1. Community & Third Sector OR: the role of science in OR and vice versa Martha Vahl Research Consultant martha@cict.demon.co.uk

2. Overview Example Student as Producer evaluation Community Operational Research Conclusion

3. Example Student as Producer evaluation University of Lincoln – 2010-2013 (HEA funded) - Research Engaged teaching and learning as the organising principle of the University - Through student engagement ‘learning takes place when doing ‘real’ research, in collaboration’ - Fundamental debate about pedagogical principles

4. SasP Evaluation Measures taken: 8 features: discovery, technology, space and spatiality, assessment and feedback, research and evaluation, student voice, support through information sources, creating the future Undergraduate research projects (UROS); Fund for Educational Development (FED) Integrate into Quality Processes (AMR, revalidation, internal examiners, PAR) Conferences/meetings, publications, presentations Self Assessment Questionnaire (twice)

5. Evaluation approach 1 Simple: did these measures achieve the required result? Improve student engagement? Data sources: NSS, publications, UROS, FED, Teacher qualifications, AMR, PAR, Revalidations, External Examiners publications, etc Results No, not because of the SasP and its measures. - Few individual ‘strong’ examples were identified; not shared, no debate, compliance through quality

6. Evaluation approach 2 Too many options/complexities as people’s values are not included in the simple approach. Use Community OR approach to engage people to include values and motivate – include individual optimization Introduction of regulative principles to improve the practice (optimisation within, and resilience) People collaborate by engaging in a task that improves individual activities

7. Improve SasP through Research Support practice improvements: Creating community: (research)groups (students, collaborators) to develop a task. The objective of the task can be temporarily agreed or tolerated, but the attitudes (values) will develop & change during collaboration.

8. SasP as research Beautiful example of Community OR, but Need people to continue their participation in achieving a (temporary) objective Need to deliver a product Contribute to the product even though this may change Create new resources through the collaboration Knowledge: what is takes to keep going (competence)

9. SasP lessons learned Project was a waste of money Results and resources are not made available, so will peter out No established procedures to do SasP Is has been integrated as a managerial compliance and control instrument (not creating and supporting space to develop regulative principles)

10. Community OR Science Wicked problems, tragedy of the commons, Prisoner’s Dilemma, Arrow’s impossibility theorem: individual -<  collective tension, support in dealing with these issues (tit for that in the prisoner’s dilemma). NOT resolving the tension, but organising it. Example: linguistic structures Different purposes, desired impacts etc.: how dealing with them be extended from a particular set to (finite number of values) to a more general problem? Community OR ‘science challenge’ to create resources that support people to create collective values they can accept temporarily

11. COR: Science of Better Systems improvement ‘science’ Suggestion: use Process of OR as framework, not as tools, techniques (Royston, Inside OR, June 2013) COR: use this OR ‘frame’ to create collectives that want to undertake a task and thereby create resources that support/channel values OR and training/use of process as above (point added after presentation)

12. Conclusions  Lesson1: Student as Producer evaluation: as a project not successful, as it did not engage with people’s values. No sharing or debate, but managerial compliance and control.  Lesson2: Student as Producer as a COR project would benefit from engaging with people’s values; this means support them to develop a task with a temporary agreed objective. This will be successful if the regulative principle is properly chosen (as in the Prisoners’ Dilemma).  Lesson3: Projects like SasP require long term development; structures that might develop need to be maintained by improving them via participants’ contributions.