Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education (Apr 2011)
Engaging students in and with good academic work
Abstract
AbstractàIt is proposed that efforts to enhance student engagement should focus attention on student engagement with good academic/professional/vocational work; hereafter, for simplicity, ââ¬Ëgood workââ¬â¢. Three main reasons are advanced for this proposition. First: engaging with good work can provide a strong and clear motivation and goal for students who want to become competent or expert in a discipline, profession or vocation. ââ¬ËEngaging withââ¬â¢ here carries two hugely overlapping meanings; consuming (which includes, but is not limited to, reading, observing, critiquing, exploring, discussing and analyzing) and producing. Second: any programme, any module, any suggested student learning activity, any proposed teaching method, can be tested by answering the question ââ¬ËWill it clearly and directly help the student to engage with, to consume and/or produce, good work?ââ¬â¢ And third: in engaging with good work, the student is always clear about the point and purpose of what they are doing ââ¬â to identify the qualities of good work, to critique work against these qualities, and to produce good work. ÃÂ
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