On-line resources and the enhancement of face-to-face contact

The authors set up parallel projects to evaluate student experiences of current Open Educational Resources (OERs) used for supporting undergraduate law students. One carried out the study at a large public university, while the other at a small private higher education institution. The former study received funding from HEFCE for an undergraduate research bursary and the undergraduate researcher facilitated focus groups with her peers. Using students as researchers in this way not only develops the student researcher but also advances research in learning and teaching because it “contributes to a growing community of pedagogic practice centred on the student voice.” (Butcher and Maunder, 2014, 142). The latter study involved the tutor facilitating focus groups with his students and this research compares and contrasts these two methodologies to evaluate how effective practitioner research can be in capturing the student voice (Campbell and Groundwater-Smith, 2007). The data from these focus groups has been analysed (Williams, 2017; Cartwright, 2017) and there are substantial overlaps between the experiences of these two cohorts and similar strengths and areas for improvement were identified. Based on the findings of these two studies one author secured HEFCE funding for a project to develop new OERs to support and enhance face-to-face teaching. These resources are dynamic and combine video content with interactive activities and will be hosted on a streaming law TV channel. Reflecting student feedback (Williams, 2017) the resources will sit outside of specific modules at programme level and will be accessible throughout the programme of study. The OERs will be showcased during the session and attendees will be able to witness how we not only captured the student voice but involved students at every stage of the design and production of the resources. Existing research evidences how the use of student created content engages students in disciplines as varied as chemistry (Benedict and Pence, 2012) and marketing and accounting (Greene and Crespi, 2012) and this presentation will show attendees how to develop high quality OERs that are student centred.