SALTSOC – a student designed online peer network – a journey from induction to PDP and beyond By Sophie Leslie and Nicola Poole

LTDU Who we are Aims of the unit – QE & PGCE THE & learning environments Retention/Student Experience – Induction Projects

Aims of the Project Involve students in redevelopment of the first year induction period Both design and delivery Letter to students, quiz, setting up of society Outcome – students felt much more engaged with the induction period, enjoyed interaction with students from other years Next step - to create an area for the society online

Online Peer Network Aims – Involve students in design, administration and authoring of the site – Move away from less informal Facebook site – Link more to curriculum and PDP – Employability – Internally viewed by students only (initially)

Partnership with Students Who did what Why was it important? Gaining the student viewpoint Consultation with the teaching staff

Technology What students wanted Process to decide which system – Involvement of other units – Benefits of each software Change from Wordpress to SharePoint and now Moodle

Evolution of the process Originally built externally to the university system Moved to internal university system Navigation & design changed to meet the needs of the students

1) Wordpress

2) SharePoint

3) Journal Club

4) SharePoint

5) Next Step?

Lessons Learnt Link to Learning and Teaching was crucial Not just socially based Support for students and staff as new relationship – drawing up boundaries IT Support Flexibility of working hours Clear point of contact

Quotes from Student Interns “It has taken a lot of hard work, patience and motivation but the feedback from students has made it worthwhile. When something you have done on the network really works and people use it, it’s quite satisfying. I have enjoyed contributing to the student experience with something that was not in place before and that is now hopefully benefiting the students using it.” - Amanda Evans

“ We are trying to develop it into a one-stop shop, with particular attention being placed on the placement side of things. We know exactly what is useful to share and what would be of benefit to the rest of the cohort. My motivation for wanting to work on the network was to build a resource that students would really benefit from, that has all the little bits of information that would take ages to dig out yourself. It has been easy to work on the network alongside uni because it is so flexible and fits around all my other commitments. – you just need ideas and enthusiasm” – Aysha Siddika

“ The Speech and Language Therapy network has allowed students to share knowledge and skills more easily between each other. It has also acted as a forum for peer support and has recently been extended to include an online journal club. All of these things are very important in terms of student development and wellbeing. The key element to the success of the network is that it was created by students, for students. This wouldn’t have been possible without the excellent support that The Learning and Teaching Development Unit gave the students” – Ria Bayliss SLT Lecturer

Solutions Involvement of programme team Focus groups with students Sustainability of project - transition from paid student to embedded within programme Aims clearly defined for the student to manage expectations Paid versus unpaid? Recognition of work

Dissemination Number of networks formed – Global Campus – PGCE PE – Mature Student – Foundation Dental Technology Student presentations – HEA Wales Student as Partners Practice event – Student/Staff Publication

Questions?