ROOM 101
ANNUAL REPORT 2013
by Michael Allhouse – Room 101 Manager
ABSTRACT
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This last year has been the second full year of Room 101 (the UBU International
Study Centre) being managed by UBU. This has led to a broadening of provision,
leading to an increased impact on the student experience.
This years’ report details how Room 101 has continued to be the most effective
learning space on campus.
Room 101 pioneers social learning, combining a sense of community and personal
development with fun and academic support (such as 1-to-1 essay feedback and
presentation training). We believe this is innovative good practice.
Michael has written an article on the Room 101 approach for an academic journal,
has had a chapter of an ebook written about Room 101 and is currently being
followed by another academic journal as a case study of good practice over a year
long period. Room 101 also presented several workshops at the UoB Learning and
Teaching Conference.
This report gives the results of some recent research into Room 101 usage which
ascertains what students value most about the room (sense of community and social
learning initiatives), and offers some ideas for development.
The report asserts that the move to UBU has provided better support for the Room
101 social learning approach, allowing us to contribute to the UoB community more
widely; contributing to academic achievement, international awareness, inclusivity
and employability.
The report recommends that Room 101 continues to be developed, recognising the
importance of its unique location, and its student-driven nature (whilst Michael
Allhouse manages the Centre and sets the tone of the space, the student-driven
approach is a key part of the success of Room 101 and the sense of community
which has grown up there).
We recommend that maintaining the UBU management of the space, as the experts
in student engagement is crucial to its success, and is the reason its approach is
increasingly seen as good practice in the UoB (indeed, two more Room 101 style
spaces are currently in development in the UoB).
Trying to enforce a more formal learning environment on the centre would be a step
backwards. It is important that the learning experience in 101 is protected from this in
future.
Room 101 is the UBU International Study Centre – but widely known as Room 101. It is
based just off the Richmond Atrium and is run by the Michael Allhouse and a team of student
volunteers. Through a programme of social learning initiatives and a friendly international
atmosphere, it helps students to improve their English, adapt to British culture, and enhance
their UoB experience.
A breakdown of Room 101 weekly activities (all run by student volunteers and the UBU
Student Engagement Manager) can be seen in the timetable below. This is subject to further
expansion as more students come forward and volunteer to share their language and
culture. Currently Room 101 provides over 25 hours of extra student-led language teaching.
Room 101 also hosts numerous cultural parties celebrating national days and worldwide
religious festivals. We also run academic support initiatives such as Writing Mentors, as well
as advising students on academic issues, personal issues, and practical life issues.
This year we conducted an online survey of users of Room 101 which yielded 75 responses.
The students were asked how often they use various Room 101 services. The most
popular activities were facilitated language activities like English Club (English Club is a
friendly discussion group which helps international students to improve their verbal skills,
confidence and cultural awareness through an informal semi-structured format) and student
led language classes, socializing, and relaxing. We can suggest that students highly value
the ability to practice English by socialising in a safe and supportive environment, with other
students and staff. Traditional Language Centre activities such as using resources like books
and software, were found to be less well used than social learning activities (although the
combination of all these learning options in one place is the real strength of Room 101).
What are people doing
in
General working on
Room101? computers
Using 101 language
resources
25% 30%
40%
5%
Social learning - language
groups and English practice
sessions
As a community space to
meet other students
The survey also asked; ‘What do you like most about Room 101?’ The responses were such
that they could be broadly grouped as follows:40
30
20
10
0
Friendly and relaxing
Helpful staff
Student-led classes /
Facilitated social
learning
This demonstrates that students value the friendly atmosphere most, ie the usage of Room
101 for speaking and socialising. Some responses were particularly interesting, such as the
following:“During my three years in Bradford, I have made Room 101 as a safe haven for me to learn
about the local culture and exchanging knowledge of other culture from other foreign peers.
Room 101 made me more curious about my surroundings and I guess, made me into a very
open-minded individual. It is/was also due to Michael who would listen to us even though
our/some grip of the English Language was poor.”
“The friendliness of the place where you can find someone to have conversation with for
English practice.”
The social aspect of the room certainly seems to be what students value most. Whilst this
may seem unrelated to language learning, there are some strong connections; Room 101
has a strong pastoral element related to supporting international students in transition to UK
HE and indeed to acculturation (Schumann’s theory that engaging with a culture and feeling
at home correlates to language acquisition. - Schumann, 1978), but also the fact that
students are coming to the room to socialise with people of other nationalities, in English, is
a powerful learning outcome, contributing significantly to their English confidence and
communication ability, as well as their sense of belonging.
Room 101’s people-focussed, materials-lite approach has seen usage increase year on year
as well as helping to develop international students, giving them key employability skills
through their volunteering to run the centre, and teaching their languages and culture. The
following diagram demonstrates that usage of what is a relatively small space is very healthy
indeed (usage on week of 18-22 February 2013)
300
200
100
0
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday Thursday
Friday
The next question in our survey was; ‘How can we improve Room 101?’ We grouped the
responses as follows:-
20
15
10
5
0
More social
learning and
cultural events
Increase
awareness of
Room 101’s
provision
Operational
improvements
More 1-to-1
writing help
sessions
Again, these answers confirm that the social and cultural elements of the room are what the
students value most, although we still have some work to do in raising awareness.
SUMMARY
To summarize, in Room 101 the material-lite, people-focussed, social learning approach has
proven attractive to users. Indeed with traditional resource-based activities now widely
available online this is an excellent use of a learning space (Hughes et al, 2011; Croker and
Ashurova, 2012; Rose and Elliot, 2012).
Some elements of Room 101’s provision (English Club, student-led classes, friendly
atmosphere, busy social hub) can be seen as examples of good practice, which successfully
attract students. Room 101 has not just educational, but also social, pastoral, and leisurerelated aspects to its provision, all of which have come together into a package which seems
to be attractive to students and which contributes positively to their experience of being at
university.
At the recent UoB Learning and Teaching Conference, Michael did several presentations on
our social learning approach, leading to a number of conversations across the institution
about initiating other similar social learning spaces, perhaps in Schools (the SoM will open a
Room 101 style space in Sem 2) or perhaps for specific groups(UBU is developing a PhD –
101 in Student Central).These would be student-driven, staff-facilitated, spaces which are
carefully designed, which would enhance the UoB learning and teaching landscape.
Room 101 hopes to continue to impact positively on the lives of our students, and through
initiatives like the column on us in a leading academic journal; Studies in Self-Access
Learning, to bring credit to the UoB by sharing our practice internationally.
REFERENCES
Allhouse, M. (2013). International Student Experience Journal http://isejournal.weebly.com/current-issue.html
Croker, R., and Ashurova, U. (2012). ‘Scaffolding students’ initial self-access language centre experiences.’ Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal.Volume 3, Issue 3.
p.237-253.
Ewens, T (2012). English Clubs http://the-round.com/resource/english-clubs/
Hughes, L.S., Krug, N.P., and Vye, S. (2011). ‘The growth of an out-of-class learning community through autonomous socialization at a self-access centre.’ Studies in
Self-Access Learning Journal. Volume 2, Issue 4. p.281-291.
Rose, H., and Elliott, R. (2010).‘An investigation of student use of a self-access English-only speaking area.’ Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal, Volume 1, Issue
1.p.32-46.
Schumann, J. (1978). The Pidginization Process: A Model for Second Language Acquisition. Rowley: Newbury House Publishers.