One of the most important challenges that Higher Education providers face is the creation of a student learning environment which maximises the classroom experience, improves student retention and transforms the equity of student opportunities.
It is, however, the case that research demonstrates that many students have limited engagement in extracurricular activities due to personal, work, commuting and caring reasons.
Drawing on the expertise across four providers, this project aims to identify, develop and evaluate ways in which Higher Education courses can embed ‘sticky’ approaches in induction, assessment, online peer learning communities and enquiry-based learning pedagogy to maximise student experience and engagement.
In the context of this project, we define ‘sticky’ as something which supports attraction and attachment. Building on existing research around the ‘sticky campus’ and the ‘sticky curriculum’, our view is that a ‘sticky course’ is designed to inspire student engagement, where students ‘stick to and stick with’ their course. For us, a sticky course should seek to deliver a student-centred immersive learning experience which builds and maintains student belonging and cohesion.
Project approach
To address the challenge of how best to support the student experience through a sticky course approach, the project will explore a range of interventions which reflect typical challenges relating to student engagement, namely: transition, finding belonging and developing meaningful connections with their course. To address these challenges the project focuses on three key strands:
- Preparedness for study and managing assessment load via curriculum design: Focus groups will explore induction, curriculum design and students’ experience of managing assessment loads.
- Promoting peer communities online: A review of learning from the sector and a pilot of different approaches and platforms to explore how digital communities can contribute towards building community and belonging.
- Enquiry Based Learning pedagogy to support retention: Analysis of teaching and learning approaches that support engagement and retention, including student focus groups exploring the relationship between each approach and their experience of belonging and community.
Planned outputs
- A Sticky Course toolkit, co-created with students
- Case studies, references and project reports
- Guidelines to inform course design.
Lead institution: De Montfort University (Dr Claire Orwin, Professor Alasdair Blair, Professor Susan Orr)
Partner institutions: Glasgow Caledonian University (Professor Alastair Robertson), University of Brighton (Joanna MacDonnell), University of the Arts London (Dr Danielle Tran)
Other Collaborative Enhancement Projects
QAA supports a number of projects every year, covering a range of topics and interest areas. Each is led by a QAA Member, working in collaboration with other members institutions. You can find more information on all projects, and access resources and outputs, on our website.