NORTH EAST SCOTLAND COLLEGE STUDENT ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY

NORTH EAST SCOTLAND COLLEGE STUDENT ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY

STUDENT ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY 1.0 Introduction 1.1 Student Engagement at North East Scotland College The purpose of student engagement at North East Scotland College is to provide students and potential students with a range of meaningful involvement and enhancement opportunities that can be recognised as impacting upon, influencing and enriching their overall College experience. These involvement and enhancement opportunities should complement and reflect the professional approach taken at the College to the teaching and learning process and those support processes that underpin these. North East Scotland College recognises the benefits of student engagement for students and providers as follows: Benefits for Students Students will be able to impact positively upon their own learning and teaching experience and those of their peers. Students will be able to impact positively upon support services underpinning their learning and teaching experience. Students will be able to engage with the wider work and life of the College. Students will be able to recognise where their engagement directly impacts upon and brings about quality improvement. Students will engage with A Curriculum for Excellence to become successful students learners, responsible citizens, effective contributors and confident individuals. Students will be able to engage with a number of enhancement opportunities both related to their course of study and across the wider College. Benefits for Providers Increased participation, retention, progression and achievement. Students who are more expert and independent, and who can help to shape learning experiences tailored to meet their needs and objectives in a way that achieves success. Better quality of information about the students perspective, which can be used to triangulate other sources of data and drive professional and organisational development and quality improvement. Better decisions about resource allocation and investment. Students who feel more involved and engaged and are motivated to put something back into the organisation, for instance by contributing to the development of policy or by coming back to share their experience of industry with future generations of students. 1.2 The principles that will guide us in achieving our aims North East Scotland College is committed to providing students with a high quality, rewarding educational experience. The College recognises the importance of engaging with students in a variety of ways, listening to their views and acting promptly to address any issues which they raise. The College recognises that student engagement is about more than just student representative structures. It spans a complex range of learning, teaching and related support activities ensuring individual aspirations are realised within a culture of continuous quality improvement. 2

2.0 The Strategy The College recognises that student engagement should involve a range of enhancement activities either connected to the curriculum or across the wider College. The College recognises that engagement may be limited by an individual student s desire or indeed ability to become engaged. The College offers opportunities for students to engage, communicates these opportunities effectively and allows individuals to come to a judgement on their own personal or collective level of engagement. Approaches to student engagement must be not seen in isolation but rather collectively, demonstrating each the College s approach and commitment to each of these. Student engagement is owned by all College staff. The Student Engagement Strategy must be flexible, readily adapting to the needs of students as required. 2.1 Purpose of the strategy Student engagement is embedded in the culture, practices, processes and procedures of North East Scotland College. This is evidenced externally through the continued achievement of awards such as Customer Service Excellence Standard, the Queen s Anniversary Prize for Further and Higher Education and Scotland s College Learner Engagement Award. As such it should be clear to students that student engagement is at the heart of what the College is about and that it adds value to their overall experience. This strategy will therefore: Recognise existing opportunities for students to engage. Recognise the role of the Students Association in student engagement. Identify potential future opportunities for student engagement. Demonstrate how the collective impact of the range of opportunities for student engagement can be measured. 2.2 Opportunities for students to engage with learning, teaching and assessment processes and quality improvement activities North East Scotland College recognises the importance of engaging students in the learning and teaching process and related quality processes. The College also believes however there is a crucial balance to be struck between levels of student engagement in these processes and the levels of professionalism and expertise College staff are expected to bring to these processes. The following involvement and enhancement opportunities impact on the College s approach to the learning and teaching experience and related quality assurance processes: Attendance at pre-entry guidance meetings to ensure placement on the correct course and level of study. Identification of both short and longer term educational goals. Interacting with appropriate materials and resources that promote engagement with the learning and teaching process. Being an active and positive member of a class group. Accepting of the protocol necessary for successful learning especially within a group setting. Involvement in Course Committee meetings. Constructive student feedback as part of the lesson observation process. Where relevant the completion of a Core Skills profile. Participation in the assessment process including online assessment. Access to the provision of information, advice, guidance and support. Accessing additional learning support. Having any additional support needs identified following referral for an initial needs assessment and where reasonable having these needs met. 3

Development of a set of effective essential and enterprise skills. Involvement in course related competitions both locally and nationally where the opportunity exists. Involvement in external student focussed activities such as Education Scotland aspect and wider reviews. 2.3 Opportunities for students to engage with the wider College environment The College actively promotes engagement with the wider College environment through a range of involvement and enhancement opportunities. By necessity these opportunities will span other processes such as learning and teaching and quality assurance. The following involvement and enhancement opportunities allow students to participate fully with the wider College environment: Attending discussion group meetings with the Principal and Senior Management Team. Attending focus group meetings. Meeting with other College managers as relevant throughout the year. Visits to College areas by the Board of Management and where appropriate meeting staff and students on these visits. Completion of satisfaction surveys at key points in the year. Completion of suggestions or comments on service delivery. Taking part in wider College events e.g. International Day, celebrating Chinese New Year. Participating in the consultation process relating to relevant College affairs. Undertaking an induction programme. Where required, implementing the College complaints process. Implementation of extracurricular events such as those connected with Enterprise in Education or participation in volunteering opportunities. Participation where feasible in sports, health and well-being activities. The continued development of the concept of Students Association led user groups to complement other forms of evaluation of each College s services. 2.4 Opportunities for students to engage through electronic media North East Scotland College recognises the value in involvement and enhancement opportunities through the use of recognised technologies and other emerging media. These opportunities are aligned to everyday technological experiences which most students will be familiar with. The following involvement and enhancement opportunities allow technology to be used in both a learning and teaching setting and in the wider College environment: Through the use of the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). Participating in online / electronic forms of assessment. Sending and receiving text messages. Sending and receiving email. Accessing key College information through a student portal and the College s main website. Taking part in online blogs or wikis related to courses. Making use of mobile technology e.g. laptops, netbooks, tablets, smart phones. Accessing itunesu and other online services. Through the use of specialist software or equipment relevant to courses. Through the managed use of social media sites. Through involvement in schemes such as Bring Your Own Device (BYOD). 4

2.5 Opportunities for students to engage through the North East Scotland College Students Association The College recognises the importance of an active students association in any student engagement process. The following involvement and enhancement opportunities can be directly attributed to the existence of an effective association: Membership of the Students Association. The Class Representative system assisted by in house training or training by sparqs. Student representation on the College s Board of Management and its various Committees. Student representation on a range of cross College groups. The involvement of the President or Association Representative in the student disciplinary process. With College colleagues working with sparqs on activities directly related to student involvement in quality improvement. Fresher s Fayre or equivalent joining event. A range of social and other events throughout the year. Club membership. Informal liaison with a member of the Senior Management Team. 2.6 Future opportunities for students to engage The College recognises that it must strive to identify new and innovative forms of regional engagement to complement what is currently done in this respect. The following are some examples of such future involvement and enhancement opportunities that the College will explore in the life of the latest Regional Strategic Plan: Ensuring the range of opportunities for meaningful engagement is regularly reviewed and adapted to meet current needs. Further development of student led reflection. Greater use of electronic means of engagement especially for those students who may not physically visit a College site. Further strengthening the part students play in the range of self evaluation activities within the College. Ensuring enhancement activities add value to the student experience and are recognised in processes such as progression and job seeking. 2.7 How we will measure the impact of the range of Student Engagement opportunities at North East Scotland College? The College takes account of the normal set of key performance indicators for retention, achievement and attainment. It will also reflect annually through the normal self evaluation process on a wider range of measures of success of engagement such as: Evidence that students views have been listened to and where appropriate, corrective action is taken. Evidence that students views are considered across a range of self evaluation activities. Evidence that students views lead to more informed decision making. Evidence that student engagement feeds into good practice forums. Student surveys continue to demonstrate high levels of student satisfaction. Student feedback on lesson observation continues to drive improvement. The Students Association can evidence a range of successful events held across the College. The class representative system is effective in engaging with the College in matters directly affecting the learning and teaching process. The impact of student engagement is not limited to full time students. Enhancement activities are meaningful. 5

3.0 Responsibilities Essentially all College staff have a responsibility to engage meaningfully with students. The majority of the existing opportunities for student engagement within the College feed into many existing policies, procedures and processes. Within the Senior Management Team, the Vice Principal Learning & Quality will assume a co-ordinating responsibility across all the threads of student engagement and will produce annually a high level self evaluation report. 4.0 Related document The College recognises the complementary nature of A Student Engagement Framework for Scotland. The framework was developed after extensive research into understanding of student engagement carried out by sparqs in 2011, part funded by the Higher Education Academy. Status: Draft for approval Approved by: SMT Date of Version: July 2015 Date of EIA: To be completed Responsibility for Strategy: Vice Principal Learning & Quality Date of Review: July 2016 6