The student voice in higher education curriculum design: is
there value in listening? A case study
PROBLEMS
Lack of engagement - Poor attendance - Bad
reputation - Low achievement……
Lectures
- Front loaded
- Plus exam
revision
Study pack
Four seminars
Exam
- Essential information
-articles and cases
- Background details
-structured sessions
- Choice of 6
questions
- Seminar preparation
-no prep=can’t
attend
- Descriptive and
problem-based
WHAT HAPPENED?
Tutor-led
redesign
Evaluation 1:
-Module results
-Staff discussion
-Module review
-Questionnaire
School of Law
Is there an effective,
sustainable middle way?
Simon Brooman
Sue Darwent
Alex Pimor
What’s the
curriculum?
Evolution from product towards
process?
Continuum from brief module review
to co-creation, Trowler & Trowler,
2010; Bovill, 2013
Students in
curriculum design?
Benefits students’ motivation, commitment
and perception of shared responsibility for
learning, Bovill, Cook-Sather & Felten, 2011
Barriers? Less control,
experience, Bovill, 2013;
external regulations, Ritter, 2006
BACKGROUND
Hearing the student voice: Campbell,
Beasley, Eland & Rumpus, 2007
‘a unit of learning’ Dempster,
Benfield & Francis, 2012
What’s the student
voice?
A product or a process? Fraser &
Bosanquet, 2006
Content vs engagement? Bovill,
Bulley & Morss, 2011
‘Change based on what students
say’ Cook-Sather, 2006
Empowerment: Mcleod, 2011
Under-represented: JISC, 2011
This case study compares the relative effectiveness of a tutorcentred redesign of a module with one more closely aligned to
the student voice. Could this provide a sustainable method for
developing curricula? Approached from a pragmatic paradigm
(Cresswell, 2007), the research aimed to find out how students
perceived their learning experiences in a particular module
and ‘what worked’ for them.
Evaluation 1
Headlines
•Pass rate and mean marks
get worse
•Module review shows
dissatisfaction
•Staff and students don’t see
eye-to-eye
•Questionnaire responses
unexpected:
•‘the whole thing was
confusing and boring’.
Focus group
study:Listening to the
student voice:
Evaluation 2
Headlines
•Pass rate and mean
marks improve
Studentinfluenced
redesign
•Improved module
review ratings
Evaluation 2:
Module review
Questionnaire
Module results
• Better attendance
at seminars
CONCLUSION
There is value in listening to the student voice in Curriculum
Development – results, improved learning experience, small
collaborative steps can have an impact
Why? Re-interpretation of literature, better understanding
Sustainable model – time-efficient, straightforward
‘When (lecturer) went on about someone selling
fruit in Germany, it didn’t really make sense…..’
Wider applicability – across modules/courses/institutions
‘…..(But when) she started using
examples for us, just common
examples that we could relate to, then
started applying the articles to them,
then we understood it’