QAA National Enhancement Themes Conference

Yesterday I attended and presented at the QualityAssurance Agency (QAA) Scotland’s national Enhancement Themes conference focusing on student transitions into, through, and out of university. It was helpful that the first keynote speaker, Professor Trevor Gale, challenged this notion of student transitions by clarifying and widening out his definition of transitions. In his talk ‘Resourcing the capacity to navigate change: a typology of student transitions’, Prof Gale highlighted how transitions can be experienced vertically and horizontally, over time and across different spaces, by both students, staff, and institutions. He described T1 as a transition of induction, with an implied linear progression of students as they are inducted into higher education through a pedagogy of regulation. Next, he described T2 as a transition of development, with distinct stages of student maturation along trajectories of transformation as they develop new identities as students, researchers, and professionals. Finally, Prof Gale describes T3 as a transition of becoming, with a perpetual series of fragmented movements zigzags that recognise the messiness of life and subjective experiences through higher education. I was particularly struck by Prof Gale’s emphasis on how not only students need to transition, but also institutions need to transition to foster T3 with more flexible modules, systems of choice, and ways to adapt to accommodate diverse student needs. This flexibility and transition of institutions embraces diversity, with significant benefits for all. Therefore, it was wonderful to see Prof Gale’s critique of traditional universities and I personally saw the need for institutions to transition as a call for student-staff partnerships and projects such as co-creation of the curriculum which allow students and staff to work together to rethink the student experience of higher education which can have a significant impact on developing social justice within institutions.

At the conference sessions, I enjoyed sharing the work of my team, meeting others from different institutions in Scotland, and hearing about some new initiatives. It was a fantastic time to celebrate my student staff and their great work in our Academic Representation team at EUSA this year to make a significant impact in terms of implementing Class Rep online training and open badges, and it was fantastic to have them lead our workshop which stimulated interesting discussions about how technology can be used effectively at other institutions to support the transitions of students in different areas.

See the PowerPoint slides for our presentation Using technology to support Class Representatives transition into, through, and out of their role.

 The conference was also helpful for thinking critically about the flipped classroom and what models of this are most effective, engaging, and producing highest learning gain. It was also fantastic to learn about student-led projects such as a student professional development society and working group which helped students develop leadership, networking, analytical skills. I also enjoyed learning about the Aberdeen University and Robert Gordon University interdisciplinary and collaborative CityLabs co-creation of the curriculum project, and the University of Glasgow Let’s Talk about X interdisciplinary conference which gave me lots of ideas for a Student Rep Conference I’m hoping to run next year. All in all, it was a good day and an interesting conference!