Student Engagement Workshop

On 2nd April 2012 The MSOR Network in conjunction with the University of Greenwich ran its second student engagement workshop as part of the HEA Workshop series. This was not aimed at academics and other staff who wanted to find out how to increase levels of engagement with current and future students but instead at students themselves. We wanted to take the opportunity to listen to what was admittedly a highly engaged group of students and learn from their experiences. Thirteen students attended from five Universities - Greenwich, Portsmouth, Kingston, Exeter and Sheffield Hallam The day started with an introduction from Tony Croft, Loughborough University, regarding the growing importance of student engagement. The group discussed their experiences of being involved at a greater level than just their own learning and, not unsurprising, felt that they had high levels of individual engagement with at least two students being identified as ‘border crossers’ who were working to improve teaching for others. Evidence provided included being course representatives, student ambassadors taking part in research projects in the summer, supporting fellow students and assisting in local schools and of course attending this workshop!