ELEHE: editorial for Vol 6 No 1

Editorial

Anna Crouch, Rachel Maunder, Simon Sneddon, Scott Turner

Abstract

Editorial for the 2014 issue

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References

Kell, P. and Vogl, G. (2012) International students in the Asia Pacific: mobility, risks and global optimism. Springer.

National Union of Students (2012) Student experience research 2012: Part 1: Teaching and learning: Student experience research to gain insight into the quality of the learning experience. National Union of Students. Available at: http://www.nus.org.uk/PageFiles/12238/2012_NUS_QAA_Teaching_and_Learning.pdf (accessed 7/12/14)

The Journal Enhancing the Learner Experience in Higher Education can be found at: http://journals.northampton.ac.uk/index.php/elehe/index

Vol 5 Editorial

Editorial

Rachel Maunder, Simon Sneddon, Scott Turner, Anna Crouch

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14234/elehe.v5i1.84

We would like to welcome readers to this edition of Enhancing the Learner Experience in Higher Education (ELEHE), and would like to thank all our authors and reviewers for their valuable contributions to the issue. The heart of this journal is the students’ voice and learning experience, and how practitioners internationally are informed by these. The papers included in this edition reflect this agenda well, and demonstrate a sustained commitment to enhancing the experience of learners in higher education.
Again, we are pleased that we have been able to draw on and publish inter-disciplinary research, critical case studies, and works in progress related to current debates – all of which have an emphasis on improving students’ experiences, and valuing students’ voices.
We are also pleased to announce that the University of Northampton, which publishes ELEHE, has registered with CrossRef to allow us to allocate Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) to published articles. Each ELEHE article now has a DOI and through this we hope to increase the reach and impact of the papers. We are extremely grateful to Miggie Pickton and Wes Homard- Roy for all of their work on this. For more information read Miggie’s Blog here and the ELEHE blog here.
This edition of the journal contains an eclectic selection of papers, examining a range of educational issues including employability, doctoral training, online learning, storytelling and academic failure.
Firstly, Clark’s study (p.3) reports on students undertaking an employability and skills award. He highlights the value of using qualitative techniques to aid our understanding of ’subjectivities’ in the student experience, which contrast to the ‘predominant emphasis on quantifiable outcomes’ (p.16) underpinning measures of graduate employability. Challenging conventional approaches to studying an issue is also highlighted in Blair’s paper about reducing high failure rates (p.21). He triggers debate into the way in which research in this field has traditionally been a ‘focus on the positive’ (p.21) by exploring factors contributing to student success, rather than seeking to understand reasons for failure. On first glance, Blair’s paper could be seen as being a ‘how to’ guide, and indeed it does make five useful recommendations for improving undergraduate courses with high failure rates. The inclusion of the student voice into this debate is crucial, and FitzPatrick et al. (p.38) draw on student feedback in order to evaluate the innovative use of photo-narrative storytelling in a large lecture class as a means of ‘building connections between theory and the real-world’ (p.41). Smith McGloin (p.49) also draws on the student voice in her work in progress piece looking at the experience of postgraduate research students in a doctoral training partnership. In addition, and Fitzgerald and Corazzo (p.58) report on feedback from students participating in online focus groups in order to study the experience of distance learners.

Finally, Clarke (p.65) has reviewed Silverman’s ‘Very short, fairly interesting and reasonably cheap book’ about quantitative research, and hails it to be a ‘refreshing and valuable contribution’ (p.66) to the literature because of its concern ‘with stimulating reflection and debate rather than providing a traditional ‘how to’ approach’ (p.66). This drive for reflection and debate underpins the ELEHE ethos, and the type of research which we are keen to promote.
One emerging theme arising from the papers is the issue of relevance, and the need for learning to be authentic for students. In the paper by FitzPatrick et al. exploring the benefits of storytelling using photo narrative, the feedback from students highlighted how the class activity enabled them to translate abstract theoretical concepts into the real world and make valuable theory-practice links which were related directly to their own knowledge and experience. The value of providing examples to learners is also discussed by Clark in his review of the Silverman book. In this text on qualitative research, case illustrations are used extensively to demonstrate the application of qualitative research practices - which Clark sees as a real strength of the resource. Similarly, in Smith McGloin’s paper on experiences of doctoral training, doctoral students report how the training they receive needs to be relevant to their needs and pitched appropriately - with lower feedback ratings for ‘generic’ training which was not perceived to be appropriately tailored for them. Fitzgerald and Corazzo’s study into the experience of distance learning highlighted the need for data collection tools (in this case, online focus groups) to be tailored to the needs of the group, taking into account factors such as time difference and technical issues. On courses with high failure rates, Blair recommends integrating more practical work to facilitate the application of knowledge to other situations. Additionally, Clark discusses employability awards designed to prepare students for the workplace, where student feedback emphasised the importance of careers activities being designed to fit around their lives, and the need for personalisation to their needs and aspirations. Such examples emphasise the importance of learning activities being useful, relevant, and practical, and designed with specific learner needs in mind.
We hope our readers enjoy this edition, and that it stimulates meaningful pedagogical reflection. Ongoing contributions to the journal are welcome at all times. We rely on author submissions for the continued development and success of the journal, so do please contact us if you have ideas for papers, or have a contribution that you would like to be considered for publication. 

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14234/elehe.v5i1.84


The Journal Enhancing the Learner Experience in Higher Education can be found at: http://journals.northampton.ac.uk/index.php/elehe/index

Meet the Editors: Anna Crouch

Taken from: http://www.northampton.ac.uk/directories/people/anna-crouch

Qualifications

RGN. RMN. SCM. TCPC. ADM. Cert Ed (FE). Ed Couns Skills Cert. BA (Midwifery Studies). BA (Theology). ICTL (ILM standard 2).  MA in Education (Open).

Previous and other appointments

·       July-October 1977 - Staff Nurse (RMN) Chronically Disturbed Ward (Psychiatric Dept Basingstoke District Hospital)

·       November 1977-August 1978 - EN (Gen) Emergency Operating Theatres (Redhill Gen Hospital)

·       July-October 1980 - Staff Nurse (SRN) General Intensive Care (Sandwell District Gen Hospital)

·       November 1981-August 1982 - Staff Nurse (SRN) - General Intensive Care (Leicester Royal Infirmary)

·       February 1983-May 1984 - Staff Midwife (Mothers Hospital (now Homerton Hospital)

·       May 1984-June 1988 - Staff Midwife Maternity Unit (Milton Keynes Hospital)

·       July 1988-September 1989 - Midwifery Sister (Teaching Dept-(Maternity Unit. Kettering General Hospital)

·       July 1990 - Completion of Cert Ed Course (Wolverhampton Polytechnic) 

·       July 1990-1994 - Midwife Teacher (Pre Reg Midwifery - Milton Keynes Hospital / NGH /KGH / Nene College) 

·       August 1994-1996 - Senior Lecture Midwifery / Nursing (Nene College /UCN) 

·       December 1996 (to date) - Senior Lecturer(School of Health by UCN - Now The University of Northampton)

Research experience

A.  Completed a few projects/small scale research during a Master of Arts in Education degree course with OU over 3yrs - completed in 1999. Awarded MA (Ed) Open.  The areas researched included:

B.   

-             An investigation into the difficulties encountered in critically analysing care by  midwifery students

-       Practitioner Action research into mentoring- developed a booklet for training / updating mentors for nurses-used by school of Health for a while

-       The use of counselling skills as a mentoring strategy – a case study

-       Assessment policies for nursing and midwifery course- the role of the external examiner

-       A qualitative study of the key factors that contribute to effective provision of an on programme educational guidance and counselling-the perception of student nurses

C. Journal club leader (Nursing and Midwifery -February 2005-September 2005)- I encouraged working colleagues to engage in research activities including presentation and discussion of their research papers or other research papers as appropriate.

D. Evaluation of The Service User and Carer Involvement Strategy (completed 2006).

E.  Educational research - 'EBL' enquiry based learning.

F.  A reviewer for an international Journal known as Learning in Health and Social Care by Blackwell Publishing January 2005 -2006

G. A reviewer for an international nursing journal- Nursing Forum Since November 2006

H. Chaired + Co-edited for a nursing text book-also author/co-author of 4 chapters of same book (2003-2005)-entitled Vital notes for notes for nurses: health assessment.  Wiley-Blackwell Publishing. Oxford (Crouch & Meurier, 2005).

I.   Conducted HE funded research on the ‘exploration of the needs & experiences of nursing and midwifery students with dyslexia and how best they could be supported in clinical practice (grounded theory approach after Glaser & Strauss) 2006-2008 (Crouch, 2008a, b & c)- Produced award winning (^1st prize out of other posters from 27 different universities at Chester University) poster guidelines for mentors supporting nursing and midwifery students with dyslexia in clinical practice (Crouch,2009). Also awarded University Teaching Fellow title for same.   

J.   Conducted research 2009-2010 ‘Exploration of experiences of non-dyslexic and dyslexic nursing and midwifery students of the personal academic tutor support, the needs of the students, and how they could be met’ (Published-Crouch,2010)

K.  Co-Editor of Enhancing the Learners Experience in HE (ELEHE) International research Open journal at TUoN since March 2012 –Published volume 4 in Nov 2012

L.  Board member of Disability  in professional practice and special interest group (DiPPSIG-National Net work of researchers on disability in health care professions) net-work meeting Birmingham University 31^st May 2012 and 10^th Sept 2012 at Worcester University and at TUoN on 12^th April 2012

Publications

Allen S. Crouch A (2005) Cultural and Spiritual Health Assessment. In Crouch A Meurier C (2005,eds) Vital Notes on Health Assessment. Chapter 10. Blackwell Publishing. Oxford. ISBN No 1-4051- 1458-4

Allen S. Crouch A (2005) Cultural and Spiritual Health Assessment. In Crouch A Meurier C (2005-eds) Vital Notes on Health Assessment. Chapter 10. On line   www.blackwellpublishing.com/1405114584

Crouch A (2005) Communication Skills needed for holistic health assessment. In Vital Notes For Nurses: Health Assessment. Chapter 5. Blackwell Publishing. Oxford. ISBN No 1-4051-1458-4

Crouch A (2005) New Health Assessment Book Makes Valuable Contribution to Care. In UCN (2005,eds) Keeping you updated. Update. Issue 4. September 05; page 4

Crouch A. (2008) Needs, Experiences and Support of Dyslexic Nursing and Midwifery Students. Health matters. Research and Knowledge Transfer Newsletter. The University Of Northampton.

Crouch A (2008a) Health Sciences and Practice mini Project. Executive summary. Needs and experiences of dyslexic students + support in clinical practice. May 2008

http://www.health.heacademy.ac.uk/projects/miniprojects/projectdocs2008/acrouch_execsummary/

Crouch A. (2008b) Needs / experiences of dyslexic students + support in clinical practice. Nursing and Midwifery Students.   http://www.health.heacademy.ac.uk/projects/miniprojects/projectdocs2008/acrouch/

Crouch A (2008c) An exploration of the needs and experiences of nursing and midwifery dyslexic students in clinical practice and how best they could be supported. NET2008 Conference 2-4 Sept 2008. 19^th Annual International Participative Conference. Education in Health care. Abstracts for theme papers, symposia and posters. Page 78. The University of Cambridge

Crouch A (2009) Anna Crouch and her winning poster at ‘Stepping Up 2009’ http://www.health.heacademy.ac.uk/img/hspimg/relatedevents/acrouch-poster2009. jpg/view?searchterm=poster%20Crouch Accessed 17.01.11

Crouch A (2009) Mini project follow up poster. Supporting students with dyslexia in clinical practice. Health Sciences and Practice NEWS. Higher Education Academy. Issue No 28 September 2009. Page 6 

Crouch A (2009) Needs and experiences of nursing and midwifery dyslexic students in clinical practice and how best they could be supported.  4^th International conference iPED 2009 Proceedings. ‘Researching beyond boundaries’ Academic communities without borders. 14-15 September 2009. Pages 17-18 ISBN 978-1-84600-0287 Coventry University Techno Centre, UK

Crouch A (2009) Poster: Supporting dyslexic students in clinical practice. http://www.health.heacademy.ac.uk/20101008/publications/externalpub/acrouchposter.pdf/view?searchterm=poster%20Crouch/

Crouch A (2010) Experience of non-dyslexic and dyslexic nursing and midwifery students: how best can their needs be met by Personal Academic Tutor support?  Enhancing the Learner Experience in Higher Education, The University of Northampton, p 56-73: Volume 2 No 1 (2010), ISSN 2941-3122 http://journals.northampton.ac.uk/index.php/elehe accessed 10.03.11

Crouch A (2010). Anna Crouch In Fellowships. A celebration of the University of Teaching Fellowships:  p7-8. The University of Northampton.

Crouch A Meurier C (2005,eds) Vital Notes For Nurses: Health Assessment. Blackwell Publishing. Oxford. ISBN No 1-4051-1458-4

Crouch A. Rumbold G. Thompson M. Turner W. (2005,eds) Factors that need to be considered during health assessment. In Crouch A Meurier C (2005,eds) Vital Notes For Nurses: Health Assessment. Chapter 4. Blackwell Publishing. Oxford. ISBN No 1-4051-1458-4

Meurier C Brown J & Crouch A (2005) Physical Assessment. In Crouch A Meurier C (2005-eds) Vital Notes For Nurses: Health Assessment. Chapter 6. Blackwell Publishing. Oxford. ISBN No 1- 4051-1458-4

The Journal Enhancing the Learner Experience in Higher Education can be found at: http://journals.northampton.ac.uk/index.php/elehe/index

Experiences of non-dyslexic and dyslexic nursing and midwifery students: how best can their needs be met by Personal Academic Tutor support?

Experiences of non-dyslexic and dyslexic nursing and midwifery students: how best can their needs be met by Personal Academic Tutor support?

Anna Crouch

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14234/elehe.v2i1.15

Abstract

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (2008a; 2008b) not only requires employers to support non-dyslexic students but also requires evidence of how disabled ‘students would be supported both in clinical practice and in the academic environment to help facilitate safe and effective practice sufficient for future registration’ (NMC 2004,p12). Limited research on personal tutor support in nursing and midwifery led to the need for a qualitative study which explored the experiences and needs of 15 non-dyslexic and 7 dyslexic nursing and midwifery students, in relation to personal academic tutor support.

Data was collected by one-to one face to face tape recorded interviews which were then transcribed using semi-structured questions. Analysis of the data by constant comparative method (Glaser & Strauss 1999) assisted by the computer software Nvivo8 were used to analyse data. Themes generated suggest that many of the dyslexic and non-dyslexic students in this study view their experience of their personal tutor as ‘supportive’ but Professional needs for both dyslexic and non-dyslexic students and their perception of how tutors could help seem to vary.

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Crouch, A. (2008b) Needs /experiences of dyslexic students + support in clinical practice. http://www.health.heacademy.ac.uk/projects/miniprojects/projectdocs2008/acrouch/

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The Journal Enhancing the Learner Experience in Higher Education can be found at: http://journals.northampton.ac.uk/index.php/elehe/index