Engaging students in feedback opportunities, to identify and enhance student support

Reflecting on student feedback from within the Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Media at De Montfort University it was clear that more needed to be done to raise student awareness of how to locate and access support for personal and academic matters relating to their studies. An outreach initiative, ‘Stop and Chat’, was proposed. The aim was two-fold, to seek student feedback to support programme enhancement, and to provide responses to support matters raised in an environment where students felt empowered to engage, largely in and around timetabled-taught sessions.

This presentation will explain the rationale and method supporting this initiative, providing examples that could be replicated in other provider contexts. It will examine how academic communities were developed in support of the student experience and learning journey. Practical tips and advice based on reflections from the original team driving this initiative will present the evidence-base and invite delegates to consider how similar activity may benefit their academic communities to enhance the student experience.