The Students as Change Agents project. How did the initiative start? / Case study
Read the case below and solve following Questions:
Q1a. Summarize the changes occurring in the case below.
Q1b. What approaches to change (approaches during individual and team change) are used in the below mentioned changes?
Q2a. Analyze the role of, and methods used by change agents in the case.
Q2b. Mention your recommendation for the process of change as change agent and give your opinion being a part of this change team.
Background
In 2007, the University of Exeter participated in a workshop run with the Higher Education
Academy in collaboration with the Students' Guild, and entitled 'Students as Agents for Change'. Staff and student chairs of SSLCs were invited to participate in vigorous and open debate about their experiences and to listen to different opinions. It was exciting stuff for all concerned, but when discussion ended there was no obvious pathway to take things forward.
The Students' Guild at Exeter plays a central role in ensuring that student concerns are responded to in effective ways. Yet it has been apparent at times that there have been residual concerns or ideas for improvement that were consistently returned to, but never quite resolved. Moreover, it was essential that SSLCs should understand what the issues of their constituencies were. Interestingly, it was not always clear either to the University or to the Guild how widespread some of these concerns were among students, or whether the more eloquent or strident views of small numbers of SSLC members were truly representative of the wider cohort. The Change Agents initiative was a practical response to the ongoing challenge of enabling student representatives to be more clear about where change was most needed, to be more fairly 'representative', to provide evidence for their concerns and also to enable students to be proactive in bringing about change. In particular, there was a will to view issues as positive challenges to be resolved, and to de-emphasize a consumerist approach.
Details of seven of these projects have been selected to be included in this publication, from Business, Film Studies, Law, Psychology, Arabic and Islamic Studies, History and Geography. They have been chosen because they cover a broad range of topics, or they highlight different research designs, or because they have had a widespread or significant impact on change in the University. The case studies each cover three aspects:
the project - a description of the area that students chose to investigate, and why it was of importance;
impact - outcomes of the research, which are key to evidence-based change, and what was achieved as a
consequence of the project;
what people say - feedback from students and staff to highlight what was gained by the University and by individuals.
The Business School-Student engagement in lectures

The project
The University of Exeter Business School has outstanding NSS results. However, it has been moving into a phase of considerable expansion and international diversification. A major challenge relates to how teaching will need to be adapted so as to continue engaging well with students. At this time, a JISC-funded project (Integrative Technologies), a collaborative venture between the Business School and the Education Enhancement team, had as its remit to review technology that allows academics to engage in more effective ways.
To support this project, the Business School SSLC decided to explore some key questions. How could technology support student engagement in lectures? What did their fellow students feel about the use of technology in lectures? Did this enhance their learning experience?
By means of a paper-based survey, they gained student views on the use of three forms of technology. Echo 360 – a system that automatically records and streams lectures, which are then made available through the university’s virtual learning environment. Lecture content can be paused and reviewed as the viewer needs.
Mobile phones – used as a response tool to provide answers to questions in lectures. Responses are then reviewed by the lecturer and used for diagnostic purposes as well as for feeding back to students in the next lecture.
TurningPoint – a voting system which enables lecturers to interact with students during lectures and
other group sessions.
Analysis of data on the use of new technologies in lectures, and the impact it has on learning and engagement highlighted the following features.
Staff were concerned that video recording would affect lecture attendance; however, no link was found between lecture attendance and the availability of streamed video of those lectures. Personal response (voting) systems were also seen as highly positive by the majority of students. They were considered to promote student engagement, were a useful revision tool, easy to use, supported more student-lecturer interaction, helped to increase student concentration, and results allowed peer comparison, which was greatly appreciated by students.
Mobile phones were also perceived as useful to learning, with the majority of students happy to use texting as a means of responding to questions.
Impact
The findings from this project have had a huge impact on the use of technology for engaging stu- dents in lectures. In addition, the highly positive feedback enabled managers to be confident in pushing and investing in its further use.
 There were already patchy uses of technology, but this has now been much extended and it

continues to improve curriculum delivery.
 The use of video recording of lectures has significantly increased; in some cases, live lectures have been replaced by streamed lectures that form a compulsory precursor to more interactive seminars.  All four thousand Business School taught students have each been given a personal response voting handset and these are used regularly in lectures, to good effect.
What people say
Sam, the third year Business School student who ran this project, says:
‘The best bit of the project is being exposed to new learning devices but also going further than seeing whether students like them, but why they liked them... interpreting the results that we got back from the questionnaire was probably the most interesting part of the project. This is what the project built up for and it was interesting to see if the results were the same as expectations. For example, the various uses of the video recordings were contrasting to what I had previously thought.’
He also added:
‘The fact you are doing a presentation in front of many university staff and lecturers looks very good to employers and others.’
The project carried on into the second year of the ‘Students as Change Agents’ initiatives, with more students continuing to reaffirm the benefits of technology use. A first year Business School student from Sweden, Johan, stated:

‘I think the most exciting part of this project has been that it is possible to make a change even at such a large institution. Before this project I did not expect it to be possible to make a change, but this has shown me that with a little work and dedication you can make things happen. Another exciting aspect of this project was to meet and work with different people, not only other students but also staff that I might otherwise not have met.’

Tim also became involved in the first year of his studies, working on a project capturing the student experience of employability events on video. He continued this into the second year. ‘The Students as Change Agents project initially attracted my attention as being a good medium for getting the student voice heard across the university, therefore shaping future student experiences for the better. I hope that through the involvement of students like myself, we have already helped to develop more student-centric teaching and learning environments.’
He is also highly aware of the benefits to himself.
‘Additionally, I have taken many personal benefits from involvement with ‘Students as Change Agents’, comprising an exposure to more senior staff within the university and therefore having the opportunity to experience the more intricate workings of the business and how it operates. Further benefits included developing enhanced presentation skills, developing an ability to priorities my time more effectively as well as having a wealth of experiences to include in my CV and talk about at interviews. Moreover, since my project revolved around the employability services on offer at Exeter, my own awareness of the world of work and the need to be proactive in looking for a career as a graduate was enhanced. On the whole experience of engagement with ‘Students as Change Agents’, it has been a positive and enjoyable journey and I would unreservedly recommend getting involved to any proactive individual who has a passion for making a difference and enhancing their student experience and that of others.’
Staff have also really embraced the notion of involving students in learning and teaching developments. Juliette Stephenson, Senior Teaching Fellow and Head of Student Learning at the Business School, has strongly supported data-collection, and has used the data gained to pursue arguments for change. Sam’s original survey is also going to be used again in 2010-11, so as to gain longitudinal data on learning through technology. Juliette believes that students bring with them new ideas and perspectives to the research they undertake.
‘They come up with questions that staff would not necessarily have thought to ask. The students know what it is like to be part of the learning environment and know the issues students face.’ Jackie Bagnall, also a Senior Teaching Fellow, adds that although it may mean educators stepping outside their comfort zones, there is no better way to engage with students.

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

A change agent is an individual or group who is responsible for initiating and managing change in an organization Internal change agents can include supervisors or staff who have been assigned to over... View the full answer