A case study completed by Becky Selwyn as part of a 2022/23 Education Development Project.
The Practice
Staff interested in the scholarship of teaching and learning in the Faculty of Engineering can become members of the Engineering Education Research Group (EERG), a supportive network to facilitate sharing ideas and best practices, and encourage collaborations. Active members of the EERG often work with students in various ways, including through credit-bearing student research projects, internships, and informal partnerships. To grow these partnerships, we created a student sub-group of the EERG with the following aims:
The Logistics
During this pilot year, 24 students joined the group after the initial Faculty-wide and targeted advertising. We asked students who had previously worked with us on various projects to talk about their experiences in the initial meeting, and provided plenty of biscuits! We continued to have regular meetings to develop projects and plan dissemination.
The Impact
What has been the impact of this practice? (e.g. the student experience and/or staff experience). This could include feedback from students, the external examiner etc – also any changes to the quality of work/assessments, student satisfaction etc.
Projects this year have included:
- A new lab for a 2nd year unit
- Contributions to a personal tutorial activity repository
- A Lego club outreach activity
- Reflections on professional behaviours and inclusivity in group work
Three students presented work at the BILT conference, and one presented at the Horizons in STEM conference. Several are involved in ongoing projects this summer.
Next Steps
This year’s pilot demonstrated that there is an interest among students, so the Student EERG will continue into the next academic year. Several members will have graduated, but one is returning as a PhD student, and they will be taking on some of the responsibility for leading the group. We will re-advertise at the start of the year, and pre-schedule regular meetings. We will also have a mix of new and ongoing projects, and a mix of student-led and staff-led projects for students to join. Based on the strength of our experience working with students on educational projects, Engineering Education has also been formally added to our credit-bearing research project units as a possible topic area for students to select.
Contact
If you would like to hear more, to start up your own student research group, or to collaborate, please get in touch with Becky Selwyn.