Making the Student Experience Everybody's Business: Cultivating Collaboration in the Exosphere

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Title: Making the Student Experience Everybody's Business: Cultivating Collaboration in the Exosphere
Language: English
Authors: Christopher Bridge, Dell Horey (ORCID 0000-0001-7594-7694), Brianna Julien (ORCID 0000-0001-7531-9989), Belinda Thompson, Birgit Loch (ORCID 0000-0001-6497-9447)
Source: Student Success. 2024 15(2):34-44.
Availability: Queensland University of Technology. QUT Library, GPO Box 2434, Brisbane, OLD 4001, Australia. Tel: +61-07-3138-5345; e-mail: journal@unistars.org; Web site: https://studentsuccessjournal.org/
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 11
Publication Date: 2024
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education
Postsecondary Education
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Higher Education, Student Experience, Communities of Practice, Educational Cooperation, Educational Development, Interdisciplinary Approach, College Faculty, Collegiality, Research Universities, Academic Achievement
Geographic Terms: Australia
ISSN: 2205-0795
Abstract: It has long been recognised that a key element in improving student transition, retention and success in higher education is cross-institutional consistency and unity of action among disparate academic, policy and support units. However, transferring this principle into practice often requires overcoming departmental silos, negotiating shared understandings of key concepts, and establishing patterns of cross-institutional collaboration in spaces where this may have been lacking. This study examines the effect of a program of supported communities of practice among teaching academics that sought to improve the culture of learning and teaching in a large science, health and engineering faculty in an Australian university. We found indications that these communities of practice promoted collaboration by functioning as loci of cross-institutional consultation and coordination, providing the basis for an enhanced student experience. We interpret this finding through the lens of Bronfenbrenner's ecological model of development, and propose an approach based on academic communities of practice as a way of building cross-institutional unity of action and making the student experience everybody's business.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2024
Accession Number: EJ1440689
Database: ERIC
Description
Abstract:It has long been recognised that a key element in improving student transition, retention and success in higher education is cross-institutional consistency and unity of action among disparate academic, policy and support units. However, transferring this principle into practice often requires overcoming departmental silos, negotiating shared understandings of key concepts, and establishing patterns of cross-institutional collaboration in spaces where this may have been lacking. This study examines the effect of a program of supported communities of practice among teaching academics that sought to improve the culture of learning and teaching in a large science, health and engineering faculty in an Australian university. We found indications that these communities of practice promoted collaboration by functioning as loci of cross-institutional consultation and coordination, providing the basis for an enhanced student experience. We interpret this finding through the lens of Bronfenbrenner's ecological model of development, and propose an approach based on academic communities of practice as a way of building cross-institutional unity of action and making the student experience everybody's business.
ISSN:2205-0795