The student community is a nationally recognised key pillar of the education experience in CS at Bath. The goal is to engage students early on in their journey, foster rapport between students and staff, empower students to transform their university experience, and then encourage them to pass the baton to the next student generation.
Overview
Inspired by the concepts of participatory design1 and user-centred2 design where the user and their needs are a key part of an iterative design process, in Computer Science at Bath we sought to transform the educational journey of our students by placing them at the focus of our actions. A cornerstone of the above design processes is the involvement and enabling of the user to co-create their experience. As such over years of planning, strategic actions, and iterative refinement we have fostered a student-led educational community that is empowered to co-create their university experience.
This has led to a vibrant student community that is inclusive, active, and supportive of its members and is also recognised as “national best” by our accrediting body (the BCS). Student groups and student leaders who are part of this community are often recognised at the University Education Awards and SU Awards for their community contributions, peer support excellence, and innovative initiatives aimed to improve the quality of our students’ educational and university experience. In addition, many of the outcomes of the student-led actions of this community are shared as good practice across the Faculty of Science and the University overall.
Background and Motivation
The Department of Computer Science has a significant proportion of teaching and supporting learning-only staff that are involved in key leadership positions regarding learning, teaching and student experience (e.g. DoSs, DoT, Senior Tutor, Peer Mentoring Coordinator, PAL Coordinator etc.). This team of individuals in addition to the general circumstances (e.g. COVID pandemic) saw the value of creating rapport and support systems between students and staff as well as between students themselves. Calls for action and student leadership were made to distribute the effort and resources to organise community events that were met with outstanding participation by the student body.
This led to the systematic further empowerment of the student community to transform their university experience. This came in the form of guidance, funds, infrastructure and process changes as well as by being open to student input. Academic representation, Peer Mentoring, Peer-assisted learning, societies, DoS-Student working groups, co-curricular activities all became part of the new Departmental ecosystem which aims to foster the spirit of collaboration and support.
Once the core stakeholders were identified and the key processes for fostering support and empowerment were established, we aimed to focus on engagement early and throughout the studies as well as the sustainability of this community through yearly recruitment and handover.
The computer Science Approach
To develop an empowered student-led community, the department leads many initiatives and events that encourage students to participate in joining their community. At the start of the year, the department runs induction events involving key members of staff and student-led initiatives, such as the DoS-led induction and Societies and Networks Faie, where students get to know the various student initiatives, university and departmental support systems. These students led initiatives also host their own events – such as the BCSS board game night and pub social, WiT’s film night, an International Cafe, and more events hosted by CyberSoc, the Peer Mentors, and PAL Leaders.
Events, activities, and initiatives are also hosted throughout the year to continue to provide students with a space to be a part of their community. Co-curricular labs that encourage student voice are held regularly, such as DoS-Student working groups, stand-up mini SSLCs, a student-led ED&I committee, and a community around the academic reps. Additionally, we hold programming labs and competitions to encourage team building, as well as get previous alumni to give talks on their experiences. We also organise a “variable hour” every week3, which could either be used for a member of staff to give a talk on skills, or just provide a space for each year cohorts to come together.
As stated before, student-led initiatives make up a huge part of developing the student community. Societies such as BCSS and WiT hold regular talks and activities throughout the year, including intellectually stimulating events such as hackathons and “capture the flag” events, and more casual socials such as coffee meet ups, pub events and – in last year’s case – a laser quest outing. The different societies within Computer Science often work with each other to provide each other with tips and helpful advice, as well as to ensure that their timetables do not clash.
To incentivise students to partake in these activities, awards and funding are provided to students who do so. Community awards at graduation are given to students who participate in the student community with roles like Academic Representatives, Peer Mentors, PAL leaders, involvement in Departmental Societies and Student Ambassadors. Prizes are also given out to students who do well in Hackathons and other such challenges. Funding is also used to run events and for working group projects, as well as being spent on goodies for the Societies and Networks Fair. Colour-coded hoodies with student names for the various committee members and other student leaders are also provided, so students can easily find sources of help when needed as well as to aid with recruitment.
Outcomes and Reflections
Having a vibrant, student-led academic community can provide many benefits to both students and staff working in that department. First, it provides students with a strong network and support system during their time at university, that can provide both wellbeing and academic help to those in need. A student with such a strong support system will have confidence to reach out to their peers and mentors, attend more tutorials, lectures, and PAL sessions, and grow academically as a result.
Students who feel confident in their academic community may also feel inspired to lead change in it and engage with student voice initiatives and similar activities. This may include joining Student Change projects, various departmental society committees, or becoming an academic rep. Improving on these systems may lead to more students who engage with them and create a continuous growing cycle. The same applies for first year students – first years who are welcomed into the community within their first few weeks will likely take warm welcome to their second year, where they give back to that atmosphere by becoming peer mentors, PAL leaders, or other such mentoring roles. Students may also feel more confident in tackling EDI issues, improving inclusivity for all students and ensuring that everyone has equal opportunities.
Staff will also feel the benefits of a strong academic community, as it allows them to better understand what their students require out of a course. An engaged cohort of students will regularly give feedback and take part in student voice, giving staff an understanding of what is working well in their units and teaching methods, and what could be improved.
This focus on student voice is reflected positively in pulse surveys within the Department but also at a national level with surveys such as the NSS. Notably, even though the Student Voice is recognised as a low-performing NSS scale at the sector and University level in 2022 the Department of Computer Science was the best-performing department for the question, “I have had the right opportunities to provide feedback on my course”, achieving 94.38%. Internally, the department was ranked 1st, 2nd or 3rd in each of the past four years for this question. In NSS 2023 the Department is ranked 7th in the country in terms of positivity score for Student Voice and 2nd specifically for “To what extent are students’ opinions about the course valued by staff”. These recognitions are a testament to the empowerment of the student cohort to provide their input on the one hand and the commitment of the Department to act on that input and close the loop on the other hand.
Components important for fostering a student-led education community that is empowered to co-create their university experience
Induction events that involve key members of staff and key student-led initiatives;
DoS-led induction introduces and gives a voice to all student-led initiatives
Societies and networks fair
BCSS event – team building board game event allowing students to meet each other in a playful environment, as well as a casual pub social, WiT Event – relaxing social where we watched Moana, CyberSoc Event, PM event, PAL Lab Induction, International Cafe (Reps)
Co-curricular activities;
DoS-Student Woking Groups
Stand-up mini SSLCs
Student-led ED&I Committee
Meet your-reps
Technical Labs, Competitive Programming, (proposed) Cybersecurity Labs
Alumni Talks
PAL sessions
Student-led events;
Cafes and invited talks
Socials (e.g. game nights, movie nights, pub quizzes, laser quest)
Charity events
Hackathons
Capture the flag cybersecurity challenges
Spring Ball
Variable hour;
- 1-hour per week timetabled that the whole year-group is scheduled to be available together
Shared study spaces;
- Temple, area outside the temple
Assembly S1, Assembly S2, End-of-year celebration;
A timetabled afternoon in semester 1 and semester 2 that ALL computer science students are available to be together
A lunchtime slot during the final weeks of the AY that finalists primarily and other year-groups celebrate the success of the year.
Community Awards Graduation;
- Giving awards to graduating student for their participation in the student community: Academic Representation, Peer Mentoring, Peer-assisted Learning, BCSS, WiT, Student Ambassador
Departmental funds and incentives
Induction “swag”
Student-led initiative leader hoodies
Funds to run events
Prices for participation in surveys and other initiatives
Prices for Hackathons
Funds to complete working-group projects
Teams that all these student-led initiatives and working groups exist together for planning purposes and announcements;
- Common events calendar pilot
Reflections
On a more practical level, daily the students create a vibrant atmosphere around the Department, utilising the 24/07 peer-study labs and participating in the various Department-organised and student-organised events. Peer-assisted learning sessions are well-attended, volunteers for new working groups and student-led projects can always be found and new initiatives are increasingly appearing (e.g. the new Equality Diversity and Inclusion student-led charter). In terms of recruitment for student-leaders, there are no issues year after year since typically the new generation of students is eager to receive the baton offer to the new cohorts the care, attention and support they received from their predecessors starting a new cycle of connect, belong, hand on.
Reflecting on your student community note down two things that work well and two things that could be improved.
For the things that work well, how can you support these and ensure that they will continue to be positive? (e.g. ensure that funding is secured, or that a specific student-led role is filled, or even that some incentives are introduced)
For the things that could be improved, what is the barrier that is preventing a more positive outcome? Is it student/staff motivation, is it a matter of capability (e.g. not enough time or funds), or is it a matter of lack of a well-timed reminder/nudge?
Reflect on the student journey in terms of “connect, belong, hand on”. You may want to achieve earlier stages of engagement of students, followed by fostering rapport between students and staff and then thinking of ways to empower the students or worry about recruiting the next student-leader generation. Students need to first feel welcome and supported by staff and fellow students. Reflecting on the value of being part of the student community leads them to feeling excited and confident to receive the baton and make their difference in the educational community of the Department.