Peter Wolstencroft, Elizabeth Whitfield and Danielle Talbot
To quote Ferris Bueller, ‘Life Moves Pretty Fast. If You Don’t Stop And Look Around Once In A While, You Could Miss It’ and with the daily treadmill of meetings, teaching, marking, researching and the need to consider and plan for quality assurance, educational performance and regulation, nowhere is this more true than in Higher Education. A 5am start, a long train journey South and being packed onto a Tube on a hot, sweaty Thursday morning might not seem like the obvious starting point for a day of reflection. However, in reality it was the starting point for a festival where so many themes came together to signpost the way forward for our Teaching and Learning and our assessment practices.
The day started with some joyful learning from the first keynote speaker, something that can get lost in a morass of targets, plans and initiatives. The idea that learning should somehow be fun, engaging and indeed joyful was delivered with panache and a simplicity of message that posed so many questions. We talk so much about the student experience but do we ever mention joy when we consider this or do we focus merely on the ensuring that the student is given a first class learning experience often measured by a myriad of numbers or so-called metrics? The joy associated with an assessment that focused upon the sewing of a button contrasted with the solemnity of team meetings that scrutinise patterns of assessments and regulations. It is not that the latter isn’t important, it is that the danger is that the concept of joy has been submerged. The question we asked ourselves was how much of this is our responsibility? Can we turn these discussions into ones where joy is present? The keynote speech suggests we can.
And on to Gen Z, a reoccurring presence throughout the day and a generation who having grown up with TikTok, Insta and Snapchat, are having to wrestle with university systems that have barely changed in decades. The concept of the academic influencer resonated with this generation, an academic who inspires, motivates and who provides learning in a package that chimes with the digital world as well as the real world that Gen Z inhabits. The questions this led to were both illuminating and disturbing. Can most academics replicate the charismatic delivery of the near Gen Z lecturer presenter, or can we find a middle ground that encompasses the digital literacy expected and the traditional approaches often used?
This digital literacy has become ever more important post-COVID. The pandemic has acted as an accelerator for so many trends identified in the sector over the last decade. The need for hybrid courses, the declining attendance at traditional lectures and the shift of the learning community online, all of these factors were noted before 2020 but in the last three years they have now become fundamental to the design of programmes. This has required a change in mindset when designing programmes. In some areas this has happened successfully with extended inductions, designed to foster community in a more natural way than the rather forced ‘Fresher’s Week’ used in the past being commonplace now. However, in other areas, most notably in the assessment process, the learning experience to ensure that the previous educational experiences of Gen Z are recognised, is often neglected.
As the second keynote speaker asserted, the startling growth in the use of AI is likely to act as a firestarter for change. Previously denied or rejected, it is increasingly clear that it needs to be embraced and shaped within universities. The opportunities that AI offers to students who need support with their studies, as well as the clamour from employers to ensure that graduates are well versed in the technology, means that the technology needs to be put at the centre of programme design and especially the assessment of learning. The sector has been talking for many years about the need for authentic assessment but it is clear that we have now reached a stage where we have no choice but to ensure that the way we assess our students is inextricably linked to the questions they are likely to face when employed after their degree has been finished. This push comes from both the proliferation of new forms of AI but also from Gen Z students themselves who need to know how things apply to the real world.
So, as the long journey back home starts, what next? We are now living in a world where we are trying to differentiate AI writing from human writing whilst meeting the needs of a generation of students who are both digitally literate and for whom community is often virtual rather than physical. This is set against a backdrop of declining attendances and an increased demand for a hybrid approach to learning. At the same time the cry is for academics to become educational influencers. When these factors are thrown into the day-to-day turmoil they can feel daunting but on a hot Summer’s day it felt like an exciting new challenge, the possibility of redefining teaching and learning was motivating rather than overwhelming. Joyful indeed.
As we ponder the next iteration of Higher Education, the possibilities for improving teaching, learning and assessment for Gen Z appear endless; “”The Question Isn’t, ‘What Are We Going To Do?’ The Question Is, ‘What Aren’t We Going To Do?'” (Bueller, 1986).
Reference:
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986) (Film) John Hughes, USA, Paramount Pictures
Dr Peter Wolstencroft (P.J.Wolstencroft@ljmu.ac.uk) is a Subject Leader at Liverpool Business School, part of Liverpool John Moores University. He has held a variety of roles in the sector and together with his co-authors is dedicated to enhancing the student experience for all students and in particular for those for whom higher education is a new experience. He is the author of numerous articles on education and co-authored the bestselling textbook ‘The Trainee Teacher’s Handbook: A companion for initial teacher training.’
Twitter handle: @Peter_Wolst; LinkedIn
Dr Elizabeth Whitfield (E.Whitfield@ljmu.ac.uk) is an Assistant Academic Registrar: Student Experience at Liverpool John Moores University. She is also a senior fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and a member of the programme team for the postgraduate Certificate in HE at LJMU. Current project and leadership roles focus on the student experience, in particular student communications and digital support schemes.
Dr Danielle Talbot (D.Talbot@greenwich.ac.uk) has over 30 years’ experience of UK higher education, having worked at Liverpool John Moores University, the Open University and Coventry University before joining Greenwich Business School. She has delivered undergraduate, postgraduate and executive education courses and has held a wide range of roles including course director, Head of School and Associate Dean.
Her research interests include person-environment fit, belongingness and diversity on boards, presented at conferences such as the Academy of Management and British Academy of Management and published in journals including the Academy of Management Journal. She collaborates on international research projects with academics from countries including Australia, South Africa and the USA and is a regular reviewer for both higher education pedagogy and organisational psychology journals. She is an external examiner and is regularly invited to participate in approval panels and doctoral viva.