Themes > Students as Change Agents

"In a world where the students' expectations of their university experience will only increase, the need to gauge student feedback and act on it will be a basic requirement. I believe the successful universities of the future will be the ones which give students a true voice, empowering them to embrace and lead positive changes, starting with the University itself".

James Huchinson, CEO, Students' Guild, University of Exeter

Entry from the What is special about where you come from? Photo Exhibition

During the high summer, there is daylight 24/7. This photo is taken around midnight in July. Olafur, PhD Economics, Iceland

"I think the most exciting part of this project has been that it is possible to make a change even at such a large institution. Before this project I did not expect it to be possible to make a change, but this has shown me that with a little work and dedication you can make things happen."

Second year Business School student

Students as Change Agents

Students have been given opportunities to work in partnership with university staff in order to address the challenges of using technology with large and diverse cohorts. They have undertaken research on student views and perceptions, provided recommendations and solutions for practice, and have supported staff in bringing about wide-scale changes in teaching. They have also explored activities to promote a community of learners by developing awareness of the richness and diversity of cultural backgrounds within the Business School.

There are a large number of outcomes from the student projects. These include talking head videos and text-based accounts from students. Many of these are on the Grand Google Map, which now includes about 150 students from many parts of the world.

The Photographic Competition Magazine further highlights aspects of students' cultural backgrounds, which are also captured by the Business School's video Christmas card.

Four case studies illustrate more detailed research findings from student-led projects, and the ALT-C Proceedings paper gives in-depth description and discussion of the use of Flipcams with very large cohorts.

The two frameworks allow conceptualisation and discussion of the practicalities of managing change agent projects.

"Interpreting the results that we got back from the questionnaire was probably the most interesting part [and] contrasting to what I had previously thought".

Third year Business School student

Talking Heads

In this video, Dale Potter, Co-ordinator of Student Projects and graduate from the Business School, takes the idea of students as change agents to the Sorbonne in Paris. He interviews Business School staff Jackie Bagnall and Juliette Stephenson about the impact of their work with Integrate. (This video is introduced in French with staff interviews in English).



Tim Lowe talks about his experiences in being involved with various Change Agents Projects