As a Student Rep for the School of Languages and Cultures, when I saw an advertisement about an upcoming Student Engagement workshop focusing on student feedback, I was keen to get involved. The session started with a very important aspect… pizza! I can highly recommend the mushroom, ham, and melted cheese, with the pepperoni and paprika coming in as a close second. 

Fueled with food, we started the session with an icebreaker where we were encouraged to share with the person next to us what we were studying, which school we were from, and overall, how we were feeling at this point in the academic year. Such a simple task, yet so effective and I feel that this served as a gentle reminder to check in with people, particularly those in the middle of writing up their final projects or dissertations. It was a nice way to connect with other Student Reps from across the university for a change, rather than only those from my department. 

The first activity centred around understanding the broader context about student feedback, specifically focusing on which types of students tend to offer feedback, why that might be, what type of feedback we typically receive and in what format. Around the room there were several large pieces of flipchart paper with these key issues written as headings and our task was to write our thoughts and suggestions onto post-it notes, followed by sticking these on the most appropriate sheet of paper. Afterwards, the facilitators engaged in a whole group discussion with us around some of the key points we had written, providing us with the opportunity to offer additional verbal comments. I really liked the anonymity of this activity and that there was no right or wrong answer, simply thoughts and ideas based on our own experiences as Student Reps. 

The next activity was designed to encourage reflection in answer to the question: why don’t students give feedback? I thought this was a really important issue to raise as it is vital to understanding the reasons why there may be a lack of feedback, and, more importantly, what we can do to potentially change that. We were each given a sheet of paper with a template that encouraged us to ask the question ‘why’ for every response that we gave. Here is an example I wrote: 

After writing down our ideas, we passed a ball around the room to a different student each time to hear what they had written. This was a nice opportunity to hear everyone speak and to learn from other Student Reps’ experiences in an interactive way. 

Following a break (and more pizza!), we did a groupwork activity in which each table answered two of the following questions: 

1. How might we make the actions visible so that students feel heard?
2. How might we introduce the feedback system to students as early as possible?
3. How might we showcase the variety of types of feedback that students can raise?
4. Considering university timetabling, is there an opportunity to integrate feedback as part of the learning experience anonymously?

For this task, we spoke about our ideas through a collaborative conversation and wrote these down on flip chart paper, before then sharing this feedback with the other table and vice versa. I enjoyed this opportunity as a way of thinking about how we could develop ideas that could then be actioned at a higher level to start implementing positive change and ultimately to improve the feedback process. Here are some example ideas we came up with in response to the first question: 

❖ The “You Said, We Did” feedback that is shared in the Student Rep newsletter should be made just as easily accessible to be read by all students. 

❖ Postgraduate taught students are often on a one-year course with no prior experience of studying at the University. Examples of feedback from the previous year could be helpful. 

❖ State how feedback is being acknowledged and processed by senior staff members.  

We finished the session with a recap of the key points we had raised and shared our final recommendations for what future Student Reps could do differently going forwards. Overall, I got a lot out of this co-design session and felt that my experiences with student feedback were listened to. It was encouraging to speak to other Student Reps through lots of teamwork, discussion, and collaboration, offering a rich opportunity to learn from each other. Oh, and the best part? We were able to take home with us any remaining pizza, which my flatmates and I devoured later on that evening! 

Anon, Student Rep

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