Journal of Academic Development and Education JADE Issue 11 Summer 2019 | Page 28
learning skills, reflective learning and helped to gain
new knowledge and skills. The overseas electives
programme has been operational since 2012 and has
enabled the successful completion of approximately
300 Overseas Electives. Provided experience in
different clinical settings, exposure to a variety of
clinical presentations, tropical medicine and cultural
differences. Experiences helped in both personal
and professional development. Majority stated that
their electives experience in Sri Lanka will be useful
in their post graduate career choices. In conclusion,
both local and overseas electives provided students
with a variety of learning opportunities, and helped
to generate new knowledge and skills.
Societies, sports and socials: fostering wellbeing
and belonging for success
Julie Hulme ([email protected])
Abstract:
According to Thomas (2012; 2017), a sense of
belonging is central to students' success and
persistence in higher education. This presentation
reports the findings of three, student-led final year
psychology research projects, exploring the impact of
extra-curricular activities on student wellbeing and
their sense of belonging to Keele. All three projects
used online surveys to investigate engagement in
activities, with particular focus on sports, dance,
and non-physical societies, to determine whether
social engagement, physical activity, or both, were
important in developing a sense of belonging and
student psychological wellbeing. Overall, it seems
that participating in social activities can enhance
students' sense of belonging at University, while
engaging in physical activities can improve students'
wellbeing. Activities that combine both social
and physical activity enhance both belonging and
wellbeing, to the same extent as those that are
carried out separately. These findings suggest that
it may be beneficial for students to participate in
extra-curricular activities. This may be particularly
advantageous for those who identify less clearly
with the University community (such as commuter
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students or mature students) and for those who are
experiencing low levels of psychological wellbeing.
Social Learning: Redefining Contact Time and
Workload *
Katherine Haxton ([email protected])
Abstract:
What do students do with their time? It's a key
question and one the student workload project in
Chemistry seeks to address. By analysing timetables,
and teaching and assessment patterns, a typical
workload for our students can be obtained. Social
learning, particularly related to the flipped classroom,
results in an increase in 'non-contact-contact-time'.
Preparatory activities may range from assigned
reading through to edited lecture recordings, and
these are estimated in the workload project. My
findings show that our module proposal system
needs to better account for 'non-contact-contact-
time' associated with social learning practices,
the need for recommendations on the quantity of
contact versus self-study time in modules, and for
assessment planning to take a reasonable working
week into account. Small changes in how we
structure a semester may have a marked impact on
student achievement as well as potential benefits
in reducing the pressure some students may feel
completing assessments. This in turn may allow them
to engage in social learning more effectively.