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Conversations4citizenship

Fiona A Wilkie Leave a Comment

THE TEAM

Kamille Beye

Stella Cheong

Rowena Palicious

Adam Peter Lang

 

DEPARTMENT

Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment, IOE

 

WHAT HAPPENED?

Conversations4Citizenship is an innovative, inclusive, international podcast capturing discussions and debates on a wide range of citizenship issues focusing on emergence from the COVID 19 pandemic. Re -imagining citizenship education for a better future in these troubling geo-political times. We look at topics large or small and try to tell stories that appeal to a wide range of students, academics and practitioners.

 

WHAT ADVICE OR ENCOURAGEMENT WOULD YOU GIVE TO SOMEONE THINKING OF DOING A CHANGEMAKERS PROJECT?

Go for it!

Bringing Academic Work to Life

Fiona A Wilkie Leave a Comment

THE TEAM

Lead students: Trista Wu, Chanju Mwanza, Michelle Kai Yee Wong, Wai Lok Ng

Support students: Kazunori Shishikura, Fu Kexin

Staff lead: Ieva Kelpsaite

 

DEPARTMENT

Student Services Team (IOE)

 

WHAT HAPPENED?

In this project lead students led three creative groups – podcast, website creation and video creation. The website and podcast groups have been incredibly successful as they have most participating students engaging with the project, following up the workshop and learning to either design their own website or create a podcast. We had participating students showcasing their work at the end of the year celebration. I found particularly inspiring that our student leaders needed very little support from the staff to lead their own groups and workshops. They were switched on and knew how to manage the groups, and how to engage. I thought that their leadership were exemplary and I hope something they will take away into the workplace as a great skill they’ve practiced.

 

WHAT ADVICE OR ENCOURAGEMENT WOULD YOU GIVE TO SOMEONE THINKING OF DOING A CHANGEMAKERS PROJECT?

Go for it, it’s currently the most successful way of engaging with the students. As it’s a long time engagement it also leaves greatest impact on the students.

Career support for Undergraduates’ Engagement with Services (CUES) Study

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THE TEAM

Staff lead: Dr Keri Wong

Student lead: Henry Wang

Support student: Chloe Wang

 

DEPARTMENT

Psychology and Human Development, IOE

 

WHAT HAPPENED?

The CUES project investigated undergraduates’ access to UCL’s careers support and development services. Low student engagement with careers workshops and appointments (18.1% and 10.2%, respectively) at the IOE relative to UCL (24.6% and 15.3%) in 2021 has fuelled our investigation into how BSc Psychology with Education undergraduates from the Department of Psychology and Human Development (IOE), are engaging with the career resources offered. In listening to student’s feedback, we hoped to co-design timely solutions to increase student engagement with departmental and UCL careers services. We captured student voices across year groups (year 1, 2, and 3) through online semi-structured focus groups of three students. We explored student’s understanding of employability with at least ten participants from each year group. Study results highlighted six reasons for low engagement with UCL career events; these are: 1) professionalism, 2) undergraduate stage of life, 3) interpersonal factor, 4) cultural factor, 5) personality, and 6) personal characteristics. Additionally, participants’ expectations of university career services were related to ways of introducing career support, individualised support, types of career events, and diverse support. Opinions differed for each year group. This study yielded in-depth, new perspectives on BSc Psychology with Education undergraduates’ ideas and demands for career support. Aligning career support resources more effectively with student needs – better student-staff partnership – will enhance student’s future access to UCL career services and, in turn, maximise students’ employability and overall university experience.

The link of CUES Study Results Highlights Video: https://mediacentral.ucl.ac.uk/Player/46ebcE0F 

CUES Results Posters_Chloe Wang CUES Study Poster_Chloe Wang

 

WHAT ADVICE OR ENCOURAGEMENT WOULD YOU GIVE TO SOMEONE THINKING OF DOING A CHANGEMAKERS PROJECT?

– Always think about your potential stakeholders
– Always keep your supervisor updated about your project and communicate with others
– Always work as a team and try your best to stick to the timeline
– Think creatively about developing solutions for students and staff

Peer-led critical reading workshops

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THE TEAM

Staff: Dr Alex Elwick

Lead students: Mellissa Seow, Li Diya, Meichen Lu.

Support students: David Curtin, Lin Zilin, Monica Loa Romo, Kathryn O’Brien Skerry, Christina Pham.

DEPARTMENT

Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment , IOE

WHAT HAPPENED?

As masters level students, we’re all told that we must write critically. However, many international students who are not native English speakers struggle with even understanding some of the articles, so it’s harder for them to be able to respond critically to what they read! Our project was a peer-lead reading workshop, which offered a small and safe space where students could ask their peers for help in the essential readings of one of our core modules – What is Education (WIE). Peer tutors were selected from the Term 1 cohort of WIE students to assist students in the Term 2 cohort, where tutors could break down complex sentences, explain foreign concepts or impart strategies and tips for reading critically. Our project recruited 4 peer tutors and had 20 students sign up as tutees. It ran for three weeks in Term 2.

WHAT ADVICE OR ENCOURAGEMENT WOULD YOU GIVE TO SOMEONE THINKING OF DOING A CHANGEMAKERS PROJECT?

If your project satisfies a real need amongst students or staff, then it will be impactful! Don’t be afraid to ask questions and clarify. Whenever we had doubts, we would ask Dr Alex Elwick or each other – talking through our queries and doubts helped to refine the ideas of our final project. We also approached Dr Lesley Price from the AWC – looking at situating your project within the wider context of what’s already going on is a great way to ensure its success.

Developing international perspectives on the curriculum for the MA Early Years Education programme

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THE TEAM

Students: Iba Beyza Yuanyuan Dai (project lead student) Chunjing Li Kateryna Tyzhuk

Staff: Jennifer Chung Eirini Gkouskou Joseph Mintz (project lead staff)

DEPARTMENT

Learning and Leadership, IOE

WHAT HAPPENED?
In this project we worked with staff and students on the MA Early Years cluster (MA Early Years Face to Face, MA Early Years Online and MA Primary) to develop an understanding of how we could approach developing a more international perspective on the programme. Our objectives were to consider how the programme could better draw on the personal and professional experience of all students and their understanding of their own local contexts in their home countries, and further consider how this could be translated into curriculum developments. We ran focus groups with staff and students on the programme as well as a student survey. Based on analysis of this feedback we developed two exemplar resources for two units on two modules, illustrating how an international perspective could be developed in the programme. We also came up with a set of recommendations. One of the best things about the project was that we gained a real sense of what students thought was important – for example that student diversity was a real resource for learning that could be made more use of in the curriculum for the programme. We also understood better the challenges perceived by staff – in particular the need to avoid tokenistic approaches and instead to focus on deeper learning that made use of staff diversity and the full staff knowledge base on international perspectives.
WHAT ADVICE OR ENCOURAGEMENT WOULD YOU GIVE TO SOMEONE THINKING OF DOING A CHANGEMAKERS PROJECT?
So a key thing we learned was that students and staff can work together and learn together as equals. One student noted, “..the whole process we were treated as equal members of the research team, whose insights were always seriously considered. As a result, it had an immense (positive) impact on my self-esteem as a novice researcher.” Another student said, “”definitely do it because It is an excellent opportunity to develop some research skills, improve your network and experience the program from a different perspective”. Adopting a co-production perspective from the start is really important but at the same time working initially to understand the strengths and limitations across the whole team and how we can work to support each other is also really important

Re-launching the Education Society for Long-term Community Engagement

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The team
Project lead students: Molly Edwards and Leow Tian Ahn
Project support students: Youvin Lawela Kim and Noa Adan
Staff: Mark Freeman and Georgina Brewis
Department
Education, Practice and Society
What happened?
Our project was to re-establish the Education Society and lay the foundations for its longevity, as this is not something that had been achieved by previous cohorts despite their efforts. We decided to do this, because we felt a lack of community and belonging among students in our course, as well as a disconnect between staff and students who had only met each other online, due to the pandemic. Since then, we have worked in partnership with our staff leaders and with the help of ChangeMakers to create a society that addresses this issue. We first held elections for ten roles we viewed as necessary to the society’s success. Some of the students in the committee were responsible for creating an Instagram page for our society where we could share our events with students, but also create ‘Day in the Life’ videos and opportunity posts for students to feel more connected. This page now has over 100 followers. We have also hosted numerous events for students, such as a series of coffee chats some of which were in collaboration with members of staff and the Psychology with Education society, an Easter Egg Hunt, and a Fancy Dress Strike. We are continuing to use our platform to connect with staff and students and we are seeing more engagement with the Education Society as our platform grows. It is clear that there was a need for a student focused, staff supported initiative like the Education Society, and with the ChangeMakers’ support and funding we have been able to launch this society and initiative in a way that we would not have been able to do otherwise.
What advice or encouragement would you give to someone thinking of doing a ChangeMakers project?
I would advise anyone starting a project to discuss it with as many people who you might want to be involved as possible and gain any feedback you can. The staff in our student/staff partnership were really knowledgeable about what had and had not worked in the past, how we could figure out some of the more logistical obstacles and how to manage a project like this. We also informally talked with students to figure out exactly what they wanted and expected from their university experience, so we had an idea of where improvement was needed and how we could address it with our society. I would also just suggest students take this opportunity and do as much as they can with it. The Education Society has been an amazing project to work on, but it has also given those involved more opportunities to engage in other projects in different ways and create new initiatives with the support of the Education Society. I think one change can really lead to another and with the support and structure of ChangeMakers there is definitely more opportunity for you to make positive, impactful change if you embrace it.

SWANA Forum for Social Justice

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The team

MPhil/Phd Student – Reem Ben Giaber: Co-lead Doctoral Candidate – Nidal Al Haj Sleiman: Co-lead Doctoral Candidate – Jumana Al-Waeli: Co-Lead Staff Partner – Professor Eleanor Hargreaves: Staff Partner at Department of Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment (IOE)

Department
Department of Learning and Leadership (IOE)
What happened?

The SWANA Forum for Social Justice has emerged out of a perceived need for a community of scholars from South West Asia and North Africa (SWANA) region interested in education and social justice. With a specific focus on the SWANA region, members would be aware of the similarities and differences between countries in this vast geographical area (often too reductively and easily lumped together) and speak about/from specific countries to draw out practical opportunities for positive change in context. The co-founders of SWANA-FSJ find that one of the most exciting parts of this ongoing project is developing a monthly Webinar Series where two Guest Speakers from or working in the region present their thoughts and research on issues of social justice and education in the region. The Webinar Series hosts a range of scholars, practitioners and activists which draws in UCL students from a range of faculties and degree levels. One of the aims of the Webinar Series is to encourage aspiring academics from the SWANA region at UCL and beyond to find a community of shared interests – a place that values their voice and visibility in such an effort. SWANA-FSJ also organised a Focus Group discussion with UCL students to evaluate the need for such a Forum and the value of our activities. The findings where both encouraging and thought-provoking when the main themes from this discussion where issues of belonging, visibility of minorities in a big university like UCL and the importance of finding and building community action and solidarity – we have work to do.

SWANA FSJ Flyer_Reem Ben Giaber

What advice or encouragement would you give to someone thinking of doing a ChangeMakers project?
Be organised: decide how many hours you would like to dedicate the the ChangeMakers project and stick to it – it can easily take over!