The student voice in higher education curriculum design: is there value in listening?

This article presents a case study illustrating the potential value of enhanced student participation in higher education (HE) curriculum development, in response to an absence of research in this area. Lecturers and students had divergent views of the effectiveness of a staff-led redesign of a module curriculum. Focus groups were used to investigate reasons for the opposing views informing a second, more successful, redesign evidenced by improved feedback, attendance and marks. We discuss how a closer alignment with the ‘student voice’ facilitated the emergence of perceptions not revealed by usual feedback routes. We suggest potential reasons why this occurred including how student views challenged staff assumptions about the learning and teaching process and our initial interpretation of literature. We discuss how our findings might enhance the development of the student voice in HE, and their relevance to continuing debate about the purpose of HE curricula.

[1]  Gareth Parry,et al.  Conceptualising Curriculum Change , 2001 .

[2]  L. Leach,et al.  Improving student engagement: Ten proposals for action , 2010 .

[3]  Paul Trowler,et al.  Student engagement evidence summary , 2010 .

[4]  J. McLeod.  Student voice and the politics of listening in higher education , 2011 .

[5]  Kate Morss,et al.  Engaging and empowering first-year students through curriculum design: perspectives from the literature , 2011 .

[6]  Jane Seale,et al.  Doing student voice work in higher education: An exploration of the value of participatory methods , 2009 .

[7]  P. Felten,et al.  Power and Expertise: Student-Faculty Collaboration in Course Design and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning , 2008 .

[8]  Duncan David Nulty,et al.  How to use (five) curriculum design principles to align authentic learning environments, assessment, students’ approaches to thinking and learning outcomes , 2009 .

[9]  A. Cook‐Sather.  ‘Change based on what students say’: preparing teachers for a paradoxical model of leadership , 2006 .

[10]  S. Lloyd,et al.  A large‐scale investigation into the relationship between attendance and attainment: a study using an innovative, electronic attendance monitoring system , 2008 .

[11]  G. Benfield,et al.  An academic development model for fostering innovation and sharing in curriculum design , 2012 .

[12]  D. V. L. Smith,et al.  Inside Information: Making Sense of Marketing Data , 2001 .

[13]  C. Bovill.  An investigation of co-created curricula within higher education in the UK, Ireland and the USA , 2014 .

[14]  Eric Hamilton,et al.  Conceptualizing Engagement: Contributions of Faculty to Student Engagement in Engineering , 2008 .

[15]  J. Biggs.  What the student does: teaching for enhanced learning , 1999 .

[16]  Kathy Ahern,et al.  Computer Facilitated Reflective Practice in a Postgraduate Supervisor's Feedback to Students , 2008 .

[17]  Steven Cumming,et al.  Implementing curriculum evaluation: case study of a generic undergraduate degree in health sciences , 2010 .

[18]  Nataša Lacković,et al.  The Contested Curriculum: Academic learning and employability in higher education , 2013 .

[19]  R. Barnett.  Knowing and becoming in the higher education curriculum , 2009 .

[20]  Catherine Bovill,et al.  Students as co‐creators of teaching approaches, course design, and curricula: implications for academic developers , 2011 .

[21]  Janet Mancini Billson,et al.  Focus Groups: A Practical Guide for Applied Research , 1989 .

[22]  Peter Knight,et al.  Complexity and Curriculum: A process approach to curriculum-making , 2001 .

[23]  J. Biggs.  Enhancing teaching through constructive alignment , 1996 .

[24]  Sharon Fraser,et al.  The curriculum? That’s just a unit outline, isn’t it? , 2006 .

[25]  Richard A. Krueger,et al.  Focus groups : a practical guide for applied research / by Richard A. Krueger , 1989 .

[26]  David A. Whetten,et al.  Principles of Effective Course Design: What I Wish I Had Known About Learning-Centered Teaching 30 Years Ago , 2007 .