Enhancing Student Engagement: A Case Study at National College of Ireland

1. Taking Next StEPs – a case study NCI staff and students working together presentation by Maurice FitzGerald & Sinéad O’Sullivan Quality Assurance, National College of Ireland, Dublin

2. Who are we? • the National College of Ireland (NCI) is a private, not-for-profit third level institution whose mission is “to change lives through education” • c.5,300 students, of whom 43% are part-time, study in the School of Business or the School of Computing • located in the International Financial Services Centre district in the heart of Dublin, NCI forms a “campus without walls” accessible to all • NCI traces its origins back to 1951 and it is a member of Ireland’s Higher Education Colleges Association

3. What is the background to this issue? internal and external drivers leading to NCI’s application to join NStEP

4. What is NStEP? • priorities • creating a national student training programme • developing institutional capacity • five national projects – new for 2017-18 • participants • collaborative project involving staff and students of five (20+ from 2017-18) higher education institutions • partners • supported by national, as well as international, quality and student representative agencies

5. What problem is NStEP addressing? defining student engagement “investment of time, effort and other resources by both students and their institutions intended to optimise the student experience and enhance the learning outcomes and development of students, and the performance and reputation of the institution” (Trowler & Trowler, 2011) published April 2016 signed June 2016

6. Why is student engagement so important? ten principles underpinning student engagement

7. How are we approaching student engagement? • transparency • “decision-making processes … knowledge transfer from year to year” • collegiality and parity of esteem • “promote collegiality between staff and students … open and trustful relationship” • feedback and feedback loop • “open and prompt feedback … the feedback loop will be closed in a timely fashion”

8. SWOT analysis Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats S – ownership and empowerment W – buy-in at all levels by staff and students O – national programme, local implementation T – reliance on individuals

9. What are we learning?

10. How this undertaking relates to previous work? NStEP priorities – local and national 2016-17 • creating a national student training programme NStEP training event for NCISU, 2nd Dec 2016 • developing institutional capacity NCI-NCISU strategic analysis workshop, 9th Nov 2016 2017-18 • five national projects • the role and recruitment of class representatives • the design, review and delivery of programmes • student feedback opportunities, data and follow up • students in formal system level procedures, strategy and decision making • staff roles and capacity building

11. What are the implications of this work for others? presented April 2017

12. What are our conclusions? • throughout its history, NCI has shown itself to be adept at building upon the present while anticipating what comes next • to succeed, the NStEP project requires buy-in from students and staff, including student representatives, institutional management, staff champions, etc. • there is real power in comparing and contrasting our experiences with others, in exposing ourselves to effective practices both within and without NCI • this project is only one step, part of a longer journey whose ultimate aim is student and staff engagement

13. some questions more information regarding our project work is available online – see the QA@NCI blog at https://qanci.wordpress.com/ for details