Last week, the University of Lincoln was well represented at the 2015 RAISE conference in Nottingham. Both students and staff went down to attend and present a total of 4 presentations relating to ‘Student Engagement: Inspiring Innovation’.A fully packed programme for two days of Researching, Advancing & Inspiring student Engagement (RAISE) attracted attendees from all over England. Bigger and smaller universities displayed their work in the field of student engagement. What immediately got to me, apart from the fact that Lincoln was well represented in numbers, was the ‘novelty’ of what our university has been doing. The University of Lincoln is not only present in the field of Student Engagement, but is also an active player in thinking about improving general practice in this field, shaping and enhancing student experience, etc. The projects we carry out hold ‘evaluation’ parts in which we dare to question our own practice and come to improvements based on feedback deriving from staff and students.
We had a mixture of students and staff at the conference which definitely showed our vision of ‘students as producers’. Some presentations were entirely done by students; others shared the presentation role with a member of staff, but still leaving a vital part of it to the students.
The conference had three sub-themes this year: Inspiring new practice, Mainstreaming and embedding, and changing thinking. Between these themes, there was a good mix of sessions and workshops, leaving the attendees with lots of choices. Personally, I saw this as an opportunity to attend an unusual workshop. Dr Sam Elkington talked us through building ‘Creative Confidence’ in classrooms and beyond. A lively workshop in which there was no way to ‘hide’ and in a matter of minutes everyone in the room felt encouraged to display their creativity in the drawing tasks. Needless to say that this made it clear to me why I never pursued a career in arts.
Another chance this conference gave for me personally was to explore what others are doing in the field of postgraduate research students. The postgraduate research (PGR) community is sometimes less present on the student engagement agenda than the undergraduate community. However, the PGR community was given a lot of attention at this year’s RAISE conference. Universities all over England are looking into ways to engage with this complex group of students, to support them and communicate with them. Our PALS for PhDs project was welcomed by an enthusiast audience, leaving them with food for thought and us with invaluable feedback and comments.
I got the chance to attend somewhat more ‘unusual’ sessions and workshops, to connect with key players in ‘engagement’ and ‘innovation’ within the PGR community and left the conference refreshed, inspired and satisfied! What more can you want!?
