Students in public / Dissemination / Engagement platform

Engagement platform

Hannah shared her learning about a Muslim festival with her family by showing them her online museum exhibit. Effective engagement with public stakeholders requires accessible platforms for dissemination. This might use existing internal and external opportunities in order to reach established audiences, e.g. through exhibitions at the University’s own museums and galleries. Conversely, it might be more effective or sustainable to create custom platforms such as the Multilingual Manchester website which offers downloadable reports generated by students on LELA20102 Societal Multilingualism.

In some cases, quality control and dissemination can be linked to attainment: RELT30291 Religion, Migration and Diaspora requires students to make a sales pitch for their exhibit to be included in a virtual museum. In other cases, public engagement happens as part of the assessment and is therefore beyond ultimate tutor-control as in the case of workshops delivered by students on DRAM30111 Theatre in Prisons.

Publications

Publications can take a number of forms including hard copy and online publication of stand-alone products or inclusion in a larger resource. Costs of production and distribution can be either minimal or extensive depending on the chosen platform. Tutors have ultimate control over quality and selection for dissemination. Partnership working and use of external dissemination channels can increase or threaten sustainability and impact.

Exhibition/interpretation

Exhibition-related products and activities have a high impact and employability potential. Producing content for exhibitions can introduce students to unexpexted employment opportunities.The University has an excellent network of internal and external partners in relevant cultural sectors, libraries and museums. Managing these partnerships is time-intensive, and producing physical exhibition materials requires sufficient financial resources. Online dissemination is a highly attractive option either through existing or custom web sites.

Performance/presentation/public address

Presenting research-based knowledge products face-to-face in public can be a challenging opportunity for students to develop their public speaking skills, receive audience feedback and gain confidence in their expertise. Tutors have limited control over quality of the live event, but might be able to operate a proposal or internal pilot stage to select suitable products for dissemination. Arranging public events requires substantial time investment, suitable external partners and potentially students’ willingness to travel.

Interaction

Direct interaction with participants is of particular use to students who consider a career in any form of education and outreach, and offers a dialogical model of learning. Face-to-face dissemination of student research through interaction  provides an important opportunity for experiential learning of the practice aspect of many courses. However, this might not be appropriate for some DASS-registered students. Accompanying reflective practice tasks help students to self-evaluate and develop their skills.

Artefacts

The production of artefacts such as images, sculpture, films and musical pieces might be limited to specialized courses. Collaboration is possible across several courses to link e.g. research of content with film or audio production. Artefacts have great potential for public dissemination. Their portability and reusability make them highly sustainable, esp. where they can be disseminated online.

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