Jisc Change Agents’ Network Webinar, 18 February 2015
We will be presenting our research project in the context of Jisc Change Agents’ Network Webinar next Wednesday, 18 February, 12:30-1:30. The Jisc change agents’ network supports staff and students working in partnership on curriculum innovation projects in UK further education and skills and higher education. More information here.
Session description
We will discuss today the ways we work together as students and academics on projects and shared interests, as part of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Southampton and as part of the international RAISE network. Julie Wintrup will introduce RAISE and invite contributions to its fourth Annual Conference. Its purpose is to promote through networks and events the transformative potential of working with students as partners, collaborators, researchers and producers. Embedding engaging forms of learning in all aspects of the curriculum and broader student experience, and researching this in order to learn and improve, is our goal. Julie and students will then use examples from the occupational therapy programme and other courses to illustrate ways of working in partnership with students.
The projects we will discuss today include a Higher Education Academy funded project, “Global health citizenship: exploring a European partnership as a means of intercultural learning”, which 3rd year occupational therapy student Alex D’Aeth and researcher Joana Nascimento are part of. Juliette Truman, lecturer in occupational therapy and Practice Academic Liaison Lead, describes a step-change is students’ confidence and colleagial approach to practice following the experience of the international partnership project.
Naomi Waters and Kosiwa Lokosu are 2nd year occupational therapy students who recently participated in an interdisciplinary ethics conference “Challenging questions and ethical obligations: the ethics of everyday practice”. They discuss how their experiences in these and broader forms of engagement are meaningful to them. Our Associate Head of Professional Practice, Jo Watson, says: “The Faculty of Health Sciences is extremely proud of the creative, innovative and engaging educational opportunties developed in partnership with students and embedded within our undergraduate occupational therapy programme. The approach taken to collaborative partnership working models a positive and empowering approach to working with service users, peers, colleagues and communities. It draws together and values multiple perspectives, giving voice to students and shaping projects in new ways. This creates ripples: academic colleagues and fellow students see the impact of innovative partnerships and seek to emulate them. The work of the programme team and students is highly significant, quietly powerful and like the occupational therapy profession itself, punches above its weight in the Faculty and University.
— Julie Wintrup