Student reviewers of teaching practice: Reflections on the design &amp; experience of participants

Jenny Marie,Jesper Hansen,Joe Thorogood,Manuela Irarrazabel Elliott,Giacomo Piccoli,Melissa Hazen

doi:10.15173/ijsap.v2i2.3370

Abstract

This case study focuses on the benefits and challenges of students and staff working in partnership to review virtual learning environments as part of a wider review of an academic course. The paper considers how it enables a more rounded view of the course to be gained and how students identified possible enhancements to online sites in their own departments from the experience. Most issues raised by students related to the organization of the sites, with differences between students and staff in both the approach they thought should be taken to this and the importance placed upon it. These different perspectives make dialogue and respect very important in this area of student-staff partnership.

Highlights

This case study considers the role that student consultants can play in reviewing online material
We focus on the virtual learning environment (VLE) aspect, considering the benefits of its inclusion in a student consultancy scheme as well as the issues it raised
Confidentiality was not an issue since the students were solely reviewing the sites from a student point of view. This meant that while the students were not working in partnership to directly enact change, they were working in partnership with the staff to explore the effectiveness of the teaching practices

Summary

Introduction

This case study considers the role that student consultants can play in reviewing online material. We discuss our experience of students reviewing teaching practice at University College London (UCL) In this scheme, participating staff were observed for three hours’ worth of classroom teaching, and students reviewed the layout and organisation of a virtual learning environment (VLE)—in this case, Moodle, an online learning management system that allows educators to create private interactive websites for the courses they teach—and an assignment brief. This meant that while the students were not working in partnership to directly enact change, they were working in partnership with the staff to explore the effectiveness of the teaching practices

Objectives

Conclusion