Student Perspectives on Digital Teaching and Learning

The Enhancing Digital Teaching and Learning (EDTL) project, led by the Irish Universities Association (IUA), aims to enhance the digital learning experience of Irish university students by addressing the digital skills of all who teach in Irish universities (EDTL, 2020). The project team comprises a project manager based in the IUA and project leads based in each of the seven universities of the IUA.

One of the four pillars of the project vision is “Students as Partners”, working with students as key members of the project at all levels. The recruitment of the first IUA student associate intern from November 2019 to July 2020, and a successor from June 2020, was very successful in bringing the student voice to the project, and also in bringing the project to the attention of students, through student-facing channels.

In the context of the rapid pivot to online learning in March 2020, a proposal was approved by the project steering group that the recruitment of at least one student intern within each EDTL partner university would strengthen the project’s commitment to student partnership and open up further channels to allow the student voice to be heard.

Since mid-July 2020, the student intern team has been working collaboratively, producing the EDTL Approach for Students (EDTL, 2020), a guide for students by students on effective remote learning in the context of Covid-19. They regularly contribute to the #IUADigEd webinar series, bringing the student voice to an audience of staff who teach or support teaching across higher education in Ireland. In October 2020 they carried out a takeover of one complete webinar, to discuss the Student Perspective of Online Teaching. This led to the production of a set of tips (for staff) for effective online teaching. It was followed up by a webinar on the Student Perspective of Online Assessment in November.

The EDTL intern team is also involved in running a student-facing Instagram account, highlighting aspects of digital wellbeing and online learning skills relevant to Irish university students. Most recently, the team has added individual Student Guides for each member university to the EDTL website.

EDTL. (2020). EDTL Approach: For Students by Students. Retrieved from https://edtl.blog/the-edtl-approach/the-edtl-approach-for-students-by-students/

EDTL. (2020). Enhancing Digital Teaching and Learning in Irish Universities. Retrieved from https://edtl.blog/