Understanding the factors that impact student engagement

08/01/23 • 39 min

In this episode, Dr Kerr Castle (Quality Enhancement and Standards Specialist at QAA) sits down with Dr George Hulene, Associate Dean of Faculty of Business and Law at Coventry University; Professor Eleanor Davies, Associate Dean of Teaching and Learning at Huddersfield Business School; and Dr Peter Wolstencroft, Liverpool John Moores University. The discussion focuses on the outcomes of a QAA-funded Collaborative Enhancement Project led by Coventry University that explored how patterns of student attendance and student engagement are changing across post-pandemic UK higher education.

The project involved working with ten business schools to explore students’ priorities and produced a Student Engagement Framework following their exploration of how students have responded to the changes in delivery and assessment, Their findings identified key themes, including:

Timetabling and commuting students
The need for virtual and physical communities
The importance of recordings to support flexible learning
Digital literacy and inequalities
Mobilising student voice

These themes are picked up through the discussion in the podcast. As mentioned in the episode, you might also like to explore our work around supporting successful student transitions, which offers positive approaches and practical solutions to help support transitions to and through higher education.

Timetabling and commuting students
The need for virtual and physical communities
The importance of recordings to support flexible learning
Digital literacy and inequalities
Mobilising student voice

Previous Episode

Speaking my language – understanding and supporting the experiences of disabled students

In this latest instalment, Dr Kerr Castle (Quality Enhancement and Standards Specialist at QAA) sits down with Sean Cullen, lecturer at Brunel University and Student Voice Commissioner for the Disabled Students Commission (DSC), to talk about the experience of disabled students.

Through the course of the episode, Sean shares his own insights and experiences as a disabled student in higher education, while also discussing how providers might enhance their communication with disabled students and why sharing your disability with your provider when starting higher education is so important.
Kerr is also joined by Professor Deborah Johnston, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic Framework) at London Southbank University and a commissioner for the DSC, who talks about the work of the DSC across higher education.
As mentioned in the episode, you might also like to explore our work around supporting successful student transitions, which offers positive approaches and practical solutions to help support transitions to and through higher education. We also have resources on creating inclusive subject communities, which guide the exploration of ways to embed inclusion and accessibility in the curriculum to enhance the student experience.

Next Episode

An exploration of phenomenon-based learning

In this latest podcast episode, QAA’s Dr Kerr Castle talks with Dr Kate Cuthbert and Sue Lee, who both work in Staffordshire University’s Staffordshire Centre of Learning and Pedagogic Practice.

Together they explore what phenomenon-based learning is and how you could use it in partnership with your students to make a lasting impact.