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| Principal theme: Valuing our staff |
UCL ChangeMakers scholars is a pilot scheme to support staff and students in working together to improve specific aspects of the educational experience at UCL.
In 2015–16 the scheme focused on assessment and feedback. Thirty-one students worked as UCL ChangeMakers scholars to enhance assessment in 19 departments that had low overall satisfaction scores in the National Student Survey (NSS).
The ChangeMakers' tasks included: creating marker’s commentaries; developing a form for students to request the feedback they desire; advising on a new interdisciplinary, vertical assessment; and investigating what students would like on assessment and feedback tabs in Moodle.
Overall satisfaction scores in the NSS improved in these departments by 5.2% on average between 2015 and 2016.
Student testimonials
Students valued the experience of working with their department, writing:
- “I felt like my voice was heard and that I was able to contribute to improving student satisfaction…[it] empowers you with the knowledge that it is possible to change some aspects in your own department, even though it may seem daunting at first.”
- “I became more confident with my department as it actually values students’ opinions and they are trying to improve as much as they can.”
- “I genuinely feel more involved with the department and my academic studies.”
Staff testimonials
Staff are looking forward to trialling the resources created in the coming year. They wrote:
- “It was helpful to have the ideas presented from student insight, particularly backed up by information from surveys and focus groups.”
- “They made some good suggestions on how we could improve. Their conclusion regarding the need for better student–staff engagement was especially insightful and we have plans in place to address some of the points raised in the coming academic year.”
- “Overall, we felt the scheme was an excellent idea and would like to see it continued.”
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