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Transforming the learner experience through student empowerment

By building students’ self-confidence and helping them to make evidence-based decisions it inspires them to be successful and to make positive changes in society and within higher education

A group of students and staff from ATU at the recent N-TUTORR event at Croke Park.

Tue Jun 25 2024 - 05:00

Student empowerment is at the very heart of the N-TUTORR project. The aim is to equip students with the knowledge and skills to take greater ownership of their own education and play a role in the transformation and improvement of the learning experience.

“Student empowerment is now a high priority within the higher education sector,” says Dr Carina Ginty of Atlantic Technological University (ATU) who co-leads the N-TUTORR student empowerment workstream. “When students are given the power to make decisions to drive change in their university or higher education institution it enhances the teaching and learning and assessment experience. N-TUTORR funding provided the opportunity to promote greater student empowerment and partnership across the sector.”

Empowerment has multiple benefits, she adds. “It builds students’ self-confidence, enhances problem-solving skills, and helps them to make evidence-based decisions. That all leads to opportunities for them to engage with what’s happening in society and the world. It inspires them to be successful and to make positive changes in society and higher education. It’s a win, win, win for everyone involved.”

Ginty’s co-lead on the workstream, Dr Moira Maguire of Dundalk Institute of Technology, describes student empowerment as a process. “It’s about allowing students to develop agency to identify problems and solutions and put them into action. The traditional model in the past was where the teacher transmitted information and the student was quite passive. Things have moved on a lot since then. Real student empowerment and partnership offer possibilities for change. But you have to move beyond tokenism.’

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Dr Carina Ginty, Atlantic Technological University: 'Student empowerment is the very heart of the N-TUTORR project.'

The students as partners in innovation and change fellowships and the student champions programme are two of the key N-TUTORR empowerment initiatives. The fellowship programme provided opportunities for students and staff to collaborate on small-scale enhancement projects that aim to have an immediate positive impact on the student experience within their institutions.

N-TUTORR student champions develop student engagement and empowerment in their own institution and support with the development of initiatives including fellowship projects.

“When we set out to design the student empowerment workstream in N-TUTORR we were fortunate to have such a collaborative team in the seven partner institutions,” says Ginty. “Student empowerment co-ordinators were appointed in each of the partner institutions. We talk about them as the power of seven. They put in place complementary activities to support the empowerment programmes.”

Dr Moira Maguire of Dundalk Institute of Technology: 'The students have done some amazing work.'

The fellowship projects evidence true partnerships between staff and students, she adds. “They are two-way balanced partnerships with common goals and where projects are co-designed with respect and recognition between the partners. Participating in the projects helps build relationships and respect between educators and students. The staff gain a new outlook and approach to teaching strategy and how to develop the learning experience. That can help them to reimagine and consider where the curriculum needs to go for the future. Students are gaining fabulous transversal skills in areas like communications and leadership.”

Teams comprising students and lecturers from the partner institutions were asked to submit proposals for fellowship projects. The initial intention was to provide funding of up to €5,000 each to 100 projects but this was increased to 130 due to the volume and quality of the proposals.

“The students have done some amazing work,” says Maguire. “They often have incredible talents that they bring to the projects. One of the things the projects showed was how small amounts of money combined with empowerment and support enable students and staff to do great things and have a real impact.”

A special event was held in Croke Park in April to showcase the fellowship projects. “It highlighted the quality of the projects. We had a huge number of presentations and digital posters that did an excellent job of sharing the work students and staff have been doing. We also had some very powerful interactive displays. All demonstrated the innovation and relevance of the projects and the real impact they’re having on the ground.’

Ginty mentions the robot ate my homework project, see page four, as another which is highly relevant to today’s issues. “A student-led approach by the sport, exercise and nutrition department in ATU, working in partnership with staff, to finding solutions to the emergence of essay mills and AI technology in academic writing.”

Project teams were also supported by the student champions. “We appointed 100 of them,” says Ginty. “They all went through a rigorous selection process. Students applied and were interviewed for the role. They took on project themes such as equality, diversity and inclusion, sustainability, digital transformation and so on. They also championed new ideas, ran workshops for project teams, and supported local initiatives in their institutions.”

Another initiative was the development of MyDigitalBackpack.ie, an online platform developed for students across the sector to complete short non-accredited courses and earn a digital badge accreditation. Digital badges offer a way to communicate achievements, strengths or skills and promote lifelong learning that goes beyond the classroom and showcases accomplishments that otherwise may have been hidden.

Looking forward, Maguire says it is hoped that the work will continue. “Student-staff partnerships have not been done on this sector-wide scale before. We want to see that continue. It’s been really exciting to see the outputs of the projects and the work of the champions. Everyone was very proud of the students at the Croke Park showcase event. It was inspiring to see so many of them presenting their excellent projects to a huge audience.”

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