Engaging Student Voices in Higher Education

This book examines the importance of exploring the varied and diverse perspectives of student experiences. In both academic institutions and everyday discourse, the notion of the 'student voice' is an ever-present reminder of the importance placed upon the student experience in Higher Education: particularly in a context where the financial burden of undertaking a university education continues to grow. The editors and contributors explore how notions of the 'student voice' as a single, monolithic entity may in fact obscure divergence in the experiences of students. Placing so much emphasis on the 'student voice' may lead educators and policy makers to miss important messages communicated - or consciously uncommunicated - through student actions. This book also explores ways of working in partnership with students to develop their own experiences. It is sure to be of interest and value to scholars of the student experience and its inherent diversity.

This book examines the importance of exploring the varied and diverse perspectives of student experiences. In both academic institutions and everyday discourse, the notion of the ‘student voice’ is an ever-present reminder of the importance placed upon the student experience in Higher Education: particularly in a context where the financial burden of undertaking a university education continues to grow. The editors and contributors explore how notions of the ‘student voice’ as a single, monolithic entity may in fact obscure divergence in the experiences of students. Placing so much emphasis on the ‘student voice’ may lead educators and policy makers to miss important messages communicated – or consciouslyuncommunicated – through student actions. This book also explores ways of working in partnership with students to develop their own experiences. It is sure to be of interest and value to scholars of the student experience and its inherent diversity.

Chapter 1. The single voice fallacy; Simon Lygo-Baker, Ian M. Kinchin and Naomi E. Winstone.- SECTION I. Engaging with diverse student voices.- Chapter 2. Finding an identity in the crowd: a single-case framed narrative of being in the invisible majority; Ian M. Kinchin and Alexander M. Kinchin.- Chapter 3. The value of working with students as partners; Kathryn A. Sutherland, Isabella Lenihan-Ikin and Charlotte Rushforth.- Chapter 4. The voice of the student as a 'consumer'; Louise Bunce.- Chapter 5. International Student Voice(s) - Where and what are they?; Anesa Hosein and Namrata Rao.- Chapter 6. Developing oracy skills for student voice work; Marion Heron and David M. Palfreyman.- SECTION II. From voice to voices: Engaging student voices beyond metrics.- Chapter 7. Developing assessment feedback: From occasional survey to everyday practice; Naomi E. Winstone and David Boud.- Chapter 8. What happens after what happens next? The single voice of DLHE and its distortions on the student learning journey; Keith Hermann.- Chapter 9. Mechanisms to represent the doctoral researcher voice; Shane Dowle, Sam Hopkins and Carol Spencely.- SECTION III. Engaging student voices across the higher education experience.- Chapter 10. 'Duck to water' or 'fish out of water'? Diversity in the experience of negotiating the transition to university; Naomi E. Winstone and Julie A. Hulme.- Chapter 11. Making learning happen: Students' understanding of academic and information literacies; Karen Gravett.- Chapter 12. Collaborating with students to support student mental health and wellbeing; Dawn Querstret.- Chapter 13. Reconciling diverse student and employer voices on employability skills and work-based learning; Katarina Zajacova, Erica Hepper and Alexandra Grandison.- Chapter 14. Students' perceptions of graduate attributes: A signalling-theory analysis; Anna Jones and Judy Pate.- SECTION IV. The influence of student voices on academic work.- Chapter 15. Valuing uncertainty; Simon Lygo-Baker.- Chapter 16. Pluralising 'student voices': evaluating teaching practice; Adun Okupe and Emma Medland.- Chapter 17. Student voice(s) on the enactment of the research-teaching nexus; Ian M. Kinchin and Camille B. Kandiko Howson.- Chapter 18. Engaging students as co-designers in education innovation; Karen Gravett, Emma Medland and Naomi E. Winstone.- Chapter 19. When all is said and done: consensus or pluralism?; Simon Lygo-Baker, Ian M. Kinchin and Naomi E. Winstone.