Case study for book
Title: Community and involvement of students from the School of Nursing and
Midwifery
Keywords
Community, dialogue, engagement, student representation, feedback, induction, quality,
governance
The issue
The School of Nursing and Midwifery wanted to explore its students’ relationships with the
University and their perceptions of what the University has to offer. Various factors including;
the types of students being majority working / mid-career professionals, the modes of study
being mainly part-time or CPD and the non-central location of the School all contributed to
concerns over the inclusivity of the learning experience. The School wanted to get student
feedback about what they expected and wanted from their time at University and what could
be done to develop a better sense of community amongst the co-hort, with the School and
with the University. The School also sought to identify what action could be taken to increase
student representation and student involvement in governance and developmental activities.
What we did
The Inclusive Learning and Teaching Project held a focus group sessions with two different
groups of students, identified by the School, with a view to developing an understanding of
what Nursing and Midwifery students expected and wanted from their time at Sheffield.
These focus groups also sought to identify barriers to student participation in School and
Faculty governance activities. The outcomes from these sessions were collated and
forwarded to the School for discussion. Mark Limb and Gary Albutt, with support from the
Head of School, considered the comments arising from the internal discussions and decided
on some key action points which would beneficially impact the student experience and
student involvement in departmental governance. The development of web provision both as
a source of information for students and a portal through which part-time and / or distance
learning students could engage with student representation and governance activities was
felt to be the main action point to pursue. Mark Limb canvassed students from a range of
modules to gather additional information as to what they would want from such a web
resource and this fed in to discussions with experts from LeTS about the best ways to
develop the resource. The project then bought out the time of a colleague in the School to
develop the web resources.
The outcomes
The initial feedback from the student focus groups indicated that:
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Many Nursing and Midwifery students did not see themselves as ‘typical’ students
and as such felt that they did not have the same expectations of their University
experience as a full-time, undergraduate, straight from school student.
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Students did feel remote from the rest of the University and somewhat like poor
relations which was exacerbated by the fact that University facilities and information
appeared to be designed for full-time, main campus students.
Information provided to students prior to starting and at induction could be improved
(e.g. amount of time that would be required for study, timetables, study skills and key
contacts)
A web resource with clear links to academic and support information and contacts
would be welcomed. This would benefit from having information on work/life/study
balance.
There was mixed awareness of departmental and University governance structures
Many students were interested in being able to participate in discussions and
activities as part of departmental governance and felt that an online facility through
which to do this would be most convenient
Most students felt they would be motivated to get more involved if they could see that
the feedback was having an impact and making a difference
The Project has:
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Enabled the School to set up a web resource with links to key information and
contacts
Enabled the School to set up a group on USpace for part-time students in which
there will be agendas and minutes from key committees in the School and discussion
threads and feedback on topics important to the students.
This project has successfully targeted a couple of small but key points that can help students
feel supported and involved. It is sustainable, and can be developed and enhanced in the
future.
Learning Points
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That different types of students need different support
Assumptions should not be made about what students deem as important or see as
issues.
Students welcome being consulted about their education and being actively involved
in shaping their learning experiences
The University still has work to do in communicating to students how it operates and
how they can be involved
Links and further references
The Learning and Teaching Project website has provided inclusive hints and tips for staff,
inspired by student feedback:
http://www.shef.ac.uk/lets/projects/inclusivel&t/hintsandtips.html
The IL&T Project has reviewed existing materials and created a web page signposting
resources available on learning styles:
http://www.shef.ac.uk/lets/projects/inclusivel&t/learningstyles.html