Curriculum Enhancement Internships 2021/22: Building Learning Communities

Project Leader: Dr Mohamed Kara-Mohamed, School of Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology 

Subject Area: Engineering

Project Summary

The focus of this project is on enhancing students’ experience by creating interactive delivery content and empowering students to contribute in the decision of what they learn and how they learn. The project is designed to derive the lab activities for students using inputs from students. This will ensure that the used language, learning outcomes along with the developed activities will have the maximum positive impact on curriculum delivery and student learning. The project will help in creating a new module with innovative teaching materials and a delivery style that incorporates the best of active blended learning approaches.

The planned outcome of the project is a set of eight interactive lab sessions with full instructions and detailed exercises. The activities will include online quizzes, in person sessions and post session group work.

The project will emphasise building learning communities where the planned lab activities work is developed by approaches that enable students to learn through and from interaction, connection and collaboration with staff and peers.

Project Outcomes

The main outcomes from the internship were full eight Lab activities for the students to complete. These lab activities were made to follow the material being taught to the students over the semester allowing them to put into practice the theoretical information they are learning. This has been completed on an NI ELVIS II workstation. Alongside the step-by-step experiments in the lab sheets, general theory has been recapped and questions have been given to ensure the students are completing the necessary theory to ensure they understand what is happening in the experiments.

The benefit of having students work with the teaching staff in this project is to ensure that the work being given is interesting and captivating whilst also being informative, helpful and easy to follow. It allows for a different perspective to be seen in terms of the work that is required and what the students think can be helpful to add.

Building Learning Communities

The two students who participated in the internship were representatives of large learning community where they were from different levels and programmes (level 5- Electrical Engineering and Level 7-Mechanical Engineering). The project allowed the interns to build a relationship and work together to complete the required work. The project benefits the learning community of the whole study body in level 4 where the module will be delivered. It enables students to interact with the learning materials and understand, using first-hand experience, the delivered subjects.

Wider Impact and Transferability

Using students to give feedback on courses and suggest how to improve the work given is a good idea. It shows you what they think could have been better and what could have been done different to ensure that future years get the best teaching experience possible.

TinkerCAD is a great software that just requires an account. It allows you to make breadboard circuits and test if they would work.

Next Steps

In future, the project can be extended to cover other modules that have lab activities.

Project Leader: Dr Peter Blundell, School of Psychology, Faculty of Health 

Subject Area: Psychology

Project Summary

This project focused on building a community of practice for trainee person-centred therapists (i.e., students enrolled on the MA in Counselling and Psychotherapy Practice), with a specific focus on developing their critical thinking skills. This was an extra-curricular activity/group designed to enhancement students’ skills.

Students are tasked with developing critical thinking skills throughout the MA programme; however, there are minimal opportunities to undertake detailed examination and discussion of specific literature, texts, podcasts, or videos with other students, due to the nature of the course design which often focuses on practical counselling skills.

This project examined person-centred/experiential therapy through a critical lens by selecting different resources to discuss as a group each week (2 hours per group over 12 weeks). The project used resources from different mediums to enable access for a diverse range of students. The weekly discussion element via virtual group provided opportunities for students to discuss person-centred therapy from different viewpoints. In addition, by holding this group virtually (MSTeams) it enabled additional discussion and interaction for students between meetings in the team thread (which was useful for students who are not as confident in group settings).

There was an overwhelmingly positive response from students although the weekly nature of the group, and timing made it difficult for some students to attend.

Project Outcomes

The project outcomes were closely linked to a selection of key learning outcomes on the MA programme. Therefore, facilitation of the groups needed to be by student interns with sufficient knowledge of person-centred theory, who had good communication, organization, and facilitation skills. Each week there were students in attendance from each year group of the course.

Group attendees reported:

• Better relationships with peers
• Increased understanding of person-centred theory
• Reduced anxiety about progressing through the course
• Improved understanding and techniques for academic writing
• Improved ability to apply theory to practice
• Improved critical thinking skills, and an ability to apply these to different elements of the course

Interns reported:

• Improved group facilitation skills
• Deepened knowledge of person-centred theory
• Extended knowledge of organization and development of learning groups

Building Learning Communities

This project evidenced the importance of shared knowledge, peer relationships and external sources of support for students when learning about counselling/psychotherapy theory, developing their approach to practice, and for students to better understand the nuances of clinical placements.

Whilst this project was over 12 weeks, the relationships and networks that were formed were sustained post-project.

The essential features of this community were:

• a focus on person-centred/experiential theory and practice
• a supportive space to challenge students’ knowledge and understanding
• a collaborative process of decision making about the use of the space
• an acknowledgement of attendees being at different stages of their journey into psychotherapeutic practice

The main processes that contributed to this community were:

• the community was student led (with support from the project lead)
• the student interns had access to support/supervision/advice around planned activities and discussions
• the group met consistently and there was clear communication about what each group would discuss
• membership was open to any student on the course

To continue to sustain this community, it would be useful if:

• there was funding for students to continue facilitating the group on a permanent basis
• new students, or students with less confidence to attend on their own, could be supported to attend
• that the group remains student-led
• that the group remains dynamic and adapts to what students want/need

Overall, students who attended benefit from this community by making relationships with peers that could help them over the course of their studies (and potentially beyond). The community also enabled those relationships to be formed around the psychotherapeutic modality that students are being trained in – this then links to developing their clinical practice.

Wider Impact and Transferability

The focus on critical thinking skills was an important part of this community because it meant that students were there to challenge themselves (and each other) in a supportive way to help with their development as trainee counsellors and psychotherapists. This also encouraged the group to be dynamic and consider topics, discussions and theories that had not been fully explored as part of the course.

Initial plans for the community were to involve lecturers regularly; however, as the community developed there were some students who found the presence of the lecturer stifled discussion rather than opened it up. Therefore, lecturers were only brought in for specific sessions, such as a presentation on academic writing skills.

Most resources used to foster discussion were counselling/psychotherapy related and so may not be useful for other communities of practice within the university or externally. However, each of these were chosen by the group itself, and this ownership was important for the group.

Next Steps

The project team are working on writing up a journal paper based on their experiences and a critical analysis of the project.

The attendees of the group are collaborating to write up a collaborative autoethnography study about their experiences within the group.

The group was so successful that we are seeking funding to run this as a permanent monthly group that is open to students in all year groups.

Project Leader: Dr David Clampin, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Professional and Social Studies 

Subject Areas: History, Primary ITE

Project Summary

This project seeks to engage children at Key Stage 2 (KS2) in the study of history, generating enthusiasm for the subject by providing an accessible means to understand the past. It seeks to do this by using historic press advertisements available through the History of Advertising Trust (HAT). Pupils will be familiar with such outputs thus they are accessible and support making connections with contemporary circumstances.

The intention is to collaboratively develop resource/teaching packs which open up an entirely new approach to the KS2 National Curriculum unit, ‘a study of an aspect or theme in British history that extends pupils’ chronological knowledge beyond 1066’.

Interns from both the History and Primary ITE departments worked together to develop the teaching packs.

Teachers from Partnership schools will subsequently be invited to evaluate and/or trial the packs and offer feedback. This with a view to move the design forward, refining our approach and eventually developing a consumable product which could be more widely distributed.

Project Outcomes

1. Through this first stage, a sketching out of a scheme of learning which could be developed into a classroom session.
2. Application of knowledge gained in both discrete subject areas whilst also expanding the bounds of knowledge and working alongside staff established in their respective fields.

Building learning communities

In many respects this fell short of expectations given that students in History were running to a different schedule, and at a different “speed” to those in Education. This is not something which had really been appreciated. As such, plans trying to bring the two groups together were frustrated. Meetings online were held but these did not really foster a most effective working partnership. These have been important lessons learnt, as well as trying to bridge the gaps in terms of the “language” spoken in the discrete areas.

Wider Impact

This project really looks beyond LJMU, and to a wider community in primary education. Nevertheless, key lessons have been learnt as outlined above in respect of working across very different subject areas. One key feature relates to the timing of these internships and equality of access for those students studying on programmes where there might be a placement.

Next Steps

1. This project will move forward with the scheme of learning to be refined, classroom sessions developed, evaluation by practicing teachers and, in time, the production of teaching packs.
2. As outlined there will be market surveys and market evaluation. As the project develops, experiences will be disseminated via the HAT Education Advisory Group and the Historical Association.

Project Leads: Rosalyn Harrison and Corina Doran, International Relations 

Subject Area: International student recruitment and support

Project Summary

The project was set up to match enrolled LJMU students with students from the universities collaborative partner the International Study Centre (ISC) to encourage engagement and enhance confidence in progressing to the university upon finishing the programme. Historical data had shown that students at the ISC did not all progress to the university despite being linked to the university through the programme they were studying and the project aimed to address this by getting a previous student from the ISC to mentor a progressing student over 12 weeks.

Project Outcomes

The few students who were mentored did progress to the university; however, this was a much smaller sample size than had been expected when the project was developed. Initially it was hoped that between 90 and 100 students would participate in the project, but only 10% ended up signing up.

As the project ran over the summer, most of the students had travelled back to their home countries and had to connect virtually.

In retrospect, the project should have been run a lot earlier in the academic cycle, when both the mentors and mentees would be physically in Liverpool.

Engagement was difficult after the first few sessions and despite the mentors frequently contacting the mentees, there was little interest since the meetings were mostly done on Teams or Whatsapp.

Building Learning Communities

Although the project was not as successful as was originally anticipated, there were learnings to gather to inform future projects.

Students at the International Study Centre do need the additional support in getting to know the university and being paired with a current student who had previously studied at the centre was a good thing.

The timing of the project was off as students had completed in Liverpool with the majority going to their home country.

The few students who were successfully mentored did progress to the university.

The mentors did mention that in order for the pairings to be successful in the future it makes sense that students of similar subjects are paired together and if possible of similar backgrounds. Most of the queries from the mentees were around shops that catered to their specific needs ie. Where to find halal shops and markets, lists of restaurants that offered their regional foods and places to get free or low cost home furniture.

The mentors also signposted students on where to find family accommodation and how to be registered with Unitemps ahead of starting at the university in September.

Where the mentors could not help, they did signpost back to the faculties or to people they knew from those specific countries, meaning new relationships were built and strengthened.

Participants from this project have made friends with the mentors and met people from their countries through the project. This shows that even though the sample size was a lot smaller than was initially planned for, there are indications that if more students participated, it would help students settle and be more willing to progress to LJMU upon finishing the pathway at the International Study Centre.

Wider Impact and Transferability

Feedback from the mentors indicated that if done at the right time of the year the project would be successful, as the few students they interacted with did find the sessions useful.

The International Study Centre are keen to keep the project going and to make it successful the following recommendations have been suggested to them:

• Make the sessions mandatory to all interested
• A minimum number of hours need to be completed by the mentee with a short written report on what they learnt during the process
• Ensure that mentors are matched with people from the same country or same programme if possible
• Mentors should also be at the same programme level eg. A postgrad. Should only mentor another postgrad student in order to be more relatable
• Include more social events in person and ensure that students are physically able to meet.

Next Steps

The project is now going to be continued by the collaborative partner due to limited resources from the university.

Project Lead: Dr Holly Howitt-Dring, Liverpool Screen School, Faculty of Arts, Professional and Social Studies 

Subject Area: Creative Writing

Project Summary

In the Red is a student-led and student-run magazine, in which students are editors and also write the content. I assist them in a mostly hands-off capacity, and take on a mentoring role as they learn about how to put a magazine together.

• This project was developed because the School had run a student-led magazine for years, but for various reasons this had been paused.
• My intended outcome was not only to allow students to experience and learn about running a small/independent publication, which is an area of interest to many of our students, but also to allow students to submit work and see their writing in print while they are still studying.
• The students selected for the editorship roles were taken on because they had been the only applicants. While they were both very dedicated to the task, because of the tight turnaround I had fewer applications than I expected. Therefore if I ran this project again I’d start it earlier in the academic year.

Project Outcomes

1. There are two outputs: firstly, that two students have now had some experience and training in running a magazine, and the second is the magazine itself, which I produced in hard copy and distributed at the Students at the Heart conference, at graduation, and at open days.
2. The students were working with me, but in many ways they were mostly working with each other while I had an overview. This allowed them to develop skills in teamwork and leadership. Building Learning Communities

How has undertaking the project contributed to the project team’s understanding of and approaches towards building and sustaining effective learning communities?

This project has linked all strands of our BA courses (which covers three disciplines) and all years of study (including Master’s students), because of the open submissions call we made for creative writing students. This has created a far-reaching community and improves a sense of cohort identity for Creative Writing students.

Wider Impact and Transferability

The impact of students sharing work across year groups and degree courses has strengthened course identity and I have noted how many students know each other even across year groups.

Next Steps

There is potential for the magazine to be published online, which would improve dissemination.

Project Leaders: Dr Karl O. Jones, School of Engineering; Dr Helen Burrell, School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences; Colin Robinson, School of Engineering; Dr Suzzanne McColl, School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences; Rachel Stalker, School of Law 

Project Summary

LJMU undertakes a considerable amount of Outreach to local schools, with each event primarily focusing on a particular subject area (e.g. Geography, Computer Science etc.). Combining a number of subjects into one outreach session in an integrated way would appear to be a more appropriate approach.

The aim of the project was to develop materials to deliver outreach events based around a ‘story’ that integrated and combined a number of subject areas. Appropriate choice of topics (diverse in nature) should help to engage a wider range of school pupils. Additionally, a good ‘story’ has the opportunity to appeal to a wider audience allowing for more equality, diversity and inclusivity – covering socio-economic and ethnic groups.

The project utilized interns from two LJMU Schools, covering both undergraduate and postgraduate students, to provide the diverse subject specialist knowledge, in particular students were recruited from BSc Forensic Science, MSc Audio and Music Production and MSc Audio Forensics and Restoration, with the ‘story’ based around the processes after a crime has been committed starting evidence gathering (Forensic Science), moving on to video forensic analysis (Media Technology) to the presentation in a court (Law) – with the project leaders coming from Engineering, Law and Forensics.

The determination of the particular ‘story’ was part of the work of the interns, as was the selection of the appropriate subject sub-topics and delivery materials.

The interns were asked to produce outreach materials suitable across the age range of school children, with target age points of 6, 11, 14 and 17.

Project Outcomes

The project outcomes outlined in the original proposal were all achieved, namely:

• An appropriate ‘story’ was developed as a vehicle for delivery of the subject areas of forensics, media technology and law
• Materials that can be utilized in the outreach sessions were identified and/or created
• A set of straightforward and short exercises that pupils can undertake after the Outreach sessions were designed
• A staff booklet for all developed materials and exercises was produced
• The developed resources provide an opportunity for Improved primary/secondary school Outreach opportunities and engagement

The project was a timely one since the reorganization of LJMU Recruitment and Admissions has placed the faculties of FET and SCS under one recruitment manager, similarly one person is now responsible for Outreach across FET and SCS. It is hoped that the developed resources can be trialed during the early part of Semester 1 of 2022/23 and refinements made prior to a wider roll-out with the LJMU Outreach teams.

Building Learning Communities

With respect to this project, the learning community encompasses not only LJMU students and academics, but also primary and secondary schools (both the pupils and the teachers). The target pupils cover the range from Year 2/3 to Year 13 from across North Wales and the North West. This wide demographic encourages a wider audience allowing for more equality, diversity and inclusivity – covering socio-economic and ethnic groups. Additionally, the topics of Audio Technology, Forensic Science and Law are some of the less widely studied subjects for pupils from rural areas, and from less affluent communities.

The mix of undergraduate and postgraduate, as well as the combination of Audio Technology and Forensic Science students provided an ideal blend of experience and knowledge for this project. Similarly the mix of staff with their backgrounds in Audio Technology, Engineering, Forensic Science and Law provided a rich mix of knowledge, views, approaches and so on that helped the students develop such an excellent set of materials.

The interns were already adept in written, practical and interpersonal skills, with these skills being developed and refined through working with each other and with the academic staff. Furthermore, in developing materials for a younger audience gave another dimension for the students to work within. The Forensic Science students were knowledgeable in Procedural Evidence, while the Audio/Video students were skilled in recording and mixing disciplines with each side imparting some knowledge to the other.

It is hoped that once the Outreach session start being presented that undergraduate and postgraduate students studying Audio Technology, Forensic Science or Law will assist in the delivery of the sessions to further encourage the development of the learning community, with a similar benefit coming from the academic staff in these subject areas.

This should help provide an enriched relationship between student and academic staff, as well as develop cross curricular partnership for staff and students.

Wider Impact and Transferability

The primary output from the project is a set of multi-subject multi-level (school pupils) Outreach resources. While the subject specific material is not relevant to other schools, the general concept and approach is something that would be of interest to quite a few programmes across LJMU especially ones which wish to broaden their reach and are considering cooperation with allied courses.

The shared material and best practice from the three degree disciplines identified by the interns during the project, will be used by LJMU staff to deliver outreach events not just in the Liverpool region but across the North West since the event package will provide a somewhat unique session that highlights the diverse but inextricably linked subject areas of audio/video technology, forensic science approaches and legal implementation – a unique selling point (USP) for LJMU.

Next Steps

The developed materials and approach would be presented at Teaching & Learning days held in the involved faculties, as well as other relevant Faculties (i.e. ones which have technical skills within their programmes or are considering cross faculty cooperation).

The work will be submitted to the LJMU Learning and Teaching Conference and be presented by the team There is also the possibility to present at external academic conferences and publishing high level journal publications.

Evaluation of the developed resources will initially take place after the first delivery of an Outreach session using as measures/indicators (a) the ‘engagement’ of the pupils, (b) the views of the Outreach delivery team, and (c) the amount of refining required to the materials.

Project Leader: Sarah Maclennan, Liverpool Screen School, Faculty of Arts, Professional and Social Studies 

Subject Area: Creative Writing

Project Summary

Solidarity TV used the practice of reciprocal mentoring to create moments of understanding through the creation of a learning community between LJMU UG students and students from a global majority heritage who are currently studying in a local sixth form.

The project also used creative practice to engage young people in identifying and tackling a problem that they wanted to solve. It involved engaging with their community/area, peers, notions of citizenship and responsibility, empowerment and effecting change. It created a space for voices to be heard, using creative and artistic processes.

The impact has been profound in several ways:

1. The technical team reported that they had felt emotionally moved by some of the recorded interviews, that this was ‘valuable testimony and needed to gain a wider audience’. They said they were glad they had supported the project.
2. The 6th Form students reported back that they had a greater understanding of each other as individuals and felt closer as a cohort. They had also been introduced to careers they had not known about before (one student didn’t like being told what to do, she said, so being a director was an ideal role for her!). The students reported feeling more comfortable about the idea of university – it no longer felt as ‘scary’.
3. The UG students reported enjoying being in a mentor role, and that they realised how far they had come in the ‘education/learning journey’ since 6th Form. They reported greater levels of empathy and understanding.

My one recommendation is thinking more carefully about how people might feel about sharing their story. I wasn’t quite prepared for the level of racist abuse some of the 6th form students had received. I checked in with the students and their teacher, and with Adam Vasco who had worked with them previously, and all said that having a platform to share their stories was empowering, but I still think we needed a bit more support in place to ensure no-one was left feeling fragile after the experience.

Project Outcomes

Solidarity TV resulted in several short films and podcasts being made. We will be holding a red-carpet screening on 23rd November 2022 to celebrate the achievement of the school students. LSS has now created a much stronger relationship with the staff at Archbishop Blanch and there are other projects in the pipeline that we are keen to explore together.

UG students all reported back that it was an important project to work on as they had learned much more about what it is like to live as a minoritized person within a predominantly white society. There were moments of learning experienced by students (and by staff) that could not be replicated from reading or research. The students were closer in age to the 6th Form pupils and were able, then, to take a mentoring role and also to become role-models – e.g. talk about what it is like to be a university students. In effect, both the school students and the UG students were exchanging ‘lived experiences’. This would not have worked as well if only academic staff had been working on the project.

Building Learning Communities

In this project we extended the view of a learning community as being situated within the university. We addressed the power dynamics inherent in formal education and developed the idea of learning being an ‘exchange of knowledge’ with the technicians, UG students and school students all being viewed as equals and as experts within their areas.

Solidarity TV created an educational opportunity for academics, UG students, school students and technicians to come together and learn from one another through lived experience, professional practice, the acquisition of practical knowledge (for example learning how to operate technical equipment) and Creative Pedagogy.

The essential features of this type of learning community is in dismantling any sense of hierarchy, redefining what equality means and looks like within our group, and creating a space where we establish from the beginning that we will be learning from each other – you might call it a Knowledge Exchange Partnership!

To establish a community like this we needed everyone that the school students were likely to come into contact with at LJMU to be welcoming and enabling, so that the school students instantly felt like they ‘belonged’. We needed commitment and buy-in from the technicians and the interns, so they were clear why the project was needed and what the aims were.

This community itself might not be sustained (as the school students move through education/A Levels/HE) but we can create future similar communities with other marginalized groups and by maintaining our connection with Archbishop Blanch.

Wider Impact and Transferability

Now that the project is complete consider how its outcomes/outputs have been or could be of broader use outside of the specific programme/area of activity. Include here details of any resources that could be made available to staff and/or students in the wider University or externally.

Solidarity TV provides a template for widening participation amongst marginalized groups and creating platforms for their voices, concerns, experiences etc. to be shared. For example, should a programme or school wish to attract more mature students, a group of participants could be identified and asked to come into a programme to work alongside students, staff and technicians. They might not necessarily be making something concrete – although the benefit of a tangible artefact at the end of the sessions cannot be understated. Harnessing a person’s existing passions/concerns provides the driver for engagement.

Next Steps

I’d like this to be an annual event run within LSS to tackle the issue of increasing diversity amongst our student body.

There is going to be a red-carpet screening on 23rd November to showcase the films and award prizes to the school students.

Project Leaders: Dr Naomi McLeod, School of Education, Faculty of Arts, Professional and Social Studies; Diane Garrison, Community Activist 

Subject Area: Education

Project Summary

This project focused on valuing diversity in the community and aimed to have a positive impact on curriculum delivery, young people’s learning and community cohesion. It was a collaborative project that hoped to build on established relationships in the Liverpool 8 community. The project supported plans to develop out of school learning opportunities for young people aged 14 to 16 from families for whom English is not their first language and / or, who are new to the city. In particular, this included refugees and asylum seekers.

The project involved two interns (Esra Mustafa and Ryan McNee) from LJMU working alongside L8 community activists, mentors and project workers to support the needs of young people aged 14 – 16. Initially the intention was for interns to plan and deliver creative, culturally sensitive and trauma informed learning opportunities to engage and inspire the young people. While neither of the interns had previous experience of working with young people aged 14-16, at interview both interns demonstrated an enthusiasm and a willingness to learn.

The interns were asked to create case study resources as a result of the project which will be used to inform teaching and learning across the School of Education (both ITT and Education Studies) so anti-racist practice in the local community and as part of young people’s learning is promoted. These case studies will build on the activities produced as part of ‘Show racism the red card’ and include L8 community examples.

For the interns, the following points were identified as a priority at interview and throughout with regards to valuing diversity:

• Being aware of personal experience / position/ privilege / assumptions
• Being aware of their own unconscious bias and how to challenge their own prejudices
• Feeling confident with use of anti-racist language
• Feeling confident and empowered to deal directly with racist incidents
• Encouraging interactions with local diverse communities
• Being able to recognise and call out racism and promote anti-racist practice 

For the young people who engaged in the project, it was intended that as well as their academic achievements being enhanced, they would develop confidence, self-esteem as part of their overall personal, social and emotional development.

• The impact/outcome

The Actual Workshop Sessions

After an induction session, the project operated from Monday 11 April to 15 June 2022 and took place in the Kuumba Imani Centre on Prince’s Rd, Toxteth, L8 1TH.

It involved the following sessions:

• Easter Holiday Block workshop sessions (Monday 11 to Thursday 14 April and Tuesday 19 to Friday 22 (8 days of 4 hours teaching each day and 2 hours prep each day
• This was followed by weekly sessions on Wednesdays from 4-6pm
• One intern (Esra) also took part in workshops during the June half term break (Monday 30th May to Wednesday 1st June) from 10am-4pm
• This was followed by 3 Wednesday sessions until Wed 15 June from 4-6pm

The project focused on the following objectives:

Objective 1: The interns observed and worked alongside the community champions and mentors within the community to support individual learning needs of the young people who attended the project.

• One of the interns was white and one was mixed African
• As neither of the interns had previous experience of working with young people aged 14 – 16, with diverse needs, the project was a steep learning curve.
• As the workshops took place during Ramadan, there was lower take up in the mornings as the week progressed and the impact of fasting was felt by the young people attending (and also for one of the interns). Young primary aged children were therefore invited to attend alongside the older young people. One intern worked with the older 14-16 age group whilst the other intern supported the needs of the younger primary children.
• One of the interns promoted the sessions in the local community with the community workers.
• Both interns provided physical activities with the children / young people (such as playing football with the young people and carrying out balancing / co-ordination activities).
• Both interns researched the national curriculum so their knowledge was current (for example ‘An Inspector Calls’ and ‘Macbeth’ and specific maths curriculum content).
• One of the interns was also able to communicate in Arabic which helped with communication and promoted the young people’s confidence.
• Learning was individualized by responding to the needs of the children and accessing the skills and expertise of the interns and community leaders.
• Overall, both interns used a range of strategies (non-verbal and verbal communication) to engage the young people and create a comfortable space conducive to learning.

Objective 2: The interns engaged with young people in group activities in sensitive ways that recognized /valued neuro divergence, diversity of communication and learning styles.

• After the interns were made aware that teaching isn’t always about a constant transfer of knowledge, both interns provided space and listened carefully so they could judge when to intervene and offer support as part of a comfortable space.
• Both interns dealt really well with young people who had a number of needs concerning personal social, emotional, dyslexia, neuro divergence and diversity of communication. They were sensitive and looked at different ways for inviting engagement. One student was very firm in handling and maintaining interaction whilst the other was more relaxed and laid back.
• Facilitating different learning styles of the children was limited in terms of provision offered by the interns (eg to accommodate attention span of the children, interest and the type of resources made available)
• However, the interns did respond to requests by the children and young people.

Objective 3: The interns were successful in building relationships for less formal interactions between themselves and the young people.

• This was a steep learning curve for both interns in terms of their expectations of their role in relation to the needs of the young people. There were a lot of unknowns (for example, not knowing how many young people would attend, what their needs would be and how to support them effectively)
• By the end of the Easter workshops, the interns were more comfortable providing fun, playful sessions to get to know the young people in the community, which was important in creating a positive learning space.

From feedback from the facilitators, for the young people who engaged in the Easter workshops, their confidence and knowledge and understanding of subjects was enhanced but the academic success will only really be known when the young people receive their GCSE results.

For the young people who attended the May half term workshops onwards, their confidence and self-esteem was enhanced going into exams and their confidence in their academic ability was more visible alongside their overall personal, social and emotional development.

Reflections by the interns in relation to the following points concerning diversity

The following points were discussed with interns. This journey is ongoing for the interns:

• The need to be aware of their own unconscious bias and how to challenge their own prejudices.
• Developing confidence with use of anti-racist language.
• Feeling confident and empowered to deal directly with racist incidents.
• Encouraging interactions with local diverse communities.
• Being able to recognise and call out racism and promote anti-racist practice. 

Any recommendations/developments

• For future projects, being able to pay a local person from the community as an intern which would support the continuity / sustainability of the project
• For interns (wider society) to value the role of relationships, listening, and observation (and earwigging!) when working to support diversity
• To be proactive in getting to know young people and asking open questions (eg - wanting to find out why the project is important) showing initiative / ownership / a sense of being actively engaged
• Using observations to inform dialogue / conversations
• To be aware of body language (verbal and non-verbal)
• To be aware of power balance communicated to young people (ie language used)
• The need to be culturally aware (eg aware of Ramadan and the impact of energy levels and concentration and arrival times) (On reflection, perhaps there was a need to consider the start times and the duration).
• Cultural sensitivity in relation to food for lunch time and awareness of economic circumstances of the young people
• Awareness of male / female interactions in relation to cultural and religious diversity
• Awareness that local children aren’t necessarily educated locally and so allowance needs to be made for travel
• The importance of commitment and engagement
• Being open to alternative views of young people (that are different to personal views) an appreciation of personal biases and assumptions in relation to working with young people as part of a diverse community.
• To value the importance of interpretation with EAL in promoting understanding

The importance of:

• Self-awareness of culture / privilege
• Teamwork
• Being respectful
• Patience
• Adaptability
• Appreciation of others
• Sense of humour!

Project Outcomes

Case studies will be created by the interns that focus on specific incidents noticed / experienced as part of the project workshops that were significant in relation to ‘valuing diversity to build learning communities’. The Case studies will be used to inform teaching across Initial Teacher Education and Education Studies.

The interns will provide detail of their background (eg – where grew up, schooling, faith, interests, professional aspirations)

Each case study will include the following format:

• Title
• Background context
• Detail of what was noticed / observed (conversations verbatim, body language by you and the young people, actions)
• Your awareness of race, diversity, culture, religion
• Personal reflection / what did you learn? (about your personal biases, assumptions, values)
• How does your reflection impact on your future practice / what you would do next time in a similar situation?

The interns, will also consider the following with regards to valuing diversity:

• Being aware of personal experience / position/ privilege
• Being aware of their own unconscious bias and how to challenge their own prejudices
• Feeling confident with use of anti-racist language
• Feeling confident and empowered to deal directly with racist incidents
• Encouraging interactions with local diverse communities
• Being able to recognize and call out racism and promote anti-racist practice

Benefits of working with interns

• Without the interns, the holiday (Easter and May half-term) workshops would not have been able to go ahead
• Having two interns available meant the young people had a space they could access for support and feel comfortable doing school related work in preparation for exams (GCSEs)
• Having the interns meant the revision / learning resources provided in the community room of the centre were used to support learning needs of the young people
• The impact of one of the interns being a female Muslim and of dual language was important in creating an opportunity where the young people saw themselves reflected back
• The confidence levels of the young people was enhanced by having access to someone who they could communicate with in their home language (ie Arabic). For others, it was the experience of being able to go through past exam papers on a one to one basis and so becoming familiar with what was expected as part of exams
• Young people who had never attended the Kuumba Imani Centre before, engaged with the programme, which also enhanced and promoted the reputation of the L8 ‘A Better Place’ initiative as well as the Kuumba Imani centre in the community.
• The interns also benefitted in terms of the project being a new unfamiliar experience in which they developed new skills.

They are building the following into their case study reflections:

• Being aware of personal experience / position/ privilege / assumptions
• Being aware of their own unconscious bias and how to challenge their own prejudices
• Feeling confident with use of anti-racist language
• Feeling confident and empowered to deal directly with racist incidents.
• Encouraging interactions with local diverse communities.
• Being able to recognise and call out racism and promote anti-racist practice.

Building Learning Communities

Our collective understanding of a learning community is of people coming together to learn in a shared space.

Essential features of this learning community and the processes that were beneficial in establishing this community:

• Having space
• Having resources
• Having people who are willing and able to teach and facilitate learning
• Having a shared vision / expectations
• Respectful cultural relationships
• The need to reflect
• Building a community space so young people came back
• Sharing knowledge and skills
• Providing food as a means of hosting community
• The need for clear communication and co-ordination

Funding for a co-ordinator and organizer role (to promote and organize the sessions and resources / book the space / complete DBS clearance / organize contact numbers / registration / buy food and refreshments) Identifying volunteer tutors to work alongside the interns.

For this community project to be sustainable, there need to be resources to fund tuition and the additional refreshments on a longer term basis.

Look at having a LJMU work experience project opportunity in the L8 community at the Greenhouse Project (L8 0TP) Diane Garrison: Project Co-ordinator. This would involve up to 5 level 5 Education and Early Childhood Students volunteering from January Mon 16 to Friday 3 Feb.

How do/will participants in this community benefit from participation?

• The impact on the community has enabled access to an opportunity that otherwise would not have happened.
• It enabled local L8 young people to work with LJMU interns who made the young people feel valued and developed their confidence as noted above.
• The impact of one of the interns being a female Muslim and of dual language was important in creating an opportunity where the young people saw themselves reflected back.
• Young people who had never attended the Kuumba Imani Centre before, engaged with the programme, which also enhanced and promoted the reputation of the L8 ‘A Better Place’ initiative as well as the Kuumba Imani centre in the community.

Wider Impact and Transferability

Now that the project is complete consider how its outcomes/outputs have been or could be of broader use outside of the specific programme/area of activity. Include here details of any resources that could be made available to staff and/or students in the wider University or externally.

The case study resources created by the interns will capture the essence of the project and will be used to support valuing diversity and promoting anti-racist teaching and learning across the Education suite of subjects within the school of education. The case study resources will be used with students to explore and value diversity as part of building learning communities.

Next Steps

Look at having a LJMU work experience project opportunity in the L8 community at the Greenhouse Project (L8 0TP) Diane Garrison: Project Co-ordinator. This would involve up to 5 level 5 Education and Early Childhood Students volunteering from January Mon 16 to Friday 3 Feb.

Having permanent LJMU funding to invest in building local civic / learning communities with L8 to engage young people and promote long term learning relationships.

Employment of local community members such as community activists to support future projects and awareness of local cultural knowledge. For example, people in the local L8 community volunteered to support the project but this meant they were missing out on paid work.

• This project will be shared through the case study resources created as part of teaching across Education studies and Early Childhood Studies within the School of Education.
• It is also intended that the student interns and young people who have participated will contribute to an LJMU Learning and Teaching conference and /or a Symposium: ‘Global perspectives of Learning: valuing local cultures’ as a means of facilitating expression of young people’s voice.
• This will inform a peer reviewed journal article (we will target journals with international reach which will be used to inform teaching across a range of LJMU subjects and other universities.

Project Leaders: Adam Carr and Paula McNulty, Liverpool School of Art and Design, Faculty of Arts, Professional and Social Studies 

Subject Area: Fine Art; Inclusive practice

Project Summary

As an anchor institution in the LCR, the University works with our communities towards reducing inequality and creating a socially just society. Strategy supports finding solutions to the UN SDG’s.

The ONS Labour Force Survey (2021) found the proportion of 16–24-year-olds who were NEET was higher for those with disabilities (28%) than those without (8%), (Powell, 2021). A 2011 Longitudinal Study of Young People in England found that disabled people were more than twice as likely to have been NEET at the time of the study than those without a disability (Powell, 2021).

The impact/outcome

1. LJMU students will support SEND young adults through a series of workshops and exhibitions
2. Increase employability outcomes of LJMU students
3. Increase skill set, aspiration, engagement, and opportunities for inclusion for SEND YA

Any recommendations/developments

1. To continue to develop workshops/exhibitions with SEND students
2. To develop supported internship programme for SEND YA who participate in existing workshops
3. Possible collaboration with LCR CA stakeholders through Local Offer

Project Outcomes

1. Outcomes include several taught workshops, talks and an exhibition of work by early learning students which will take place at the Art & Design School with an opening reception
2. The project seeks to enhance the BA Fine Art curriculum, particularly at level 6, which is primarily aimed at professional practice and career opportunity and employability
3. The project endeavours to embed the BA Fine Art and the wider context of the University in our local community and underline the desire for civic engagement

Building Learning Communities

The project fostered a learning environment where pedagogy unfolded in several different yet related ways. Through enabling students to deliver workshops in a school environment, this enabled professional practice that contributed significantly to their Level 6 modules – 6101FA and 6104FA – and it enhanced an array of aspects of the curriculum for both parties involved as well as contributing significantly to their learning framework and environment. The project - comprising workshops and several outputs including exhibitions – established a prolonged and developing relationship between students at both university and early learning stages where both were conducive to not only learning but also knowledge exchange and teaching. In addition, the students benefited from both off sites visits to a school and their interactions with children within their main learning environment at the University and this is especially relevant for participants at the school, who were able to learn both on and off site via the project. Highly positive aspects of the learning journey were formalised via an exhibition staged at Liverpool School of Art & Design that brought unrivalled visibility to the project and introduced the project to a wider community and public.

Wider Impact and Transferability

The project could be utilised as a key example of the benefits sought in placing students in contact with early learning environments. Using art and exhibition making as means of education and to foster opportunities allowing professional practice and experience, the project could be transferred elsewhere within the faculty and the wider scope of the university. Images document the project, including the exhibition as well as the project’s process.

Next Steps

There are plans to establish the project annually, placing Level 6 students within the learning environment of the school.

The project could be disseminated further by way of publishing information on the University’s website.

Project Leaders: Dr Emma Roberts, Liverpool School of Art and Design and Associate Dean for Global Engagement for the Faculty of Arts, Professional and Social Studies
Faye Christiansen, Creative Producer (Lead), and Liverpool City Region International Strategy Delivery Group 

Subject Area: International student recruitment and support

Project Summary

This curriculum-based project was designed to build on the Liverpool City Region’s International Student Welcome: an exciting initiative which took place in 2021 as a pilot programme. That project united the Liverpool City Region’s key tertiary institutions (University of Liverpool, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts (LIPA), Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) and Edge Hill University providing an exciting series of bespoke events and activities to welcome international students to the region.

Outcomes

The project employed student interns to work in conjunction with the ISDG and the Creative Producer to support the student learning experience. The students developed:

• Networking experience
• Volunteering and professional skills
• Programming and planning skills
• Marketing skills
• Video making skills
• Design and filmmaking skills
• Data gathering skills

The students supported steps to ensure the project’s activities can be drawn into pedagogy and extra-curricular activities in a manner that enhances the student experience. They worked directly with a student focus group to gather feedback to inform the programme. They worked directly with the Creative Producer and connected with external staff at cultural organisations in Liverpool City Region.

Recommendations

By increasing and diversifying income streams, we can support students through the whole programme and build upon their successes and increase student engagement, enhancing the learning community.

Project Outcomes

The student interns increased their contacts with key players in the cultural organisations of Liverpool City Region, building employment contacts. They also supported the day to day running of the project including the planning and delivery of a focus groups to feed into the programme where a further 7 LJMU students met with students from University of Liverpool and LSTM to provide their insights into an effective programme, increasing peer engagement.

The interns planned, created and scheduled social media content as well as supporting the realisation of nearly three months of cultural and creative events. Leonie particularly developed knowledge of Canva where she created film and animated social media posts. Both interns learned how to use the automated mailing service, Mailchimp and worked with a CMS to update the website. They also created and edited short films to help promote the Welcome.

The interns developed photography skills, capturing images of venues and collated social media reports to feed into the final evaluation. They also liaised directly with venues and organisations, supporting the Creative Producer in building an engaging programme.

The purpose of the International Student Welcome programme is to enhance the learning experience for predominantly international students by providing cultural activities and events and opportunities for developing wellbeing. It is the only programme of its kind in the UK, and the interns proved a vital element in making it happen. The incoming international students are now much more likely to engage with their programmes and with their locations of study, as a result of the supportive and engaging Welcome. Thus, there is great pedagogical benefit from these Internships.

The social media content Leonie and Charlotte created has received the following number of views from the student community and the wider local, national and international community during the short period of their internship: Facebook: 423 (people reached), Twitter: 1,430 (impressions), Instagram: 1026 (accounts reached), YouTube: 161 views.

Charlotte and Leonie were essential in building the programme together and increasing particularly online engagement, building a community of students from across the globe who will now attend the events in September, October and November. The main programme can be viewed online.

Building Learning Communities

In relation to this project, the learning community includes predominantly international students at all years of study from LJMU, University of Liverpool, Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts. The programme uniquely brings them together in shared experiences from attending events, cultural venues and organisations to learning about Liverpool’s extensive history and engaging with the wider community. The programme is an essential link between these students from different institutions and many communities they would not ordinarily engage with during their studies alone. It therefore enhances their educational experience greatly.

This learning community features those who are frequently new to the UK, not just the local area. Most have English as a second (or third) language. They come from a wide range of countries and are studying a variety of disciplines. Few will actually engage with others from other tertiary institutions in any other context. The programme not only enables this interaction, but enhances this opportunity and experience. It also provides the chance for home students and the local community to engage with this cohort through engaging and often immersive events which range from tours to ferry trips, sampling new technologies (such as Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality at FACT) and opportunities for further learning through interactive walking tours and multiple museum and art gallery visits.

We aim to further establish and develop this community through year-on-year Welcome programmes. Already we have seen engagement from last year’s participants in the focus group we held; we hope to encourage continued engagement through regular communications and ongoing activities and opportunities for connection both face to face and online. We are continuing to develop the programme’s reach to therefore build the community through active promotion in local press, social media, our website, imagery such as posters and further collateral and of course by retaining and developing our relationships with the tertiary institutions in Liverpool City Region.

In order to sustain the community, we will need to ensure the ongoing delivery of the programme and of its development. We are aiming to achieve this by continuing to apply for funding and sponsorship for the Welcome and to continue to build the Welcome into pedagogy, so that students will come to associate the programme as part of their personal development and enhanced educational experience.

Through the Welcome, students will increase their knowledge and awareness of internationalism as well as that of local international communities within LCR. Ideally, the support of a Curriculum Enhancement Grant for future years will be essential in building and retaining this important multi geographic, multi-institutional initiative.

Community participants will benefit from the project through the opportunity to build their friendship base and networks, through direct and often first-time engagement with the cultural offer in LCR and students employed in the project gain vital work skills, increasing their employability. Increased wellbeing and a sense of belonging are clear benefits and outcomes for the community, as well as increased understanding and awareness of the historical and heritage background of LCR. Students feel safer, welcomed, engaged and much more aware of the city they now live in.

Wider Impact and Transferability

Outcomes from the project can be made available not only to LJMU but also the other tertiary institutions in the city to help inform a better understanding of their international student base. As part of the evaluation of the project, demographic information such as gender, home country and local postcode are collated. In addition, the student community is asked to feedback on their experiences; we ask questions such as how they found out about the event they attended, what they thought of it, would they attend again, what they would like to see included in the programme in future and if they were recommending the programme, what would they say?

All feedback is anonymized and shared as part of the final evaluation; this can be transferred into each institution’s planning for international students and can also provide insights into student outlook, their interests and potentially ideas for further study and personal development.

From the perspective of students directly employed through the programme, they have fed back on their skills development through working with us and these essential employability skills can feed into pedagogical practice and even support the creation of new modules where options for further work experience are considered.

Next Steps

Further plans include the final delivery of the project and full evaluation which will be available from early 2023. This evaluation will be shared with all of the tertiary institutions and the cultural organisations and individuals engaged in delivery. The evaluation will also be available on the project website.

Future developments will hopefully see the project develop into a yearly concern. It is intended that the project will become an organisation in its own right and conversations are in place to work towards this outcome as a way of retaining and developing this learning community.

Project Leader: Dr Olivia Saunders, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Professional and Social Studies

Subject Area: History; Employability

Project Summary

The question of skills awareness, development, and articulation, particularly as it relates to the employability agenda, has been at the forefront of debates within the subject area on a national level, as well as being an area of institutional strategic priority. The revalidation of the history undergraduate degree programmes in Autumn 2021 provided an opportune moment to consider (a) how employability and transferable skills were embedded within these programmes and (b) how effectively students are able to narrate these skills to future employers.

The intended outcomes of the project were to create bespoke Canvas pages for each module on the history programme identifying the specific transferable skills developed within that module (through in-class activities and assessment). These Canvas pages would include clear examples of how such skills can be narrated on / utilized in: (1) CVs; (2) cover letters; (3) interviews. A suite of digital badges would serve as visual identifiers of the transferable skills (which would align with the nine most valued skills as identified by Student Futures). It was also intended that a series of short videos would be produced by students reflecting on their own skills experience, a range of in-class activities to encourage interaction between staff and students would be designed, and a series of skills-focused posters would be designed and put up along the John Foster corridor.

More widely, this project aimed to:

• Increase in students’ awareness of the range of transferable skills developed during their degree. As a result, students will focus on their degree more directly in their CVs, cover letters, and interviews.
• Increase in students’ ability to articulate in written and oral form the transferable skills developed during their degree.
• Increase in students seeking one-to-one advice on CV and cover letters.
• Increase in students’ confidence in identifying and applying for graduate-level jobs.
• Increase in conversations amongst students, and between staff (both module leaders and PTs) and students about skills development.
• Increase in students’ employability.
• Potential to roll out project across the School of Humanities and Social Sciences.
• Research project using the history programme as a case study to assess the above.

Project Outcomes

Outcomes and outputs

• The interns drafted individual Canvas pages for all modules on the History undergraduate degree programme, identifying the relevant transferable skills and how these are developed by specific activities. This equated to approximately 90 Canvas pages (at least three transferable skills per module, and there are approximately 30 core and optional modules on the programme). These pages are still, however, in draft form and have not yet been published.
• Digital badges were designed to visually identify all skills.
• Posters were designed to visually identify all skills.
• A quiz was designed to test students understanding of employability within their programme.

Benefits of working with students

• It was clear from the outset how little confidence and ability students had in being able to articulate and narrate the value of their degree programme to future employers. This became clear at the application stage, interview stage, and at the beginning of the internship. One of the clearest benefits was, as a result, the ability to see students’ confidence and ability grow during the internship. The interns gained substantially from their one-to-one appointments with the careers team. In their final presentation, it was quite incredible to see their overall growth in terms of personal development, and the impact the internship had on their outlook and perspective on their future.
• The students also highlighted very clearly some of the challenges with narrating employability – and the value of a degree therein – within the wider student population. Although students reflected that they thought they understood the value of their degree, this did not always align with the reality of the situation.
• Students were able to identify issues with the approach of the wider staff teaching team and how they understand employability and how it is embedded within a programme. It became clear that there was a clear deficit of knowledge and understanding from a staff perspective.
• Students were clearly able to identify the current areas of deficit within the programme approach from a student perspective. They were also able to identify areas that needed additional focus (small physical flyers rather than large posters in promoting the scheme, for example).

Building Learning Communities

There are multiple layers to the learning communities potentially developed by this project: students, staff-students, and staff.

I believe that this project will serve as an effective means through which a community of skills-aware learners can be created and fostered. This community would see an increase in awareness and ability to articulate the value of transferable skills developed within the programme. Students would have an area of shared experience beyond the subject-specific knowledge of their degree.

Staff and students (including module leaders and personal tutors) would be more aware of, and more focused on, the transferable skills embedded within the programme. Conversations would be encouraged within – indeed, would form a critical part of – taught sessions between staff and students.

I also believe that this would build a learning community within the academic staff team: that they would develop their own knowledge and understanding, they would be unified in their approach towards promoting employability initiatives, and they would fully understand and endorse the value of such an approach.

It was very clear to see within the student intern team the remarkable growth in their awareness, ability, and confidence, as related to transferable skills and employability. As such, a ‘mini-learning community’ of student interns was clearly created: they had a shared experience, they worked together and produced clearly identifiable outcomes, and they witnessed and celebrated each other’s growth. Such an experience, it is hoped, would be reflected more widely across the entire student cohort once the project rolls out across the programme.

Because the resources of the project have yet to be rolled out across the programme (they are still in draft form owing to lack of capacity within the academic and student futures teams), it is too early to fully analyse the impact of any learning community. It is hoped the project will be finished in time for roll-out in September 2023.

Wider Impact and Transferability

I think there is real potential for this project to be rolled out more widely. The main resource – a series of Canvas pages – could easily serve as a template for other programmes.

Next Steps

I would certainly like the Canvas pages to be more fully refined. As it stands, there were a number of challenges that have still yet to be resolved. This includes ensuring the Canvas pages created are fully suitable for publication. They are still in draft form, owing to lack of capacity in the staff team to fully review and edit them (this applies to both the project leader, Olivia Saunders, and the Student Futures contacts). Once the project is fully rolled out, there will be a comprehensive evaluation (including quizzes associated with each module, to gauge the effectiveness of the resources as well as students’ own awareness).

It would be good to promote the project at the Teaching and Learning conference, or via a blog post, but it would be a question of timing / suitability, as the conference date tends to clash with other pre-booked activities.

Project Leader: Dr Dan Stancioiu, School of Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology

Subject Area: Engineering

Project Summary

This project is part of a larger project initiative developed in School of Engineering which is dedicated to aligning the curriculum with the use of digital technology and virtual resources in a way which will define one important attribute of the “LJMU Engineer”. Part of this initiative seeks to enhance student engagement and the learning experience by creating a “virtual space” where students can meet, interact and access specific online resources and work together via virtual channels.

As part of supporting the move towards an online community the work undertaken continued on the path of developing materials for a “Virtual Engineering Space” and this phase consisted of creating virtual laboratories for level 5 curriculum, where the existing experimental (laboratory) equipment is virtually replicated and cross-validated using physical modelling tools (Simscape, Simscape/Multibody) along with a delivery strategy devised to encourage student interaction and engagement.

Project Outcomes

The most important outcome of this project has achieved was the “Vibration of a beam with spring and damper” virtual laboratory. This is presented into a simple interactive framework and is going to be further improved and integrated within the delivery of level 5 modules. The delivery methodology assumes online interaction between groups of students that need to change and validate results provided from another group. It is expected that this will boost online collaboration and interaction between the students.

Further development will seek to extend and integrate the virtual laboratories with interactive online resources across the programme.

As a secondary objective the project investigated the ways of building and sustaining an online learning community on the already existing informal communities.

The students’ participation provided a better understanding of the students’ perception of the experimental work and how it connects with the module’s learning outcomes and how these LO can be assessed in this new virtual environment.

Building Learning Communities

As part of this curriculum enhancement project, a preliminary study and investigation on building and sustaining effective learning communities with the use of online interactive labs and online study materials (interactive tutorials and lecture notes and dedicated apps) was undertaken.

Our overarching interpretation of a learning community in the context of this project was to build up on the existing student community that already exists and fostered by face-to-face contact, scheduled sessions (lectures, tutorials, workshops, field trips and labs) and extracurricular activities (engineering societies and teams). In the actual context our efforts are directed at extending the learning community beyond the face-to-face contact and tap into the existing informally created online student groups and communities giving the students the opportunity to access and create discussion around online materials supporting the learning in the same way they would access an online game and the users’ discussions around it.

During this project we directly looked at ways of extending this in-person community to an online domain outside of Canvas with the use of MATLAB based interactive simulations of laboratory experiments that act as additional educational resources compliant to our syllabi.

In the implementation process we changed the delivery approach by including the online resources into the lecture and tutorial sessions with dedicated videos showing how these resources are part of and support the engagement. The community and these activities can be sustained only when larger groups of students understand and are keen to participate and contribute.

Several challenges were identified in this approach, firstly being that it is very time consuming to develop complex online materials. The interns’ support is extremely valuable, but the duration of the project does not allow them to work at full capacity. Some of the software used takes time to get used to and by the time they become efficient users, the project was coming to an end.

Secondly the need to introduce “computing literacy” at early stages in the curriculum. In an Engineering programme, use of dedicated and industry recognized software becomes a necessity, and it is now part of a modern curriculum where engineering design is supported by simulation and closely integrated with real-life solutions.

Wider Impact and Transferability

Now that the project is complete consider how its outcomes/outputs have been or could be of broader use outside of the specific programme/area of activity. Include here details of any resources that could be made available to staff and/or students in the wider University or externally.

The resources used and created for this project can be shared across engineering programmes that cover similar subjects (civil, electrical) and the ideas can be used across STEM subjects.

Externally the resources can be shared and evaluated within MATLAB users’ community.

Next Steps

The project is considered to be part of a wider effort in the department dedicated to increase engagement and learning experience and to create a sense of modern student community by supporting an active online participation. There is a huge potential for the outcomes to be further developed and it is essential that we do that in the shortest time possible or we fall behind.

The project only managed to address one module there is still needed to expand and integrate across the programme, to create a unitary approach where students can equally engage in-person or online.

There are three directions the project team has in mind for dissemination of the results.

One looks into participation with materials in the MATLAB exchange program and create a profile for the Department.

The second will be to build on the work undertaken for the project and gather material including students’ experience and present the results in a journal paper.

The third is the idea of adding all the results in an online “textbook” that can be part of the LJMU Engineering programme resources.

Project Leaders: Dr Kyoko Yamaguchi and Dr Nicola Koyama, School of Biological and Environmental Sciences

Subject Area: Biological and Environmental Sciences but the resource is non-subject specific

Project Summary

During the pandemic, students might have lost opportunities to learn how to communicate with other people at school. We have observed cases of unacceptable behaviour on campus after lockdown and staff found it difficult to find information on how to deal with it. Although Appendix 1 of The Student Code of Conduct is available to show examples of unacceptable behaviour in university, it is highly texted and not accessible (e.g. bright red background with black text). The intended outcomes were to make accessible and easy to read infographics of the examples of unacceptable behaviour listed Appendix 1 of The Student Code of Conduct and disseminate it.

The list includes the following discipline offences.

• Physical Misconduct
• Sexual Misconduct
• Abusive, Threatening or Offensive Behaviour including Bullying and Harassment
• Anti-Social Behaviour

The impact/outcome

The Graphic and Writing interns worked together to create a poster with infographics of “Supporting an Inclusive Environment” that includes not only unaccepted behaviour but also signposts for support and reporting procedure. They have also created graphics/text that can be used for screen savers or other media.

Any recommendations/developments

More time and/or an intern for dissemination and communication would have been beneficial to this project.

Project Outcomes

A poster with infographics of “Supporting an Inclusive Environment” was created. It includes not only unaccepted behaviour but also signposts for support and reporting procedure (see attached document). Multiple icons, graphics and text were created to be used that can be used for screen savers or other media.

The poster was disseminated widely and used for induction Canvas site by EDI team. The printed-out version is also presented in James Parsons Building. We will continue disseminating this poster so that it will be used as screen savers of university computers and will be on the university website.

The benefit of having students for this project was we were able to create something from students’ perspective based on students’ campus life.

Building Learning Communities

We have learned the importance of the sense of being “seen, heard, and supported” in learning communities as in the project title. Inclusive environment is essential for everyone in the learning community where they feel safe and supported to maximize their performance in learning.

Wider Impact and Transferability

We have been reaching out of our school and Faculty. We will continue disseminating this poster so that it will be used as screen savers of university computers and will be on the university website to promote inclusiveness of our learning community.

Next Steps

We will continue disseminating this poster so that it will be used as screen savers of university computers and will be on the university website. If we have another opportunity, it would be great to disseminate this via social media.

Project Leaders: Dr Janet Jamieson, Dr Steve Wakeman, Dr Giles Barrett, Anne Hayes and Jim Hollinshead, School of Justice Studies, Faculty of Arts, Professional and Social Studies

Subject Area: Criminology

Project Summary

Our key concern was dwindling attendance and engagement with seminars and the value placed on these group learning experiences by our students. Strategies to secure increased student attendance and engagement was an obvious goal from this project, another is scrutinizing our current provision and delivery in order to enhance seminars as learning opportunities and reimagine them as a positive student experience in the eyes of our students.

The interns oversaw an online survey which was completed by 122 students and undertook focus groups with students with good attendance across all three years of the degree programme. Staff undertook one-to-one interviews with less engaged attendance profiles students.

Overall, it appears that students do see the value of seminars/workshops. However, a range of factors related to learning and personal circumstances can serve to undermine students’ attendance and engagement with these learning opportunities. Most striking here was the discomfort students expressed about contributing to discussions and activities within the seminar whether because they were anxious about being ‘singled out’ or because they did not know anyone in the session.

Students were keen for seminars to be inclusive; based on problem solving; to include more anonymous means of participation (e.g. online platforms) and also that they were sensitively timetabled in accordance with their overall timetable.

Project Outcomes

Survey results indicate that over half of our students do recognize the importance of seminars within their programme of studies and see these as contributing to ‘belonging/solidarity’; accelerated learning, discussion, value for money and an opportunity to engage with the lecturer. That said, only 23.8% reported attending every workshop, 44% reported attending the occasional workshop and 12% reported not attending any at all. The reasons for non-attendance reveal an underlying instrumentality to student attendance, that is, they did not see them as crucial to their learning experiences; did not see them as compulsory and preferred to attend when the seminar was focused on assessment.

The focus groups highlighted that the value of seminars/workshops needs to be supported by how students are supported to attend (prefer to attend in friendship groups) and in how they are delivered (more group-based tasks and tasks which they would otherwise not be able to undertake independently).

The results fed directly into our yearly review of programmes and fed into action plans regarding teaching delivery and building the Criminology learning community.

The involvement of the student interns on this project brought fresh perspectives to the issues being researched. It also facilitated student engagement with the survey and focus groups and encouraged students to share their frank views on seminars in Criminology.

Having students undertake the analysis was also insightful in terms of their sharing their experiences on the issue and what they thought was particularly striking in terms of the findings from the project. In particular, our interns emphasized the significance of covid impacted teaching experiences on students’ anxiety and confidence in group forums.

Finally, working closely with the group of interns facilitated greater understanding and respect on both sides towards the priorities and barriers to facilitating good learning experiences.

Building Learning Communities

The most immediate outcome of the internships and research is the sustained attempt to facilitate and encourage an inclusionary approach to building relationships between students and personal tutors from the outset of the degree Programme i.e. from induction and beyond. This has included using semester 1 seminars with personal tutors and personal tutor groups for both academic and social purposes. The key aim is to break down some of the barriers around anxiety and ensure that students have opportunities to develop good relationships within their cohort and with their personal tutors.

This is being supported by a range of student experience opportunities across the programme as a whole which again seek to provide opportunities for the development and consolidation of the learning community outside of the formal curriculum. For example, student social events; visits to sites of interest; trips; international fieldwork; balls and so on.

The key messages from the research has also been disseminated to MLs and staff have been encouraged to reflect on some of the key messages emerging from this internship.

Wider Impact and Transferability

The results of this research chime with the related literature on student attendance, however the results also provide important insights into the specific experiences of our students in the period when students were returning to full-time on-site teaching after the covid- lock downs. At this point the longer-term impact of covid on the teaching and learning experience are not yet known, and so this research provides important insights from the student perspective on enablers and barriers to student attendance and engagement.

As detailed below our intention is to disseminate the findings of this research via publication.

Next Steps

Following our presentation of the results of the internship/research to the Students at Heart conference, there is joint commitment from the staff and students involved to disseminate the results of the research via a publication reflecting on the findings/outcomes of this project.

Project Leaders: Andrea Newman and Dr Robyn Lotto, School of Nursing and Allied Health, Faculty of Health

Subject Area: Nursing and Allied Health (NAH)

Project Summary

A service user and carer perspective built into student’s learning can help to shape and enhance the student learning community, support the development of the learning curriculum and support students feel more connected to their courses. It can also introduce students to a much wider community of service users and carers. This can also help create and develop a student professional identity in different ways for students as future qualified professionals.

The project focused on the first steps to developing a wider learning community of students, service users and carers and staff.

This involved a scoping review of student perspectives of current practice across the school of NAH to reflect the student journey and in order to ascertain the impact of service user and carer involvement on students’ professional learning.

The scoping review was designed to include experience of service user involvement in marketing, admissions, teaching, assessment and research, in addition to some exploration of student perspectives of potential future engagement activities to develop and enhance the curriculum.

The intention was for this work to provide important student focused data to feed into the creation of a cross school learning community involving students staff and service users.

Interns were recruited from various disciplines with the Faculty of Health including Psychology, midwifery and mental health. After receiving an initial induction they worked collaboratively to engage with the student community from all areas of NAH. They collected data through questionnaires and focus groups in order to provide feedback on student perspectives and ideas on service user involvement.

Student interns contributed to the development of an academic paper where the scoping review findings will be published.

Project Outcomes

A number of wider project outcomes and student intern related project outcomes were identified at the start of the project.

Wider project outcomes

• Benchmarking student perceptions of service user and carer involvement
• Identifying areas highlighted by students as good practice related to enhancing their learning
• Exploring areas for development

The student interns worked with us to formulate research questions and worked collaboratively to conduct focus groups, individual interviews and set up an online questionnaire to collect data on student’s perspectives of service user and carer involvement. They engaged well with their peers and were successful in recruiting a wide range of students from different courses and cohorts to participate. This data will provide valuable information when developing work with service users and carers on our courses. It will also feed into our bigger scoping exercise on service user and carer involvement, ensuring that students have a perspective in shaping their own learning and professional identities. It will contribute to our wider goals of creating a wider learning community for students in collaboration with service users and carers.

The work highlighted how students’ experiences of service user involvement differs from course to course. Some courses have more involvement than others and in different ways, with some limited to one or two sessions and predominantly in teaching. Other courses have full modules on service user involvement and service users involvement in each teaching session and in module design and module assessments. Students were able to say what did have or what would have more impact for their courses. It was evident from the data that some students due to their experiences of service user and carer involvement had more of a sense of being part of a wider learning community than others who had limited involvement. Findings will support the development of a broader learning community of students in relation to service users and carers in the future

Student Intern outcomes

A number of outcomes relating to the student interns were defined at the start of the project.

• Opportunity to reflect on the importance of service user driven services and teaching and support the development of a professional identity

The student interns were able to reflect on their understanding of service user driven services, teaching and input along the student journey.  They learnt about the nuances and also the challenges of service user involvement:

‘During the researching of SUC (service user and carer) involvement in universities it was highlighted by a few university groups of the benefits students were presented as being ‘since they’re the next generation of support workers which can shape the care industry, understanding what is required to benefit service users and other carers is essential’, this single point really drove home to me the importance of SUC involvement within university’

‘As part of the focus groups we conducted with the midwifery students I was able to reflect on the experiences I have had as a student midwife along with my cohort to understand the importance of service user involvement that I was not fully aware of before this project.’

‘Talking to students through interviews and focus groups helped to reflect on what is needed to improve service user involvement in education. However, it made me realise that this is not only linked to how students perceive it but also the input academics and SUs can have on shaping future professionals' identities.’

Hearing student’s perspectives on their experience of service user involvement raised some interesting issues that need to be taken into consideration when establishing an effective wider learning community.

‘The views of all the stakeholders need to be taken into consideration without impacting each other's needs and necessities. For example, training SUCs on how to talk to students can be beneficial in terms of improving the quality of the content they will present. However, one should be careful that this won't make SUC stories lose their authenticity and become shaped or delivered the same way as academics. In the same way, when stories are being delivered authentically, the harshness of the stories can shock students and impact perceptions about the type of patients they will be dealing with and the environment they will work in the future. ‘

• Engagement with evaluation skills such as questionnaire development and focus group facilitation

The student interns developed a number of valuable skills due to their collaborative working.

Some developed their interprofessional learning skills by having the opportunity to work with peers from different disciplines,

‘I did get the chance to enhance all of the skills in an interdisciplinary context and outside of psychology and autism contexts where my experience and expertise is which has been wonderful.’

The interns worked well together both in pairs, as a group of 4 and with the wider project team,

‘Teamwork was definitely the main skill, especially using technology to make the most of collaboration across online and different work schedules, something invaluable to how work is moving forward in any area now. ‘

‘Overall, this experience helped me to improve my team working in academic settings, especially when writing an academic paper in collaboration with another colleague.’

‘I also developed my team working skills as this was the first group project I have been involved in.’

‘This was a very team-work based project and potentially one of the most group-involved projects I’ve been a part of so I’ve found it really honed in on and developed my team-work skills, which I will definitely use in future work and projects as it’s arguably one of the most valuable skills a person can have, therefore, I’m grateful I was able to develop it further.’

Early on in the project the interns were able to develop their presentation skills when they co-presented the project findings to date at the ‘Students At The Heart conference’,

‘I also feel that my presenting skills increased, I am used to presenting lived experience talks and areas that I know inside and out so to present on an area I was less familiar with was a challenge I embraced and has increased my confidence moving forward if I ever have to do something similar again.’

‘I am also pleased that I had the opportunity to co-present the project at the LJMU conference’

‘Conference presentation skills is the new skill I have learnt that will and has benefitted me the most, which is why I was grateful to have been a part of this project. I feel this skill has enabled me to increase my confidence and public speaking ability, I considered this to be a valuable skill of which I hope to and feel I will use in future.’

Interns appreciated the opportunity to develop a range of research skills.  They reflected on how the project had helped them to,

‘… sharpen my research skills by conducting a systemised literature review, interviews and focus groups.’

‘I learnt how to develop questionnaires for data collection, and what language and terminology should be used to gather the correct information’

These new skills would help them in their current studies at undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD levels. 

‘A new skill I picked up through this project was focus group facilitation as I haven’t done a lot of qualitative work at university, therefore, this was a valuable skill to learn and one I could potentially develop in future as I go forth with my masters.’

• Opportunity to engage in multidisciplinary and interprofessional team working (social work, paramedicine, nursing, midwifery) with wider networks, and feel more connected to their Programmes

The nature of the project was interdisciplinary and the team were from various disciplines across the Faculty of Health and were able to contribute to the collective knowledge of the team.  Interprofessional / multidisciplinary team working was central to the work.

‘Each student working on the internship was from a different area of the faculty of health along with the lecturers leading the program which has been really beneficial as I haven’t had much chance to work with different professionals within my undergraduate degree.’

‘Personally, the internship itself made me engage with a multidisciplinary team. I had the opportunity to discover other aspects of healthcare (esp for Nursing) and how the training of future health professionals is directly linked with how health psychologists can have an input in improving education to reach better service users' experience and wellbeing’.

‘I found this (teamworking) really beneficial as they (other project members) all had other skills and experience within research that we shared with each other which has helped me build on the basic skills of research I had prior to starting the project.’

‘Working collaboratively as a team with regular team meetings to discuss progress, plans and updates was very useful,

Opportunities for these team-work sessions included our regular meetings where we planned the project together as a group; when we were sent away to perform our set tasks’

Student interns had opportunities to participate in meetings with the service user and carer steering group members and present an update of their work  introducing them to a wider community beyond their discipline,

‘The chance to participate in meetings with the steering group took the information and my experience beyond the nursing and allied health department…‘

The presentation at the Students at the Heart Conference also helped to cascade the project work wider,

‘the conference was the best example of which could be used to indicated the multidisciplinary and interprofessional team working as we spent a few weeks drafting it out for developing the slides and what was being said as a group.’

Outputs

• Academic Publication: This has been completed, needs some editing and will then be ready to submit to a journal.
• Dissemination of findings to date at the ‘Student at The Heart Conference’, LJMU June 2022: This has been achieved.
• Development of a “black book” of involvement ideas, practice and resources on a canvas site: The information gained by the student interns will assist us in developing a resource for the School.
• Marketing resources for Programmes highlighting the central role of service user involvement: The information gained by the student interns will assist us in developing relevant resources.

Benefits of having interns working on the project

We have enjoyed having the opportunity to work on this collaborative project with a group of committed and motivated student interns. There has been limited research concerning student perspectives on service user and carer involvement on professional programmes, and how it impacts on their learning. The project has provided the opportunity for students at our university to work together across professional disciplines and engage with their peers to find out student views on service user and carer involvement on their learning. The interns were able to engage with the student community in a way that lecturers were not able to. Students engaging with students has provided us with some valuable information from a student perspective that can be used to support the development of a wider community of learning involvement service users and carers on the different aspects of the student journey.

It has been a great opportunity to work closely with some of our fantastic students. They had so much to offer, such as exciting insights into aspects of the project that we hadn't considered. Their enthusiasm was a real tonic and has been inspirational at a time of the year when staff and students are busy and tired.

Building Learning Communities

Within our project we had a broader understanding of a learning community. This involved the student community, and particularly those students studying professional Programmes in the Faculty of Health, and the wider connections to the service user and carer community who were involved in different stages of the student journey on their professional Programmes.

The project was not focused on developing concrete processes as it was the first stage of a much bigger development.

The project findings will enable us to identify areas of work required to develop learning communities of students studying on professional Programmes. The project work has helped us to identify what is beneficial for students in terms of involvement, areas of misunderstanding, areas of mis-communication and what constitutes more meaningful and sustainable learning communities.

Wider Impact/Transferability

There was some interest about our project from other areas of the University at the Students at the Heart Conference. Attendees were interested in how we planned to develop wider student communities involving service user and carers in Programmes. Our findings from the scoping exercise will be discussed in the academic paper and we will share resources in the wider University developed as a result of our findings.

Next Steps

Further outcomes may be developed as discussed earlier in relation to developing a wider student learning community as a result of the project scoping exercise.

The project outcomes will be shared with the service user and carer steering group.