This week’s chat on will be led by student interns Fernandos and Míde with their mentor Sharon on the theme of student partnerships.

The Enhancing Digital Teaching and Learning in Irish Universities Project (EDTL) is aimed at enhancing the digital attributes and educational experiences of Irish university students through enabling the mainstreamed and integrated use of digital technologies across the teaching and learning process. Between 2019 and 2021 we hired 20 student associate interns to the EDTL project with the aim of engaging students as co-creators in developing digital teaching and learning resources.

Using our internship model as a case-study, we conducted 18 qualitative interviews with 10 interns and 8 staff towards the end of 2021 with the aim of understanding (i) staff’s and students’ perspectives on students-staffs partnership in teaching and learning and (ii) students perceived benefits when actively involved as co-creators in teaching and learning.

Staff reported that having student interns brought about productivity and effectiveness in their work at their respective universities as they brought in authentic students’ voices through sharing their learning experiences and thoughts that would not have been otherwise captured by only staff in developing teaching and learning resources. On the other hand, student interns reported that the partnership made them feel as active stakeholders in the teaching and learning process and provided an avenue through which they shared their learning needs in creating resources.

Lessons drawn from our internship model highlight the value of actively involving students in the process of developing teaching and learning resources as they bring in authentic student voices and own the process.

Chat Questions

Chat questions will be uploaded after the chat on Wednesday (no spoilers!) 😉

Wakelet

Here is the Wakelet for the chat https://wke.lt/w/s/v-DQwD

The Host’s Bios

Míde Nic Fhionnlaoich (@midenicf)

Míde is a Student Associate Intern for Enhancing Digital Capacity in Teaching and Learning in Irish Universities. A Conamara native, she is a fluent Irish speaker and has just finished final year studying Law with Social Justice in University College Dublin. During her time in UCD she has been active in UCD Students’ Union as Oifigeach na Gaeilge and Law College Officer. She is a strong believer in the importance of the student voice in decision-making in Irish universities, with a particular interest in the concept of Students as Partners in teaching and learning

Fernandos Ongolly (@ongollyF)

Fernandos is a PhD student at UCD Michael Smurfit Business School. He has a background in anthropology with lots of experience in qualitative research. He has interests in technological innovation specifically design thinking and user experience research. Outside academic work, he is the auditor/chairperson of the UCD PhD Society. As part of his internship with the Enhancing Digital Teaching and Learning project he has been conducting research into the impact of the student intern scheme through qualitative interviews with students and staff involved in the project.

Sharon Flynn (@SharonLFlynn)

Sharon is Project Manager for Enhancing Digital Capacity in Teaching and Learning in Irish Universities, funded through the Higher Education Authority Innovation and Transformation Programme. She works closely with senior academic leaders across the university sector to develop, pilot, review and roll out an ambitious staff development programme to enhance the digital confidence, skills and competences of those who teach in Irish universities.