Learning Enhancement for Active Student Community Engagement (LEAPSE).

Lynch, Kenneth ORCID: 0000-0002-5296-2864, Derounian, James ORCID: 0000-0003-1738-9764, Healey, Michael J ORCID: 0000-0003-1195-0370, Hill, Stephen, Mason O'Connor, Kristine, McEwen, Lindsey, Pitchford, Andrew and Skinner, Elisabeth (2013) Learning Enhancement for Active Student Community Engagement (LEAPSE). Project Report. Higher Education Academy, York.

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Abstract

This project explored the potential of public-student engagement to enhance the student experience through active community and public engagement activities. The project evaluates existing models of public engagement activities to build capacity in both the University and communities to gain greater benefit from the potential such co-generative relationships can provide. This project focused on one university with the intention of complementing this primary activity with collecting case study material from a range of contexts. The context for graduate employment is rapidly changing and there is evidence that students derive benefits when their programmes include opportunities for authentic engagement with real-world problems. There is evidence to suggest that communities can benefit from genuine engagement with universities and their staff and students. Over a two-year period at the University of Gloucestershire, the project team worked with academics, students and community groups with the aim that universities and communities can make the most of the relationships and in particular to enhance the students’ experience. This exciting and innovative project worked closely with the National Coordination Centre for Public Engagement to ensure transferability of the project outcomes and to promote outputs from the project. It finds that an estimated 63% students at the University of Gloucestershire are engaged in voluntary work of some kind (63% nationally), of whom, 22% have arranged this through the University or the Student Union (SU) (38 % nationally). Work carried out as part of a project to log voluntary and community engagement across the university involving staff and students has found that approximately 10,000 hours of voluntary work has been carried out in the 2012/13 academic year. The range of work makes understanding and planning this kind of engagement complex. This comprises • Individual self-organised voluntary work, such as brownie or cub scout leadership. • Individual volunteering through a university programme, such as a sports programme working with local teams, or a school mentoring programme (though some of these are paid and therefore not included here). • Individual or team volunteering through Student Union brokerage, such as the SU-run VolunteerShop, campus-based community gardens and an annual tea dance for elderly residents living near the university. • Individual voluntary work within the context of an internship or placement, which may or may not include work for academic credit, such as for a local community project or voluntary organisation, such as the for sports clubs. However, this does not include undergraduate community based research as part of a module that can also account for a considerable contribution of time, effort and expertise.

Item Type: Monograph (Project Report)
Uncontrolled Keywords: Community Engagement; Employability; Citizenship; Service Learning
Subjects: G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > G Geography (General)
H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races
L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB2300 Higher Education
Divisions: Schools and Research Institutes > School of Education and Science
Research Priority Areas: Place, Environment and Community
Depositing User: Kenny Lynch
Date Deposited: 07 May 2019 10:32
Last Modified: 31 Aug 2023 08:59
URI: https://eprints.glos.ac.uk/id/eprint/6787

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