Democratising teaching: student votes and module case studies
Democratising teaching: student votes and module case studies
Dr Peter Finn
What is the idea?
Building on experience from two modules, this entry explores the process of allowing students to vote on module content. Though not applicable to all modules, or perhaps even all content on any module, this practice can, depending on the specifics of a module, allow students a say in material covered. Such votes can be used to decide content for a single session or group of sessions. Reflecting pre-existing literature, quantitative data and qualitative comments from Module Evaluation Questionnaires suggest students value the ability to feed into the selection of teaching content, as well as an explicitly emancipationary framing.
Why this idea?
Literature suggests that students and teachers who engage in shared decision making about what material is covered and how teaching is structured are more committed, with the added benefit that such shared decision making may also help develop interpersonal skills needed for navigating complex, and ever changing, social contexts (Lubicz-Nawrocka, 2018). Such engagement is often discussed with relation to terms such as co-creation and students as partners (Healey, Flint & Harrington, 2014). Building on a method utilised on two modules across numerous years, and the insight that the language used in shared decisions in teaching is important (Matthews, 2016), this chapter provides a toolkit to embed emancipationary political discourse and practice drawn from democratic processes into shared decision making processes aimed at allowing students to feed into module structure and content.
How could others implement this idea?
This idea can be implemented in various ways, both high and low tech.
- Firstly, a teaching team need to decide how much teaching space on a module will be allocated to student votes: this could be anything from a single week to half a module or more. Different modules and teaching styles will suit different amounts. In the sample ballot below five weeks, occurring across six weeks, were allotted.
- Secondly, the choices on offer need to be determined. Will students, for instance, be given a predetermined list to choose a selection from? Will they be able to suggest case studies to choose from (which, as shown below, I call Wild Cards)? If Wild Cards are allowed, will there be a limit to the number included (I would suggest considering some limits here, with predetermined constraints highlighted prior to voting)? How will you determine which Wild Cards are implemented?
- Thirdly, the method used to allow students a choice in case study selection needs to be determined and communicated. Will you make a ballot sheet such as the one below, run a show of hands, leave the room and allow students to determine their own method of selection, or run an online poll?
- You need to think about how you feed results back. Will you do so in class (whether online or in person), via a module announcement, or a mixtur