students. They had run a project called Transitioning Successfully into University as a way of identifying the gaps they had for international students and used their existing student networks to help bridge these gaps. Again, they mentioned the different levels of digital skills and literacies that these students had that had previously gone unaddressed.
Simon Golshetti and Juan Raman Mullor from Staffordshire University talked about their research project for postgraduate students looking into challenges around assessments, learning resources, and skills. Their work is still underway, but they highlighted the barriers that their students faced in terms of cultural forms of assessment practice and experiences. Their mission was to improve student outcomes for international students, and in turn, this will help all students.
There were also panels and discussions throughout the day. The overriding message was to unpick assumptions we make about who we ‘think’ these students are and what they know about how we do things. There were also links on the value of cross institutional teams, such as widening participation, digital education and IT departments bringing their own perspectives (and assumptions), and the benefits we all bring when we work together.
It was a valuable experience, and we enjoyed meeting new people (we already have a meeting set up with another university). It has spurred us on to think about our own projects on belonging and digital experiences for all students and reminded us that we should be mindful that not all international students are as prepared for the UK digital education experience as we have assumed and that we need to explicitly think about what we can do to smooth any challenges to aid their academic success.
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