CETL Student Network (CSN) Event Monday 16^th & Tuesday 17^th June 2008, Plymouth

Continuing on this series of posts in full CETL conference season, one of the issues that has become apparent concerns the future of the many organisations and networks that have grown up around the 74 Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (lest we forget what the letters actually stand for amid the whole settle/kettle “controversy”).

We’ve known of the limited lifespan of the CETLs from their very inception, of course, but it has been difficult to keep questions of an existential nature in the forefront of our minds while carrying out our day to day involvement, which was itself never going to be any longer than one or two years. However, with 2010 starting to sound a little less sci-fi (it has of course started popping up in UK news as the likely year of the next general election), questions involving the words “where” and “next” are bound to start arising more frequently, and with this in mind the CSN organised a final workshop on this subject during the Plymouth event last week.

With direct funding due to end in two years’ time, it is uncertain as to whether the network will (or even should) continue to exist. If it is to have a future, then the second challenge is how it will be funded, who will participate, and what purpose it should serve. With a variety of opinions passing to and fro during the discussion at the session, many different ideas and propositions flowed around the room; despite differences over how/why the network can/will/should/must continue (delete as appropriate), it was clear that there was a definite enthusiasm to avoid its demise.

The same questions of course arise on a more local level for the Student Ambassador Network at Sheffield: while CILASS could of course live on in a more compact form, with funding coming from the University or from a particular faculty, school or department, there is a very real possibility that it will come to an abrupt halt and be broken up and incorporated into other departments and initiatives. Though certain to leave a legacy, will part of this be a continuation of the Student Ambassadors?

Even if CILASS lives to see another day – perhaps in a leaner, locally-funded form – the value of the SAN has arguably been in its spread across so many departments and the pooling and sharing of skills amongst what is a very large number of participants. Scale down the SAN and it arguably loses a large part of its raison d’être.

There are several useful futures for the network in my mind, most of which involve decoupling the SAN from CILASS and allowing the two organisations to go their separate ways.

For the SAN, this could feasibly mean jumping ship to be funded by the Student Union; one way this might be achieved would be to use the SAN as a replacement for the role of Union Link. Given that so many ambassadors combine the two roles, it would be useful to replace once and for all what is a merely consultative position with the organisational structure and culture of engagement built up within the SAN. True, we might suffer from a lack of oversight from CILASS staff members, but if such supervision is no longer possible we will need to be pragmatic. This first proposal is thus to use the SAN to replace, augment, and extend the work carried out by the Union links.

A second option might be to maintain organisational independence, but to transform the SAN into a working committee or society of the Union. This would then guarantee funding, facilities and necessary infrastructure, but would mean the network becoming student-led – not that this is necessarily a negative, or indeed that this is not at least partially the case already; through the Student Coordinator there is already a significant degree of autonomy. Maintaining links with a newly independent (National) CETL Student Network could lend some legitimacy to such a set-up, but would the voice of ambassadors be reduced by the lack of a Sabine (or Jamie) to provide support?

Perhaps the final option is for the CSN to lobby for direct HEA or HEFCE funding for organisations such as ours to continue semi-independently, with perhaps one member of permanent staff. I don’t know how feasible this might be, but, if possible, would at least remove certain problems with the above proposals.

This is by no means an exhaustive roadmap of where the SAN might head, just an extension of several ideas that have come from the CSN Event and my own response to the confused but enthusiastic range of opinions expressed. Many of these are as applicable to the wider CETL Student community as to our more immediate concerns here, but ultimately, if the SAN and/or CSN are to continue, they will have to evolve and adapt. They must continue to serve a purpose, and in a post-CETL environment it is not immediately clear what this will be.

We might even ask if we should in fact unbind the fate of SAN (or CSN) from that of CILASS (or other CETLs), but it would be a shame for such an enjoyable and worthwhile initiative, which has given so much to those involved (including myself of course) to come to a definite end in 2010AD.

On the 12^th of February, the committee held its first event at UCE Birmingham. The aim of the event was to introduce the committee to other CETLs and bring CETLs together to discuss student involvement. After a very early morning trying to prepare the rooms, we were all quite nervous, especially as both Bob Hunter who has been our key contact at the HEA and Professor Brenda Smith who is the Associate Director of the HEA were present and hosting the welcome talk!
 

Despite quite a few prestigious members of the HEA, academics and of course students we knew were attending, we really wanted the launch event to have a relaxed atmosphere so people felt happy interacting with each other. So, we organised the room so people could sit in groups of 8-10 and supplied lots of post-it notes, pens and pads to jot down details, ideas or just generally doodle!
 

As people arrived with their posters, there was a real buzz with people networking, sharing blue-tac and having a morning coffee even before the start time! By the time everyone was settled, the posters covered the walls in the conference room and the lunch room. We had a really good turn out and I think next time we need to book a bigger space!
 

After Brenda’s brilliant introduction on the HEA and student involvement it was our turn. Linda from Northumbria did a quick overview of who the committee were and our aims and then we had to introduce ourselves, and typically I fumbled and really didn’t hold up my end (sorry Sabine!) but I am determined to rectify myself later this month!
 

We kept the introduction to a minimal to allow a maximum amount of time for lunch (which was an amazing spread) and of course the most important thing, networking!
 

The prolonged lunch was a huge success (no surprises really!) and everyone got a chance to have a look at the posters and track down members of staff and students to ask questions or simply to find out more about each others CETLs.
 

In the afternoon, we ran the world café session with a member of the committee or Bob Hunter or Brenda Smith ‘hosting’ a table. The world café questions were designed to provoke discussion on student involvement between the differing CETLs. This is the third world café where I have shared my ideas with a group of others; however, I have to say that it was by far the most difficult! We still aren’t quite sure why this was, so I think we need to generate some feedback from attendants, it may have just been me feeling anxious!
When evaluating the day, we discovered that the ideas that were generated via the world café were original and dynamic, so worth the effort!
 

Once the world café had come to a close we asked if any students would be willing to join the committee to help with the continuation issue which was blogged previously. Quite a number of students volunteered their interest, and we are hoping that they will want to sit on future events and meetings.
 

With the help of the HEA we are hoping to produce a booklet containing all the posters that were contributed by CETLs and also a list of contacts and information on the CETL Student Network Committee. Hopefully I will be able to update you more on this after the 12^th March.
 

At the end of the day, while some of the CETL staff and student were grabbing a last minute cup of coffee and taking opportunity to network further, Brenda introduced the committee to Miriam Wood from the HEA who will now be our point of reference. Although this may sound quite a small feat, for us it was a huge leap for the CETL Student Network to be recognised and affiliated more firmly with the HEA.
 

 We planned our next committee meeting for the next day to evaluate the launch event and discuss what we were going to present at the conference in Warwick on the 19^th March. Thankfully, Brenda and Miriam have invited us to travel up to the HEA headquarters in York to help us put together a 30 minute presentation.
 

On the 13^th February, we discussed the success of the launch event and each took a world café sheet to evaluate. We also discussed what we were going to cover in our presentation at Warwick, it was decided that it would be a great idea to give CETLs and academic staff a snapshot of the differing ways in which students can get involved. Here at CILASS, students are involved at many different levels, from Tim who is the wonderful SAN co-ordinator and emailer extraordinaire to the student who takes an IBL module or attends a feedback workshop! After my disastrous attempts at public speaking on the previous day, I was out to prove myself and opted to cover, in-detail, one of the CILASS funded IBL projects which ran at the Human Communications Department (my home department!) in September! Nuzhat is going to provide a very different view of how students are involved in ‘blended learning’ at the University of Hertfordshire.
 

The CETL Student Network committee have a few busy weeks ahead and the pressure is on! But it’s amazing to think that in August we didn’t even exist, with the HEA’s recognition and lots of student/staff interest it looks like the CETL Student Network is here to stay and hopefully will grow to accommodate the needs of CETLs and students nation wide.
 

More exciting updates next week!

 Tamsyn

The 3^rd CETL Student Network Committee was hosted and held at Plymouth University on the 16^th of January. I explained a little bit about who we are and what we do in my previous post, so perhaps I can keep this to a short ‘update’ post rather than rant or procrastinate. The reams of revision notes which are blanketing my room keep staring at me in a guilt inducing way!
 
The meeting was called to finalise our plans for our Launch Event on the 12^th of February, and talk through a few other points. The committee have asked the attending CETLs to produce an A2/A3 sized poster on their CETL and student engagement. We managed to confirm that two members from the HEA will be attending and helping us out with our welcome speeches by introducing the history (albeit brief) of the CETL Student Network.  It has just been confirmed that the Launch Event has reached full capacity, with 70 people attending and 30 different CETLs! After the welcoming speeches from Stuart Brand, UCE’s CETL Director, HEAs Brenda Smith and of course the lovely Committee, we’ll break for an extended lunch so CETLs can admire each others posters and generally have a chat. We’re going to be asking CETLs and individuals to write any questions they have on a postcard and put them in a box. The Committee will also be providing in delegate packs pens and blank business cards/post-its so people can exchange contact details. After lunch, a world café will be held with a member of the committee placed on each table to help ideas flow. Four poignant questions have been devised to get people talking about student involvement in their CETLs, the pitfalls and the successes, hopefully, by sharing and networking ideas some answers may start to appear!
 

With the timetable for the day organised, as a committee we turned our attention to a few other matters;
 

• Unfortunately we are still waiting on the HEA to confirm our place at the annual conference in July and to clarify a few details about Warwick in February.
• Our web page on the HEA website is having a bit of a make-over as it was a little outdated. Once the webpage has been set up with our aims and probably some mug shots, we can start adding links to forth coming events and hopefully individual CETLs.
• We’ve decided to create our own CETL Student Network Committee poster for the Launch Event in February! Although we aren’t a CETL we are all involved in CETLs and on very different levels, we thought that people may wish to know a little more about us and how the Committee came about!
• We are hopefully going to have our own Logo but the idea needs to be cleared with the HEA first, so we are waiting for their copyright people to get back to us on that one as well.
• Continuation of the committee is a difficult topic which was thrown around quite a bit. As the committee is made up of students on placements, sabbaticals or on a voluntary basis, the majority of the committee members will have to leave the committee in August. As a committee, we decided that at the launch event, we would inquire whether anyone else would be interested in joining the committee; the predicament will then be addressed at a later date depending on the feedback/reception/interest received from the Launch Event.
• It was also mentioned that perhaps the Committee should be more formal, and elect a chair etc. etc. However, after looking into this a little further, we decided that perhaps our relaxed approach was adequate. Because of continuation strategies and the work load induced by delegated representatives it was deemed that more would be lost than gained. At the moment the committee’s and the CETL Student Networks ethos is based on a relaxed, informal, sharing and productive atmosphere, something which we hope to exude at the launch event! The Network can only work if everyone feels free to support the Networks common goal by sharing ideas and experiences in a non-judgemental and friendly environment.

 

It was a really exciting meeting and it is amazing to see how much we’ve managed to achieve in just three meetings from the Committees inception in September. The Launch Event is just a beginning, the CETL Student Network has been asked to attend prestigious conferences across the country and I can see it developing into a service for CETLs who wish to involve students, providing information and hosting events, supporting the idea of student collaboration in higher education.
 

Back to the revision and the Raspberry tea!
 

Over…
 

(I got chastised by a military type by saying this last time, I wasn’t aware that one person says ‘over’, and the other person says ‘out’, but then I didn’t realise that male owls said ‘towit’ and the females said ‘towoo’!)
 

….and out!
 

Tamsyn Gillan
 

 

On the 5^th December, I made my way to Newcastle to attend the second CETL Student Network Committee meeting. Before I go into great depths about my awful trip up in the car from Cornwall, making a quick turn around to catch the train in Sheffield, thanking Network rail for the train being a few minutes late, I feel I should share what the CETL Student Network is, who the committee are and what we plan to do. Although some of these questions appear pretty straight forward, it has required a few meetings and copious amounts of chocolate to pin down the dynamic concept of a student network. 

In March and August 2006, I attended events held by CEEBL in Manchester. These events focussed on bringing together the idea of CETLs being networked to share ideas of how they could engage students on many different levels. Each CETL appears completely unique in its aims and how it impacts on the students. By creating a student network, we hope to support those CETLs who already have students involved but wish to engage more, which have just started thinking about getting students involved, or just think that maybe it’s a good idea! 

From the few workshops run by CEEBL in Manchester, it became very apparent that when engaging students, different CETLs seem to encounter the same problems. The CETL Student Network is hoping to provide support, advice and bring together different CETLs nationwide.  At the meeting in October, we put together our mission statement. Well, we decided that a statement would be boring, so to keep it brief, we have mission bullet points! 

• Promote student participation and involvement
• Build CETL communities
• Raise the profile of each individual CETL

So, I think that vaguely answers the ‘What the CETL Student Network is…’, so moving on to who the committee are! 

The committee is made up from 8 students (or students working for their CETLs on placement), we all stuck are hands up at the last CEEBL event and now find ourselves trapsing across the country, checking out different CETLs, blogging until the cows come home and racking our brains trying to think of ways we can approach the problems which arise for CETLs!

Got it so far? Okay, so you know who we are, and what we stand for, but, what are we doing? 

At the last meeting, we decided to finalise some ideas for our Launch Event in February. We’re inviting CETL’s to present a poster on how they involve students, whether it’s through placements, evaluative feedback, ambassadors, mentor projects etc. In the morning, the typical meet and greet with intro talk from the committee, University of Central England’s CETL director and hopefully (cross fingers) someone from the HEA. We’re having an extended lunch so people can munch and peruse other CETLs posters, generally have a chat, and most importantly network! In the afternoon we are planning to run a world café session on the issues which CETLs have faced when trying to involve students. 

We are also hoping to run a workshop at the annual HEA conference in July. We’ve submitted our request to the HEA to perform our piece and the conference, so everyone is cross fingers that our proposal will be accepted and that at our next committee meeting in January we can begin to polish our ideas. 

News which has just arrived (literally) is that the committee has been asked to speak at the CETL Conference in Warwick, 19/20 March! So exciting stuff! 

My short blog seems to have turned into a bit of a rant, and I still didn’t tell you of the motorway horrors or the excitement of the trains or about Northumbria’s beautiful CETL (lots of frosted glass, very swish). But I’m sure there will be lots more to come! Over and out….

Tamsyn Gillan