Some of the mad things Alex and Mhairi get up to and why they are really work, promise
If you've been a lucky duck you may have spotted Alex and I gallavanting around your campus trying to force-feed you pizza and get you to play Legos with us. Perhaps you didn't question it, after all, the SRUCSA crew are famously and awesomely odd. If you are curious though, then THIS RIGHT HERE is the blog post for you. Firstly, this was SRUC business, and as such, is riddled with:
✨SRUCRONYMS ✨
TQER: Tertiary Quality Enhancement Review
TQEF: Tertiary Quality Enhancement Framework
SRUCSA: Scotland’s Rural (Unused ‘U’) College Students’ Association
SIA: Strategic Impact Analysis
Okay great, but what's going on?
So glad you asked. SRUC is having its Tertiary Quality Enhancement Review (TQER) this coming year (wAHoO!).
In preparation, we shall be gifting our reviewers a lovely big stack of documents that tell them what an excellent job we’ve been doing. One of these documents is a Strategic Impact Analysis (SIA), which prompts us to reflect on 4 key areas:
- Excellence in Learning and Teaching
- Supporting Student Success
- Student Engagement and Partnership (read the partnership blog here)
- Enhancement and Quality Culture
Because the TQER Working Group are Student Partnership CHAMPIONS, they are splattering free-range, organic, fresh-from-the-source student voice all over this document in two ways:
- By having Co-Presidents on the writing groups for each section (I’m on two, because I’m a show-off 🤓)
and
2. By giving the SRUCSA beans free reign to cartwheel around the country asking students at our various campuses what they think. This is the bit I’m excited to tell you about.
SIA LEGO PIZZA HOT CHOCOLATE TOUR
Part two began with myself and Alex House (Co-President of Welfare and Community) brainstorming all the ways we could entice students to come and hang out with us. We wanted to create a fun, relaxed space where students would feel at ease to share their stories and make it worth their time.
We eventually settled on taking round a crate of Lego and some collage-making supplies so students could busy their hands while we (gently) interrogated them. SRUCSA also have some pretty tight data on the Free Pizza/Engagement correlation, so we ordered a stack of hot cheesy slices for each campus too. We packed Alex’s legendary hot chocolate machine, our unofficial mascot, Woody, and off we went.
We went to Craibstone, Barony, Edinburgh, Oatridge and Elmwood and were delighted to be joined by between 8 and 20 students at each session. We had representation from both Schools, undergrads through to PhD, and learners with various access and support requirements. It was wonderful to connect with students who haven’t engaged with SRUCSA previously.
The tour was a great experiment in trying something a little out-of-the-ordinary, and we learned a lot from it:
- Lego and hot chocolate is a chaotic combination; always bring baby wipes.
- Location matters! We got far more engagement by setting up in spaces students would wander past or into naturally, rather than when tucked away in a conference room.
- You need more pizza than you think you do.
- Dog >>> no dog.
- Plus, you know, the stuff we were supposed to learn about what students think and whatnot.
Some student creations:
Now the Lego has been de-chocolated and the data cleaned of Woody hairs and synthesized into a report which will inform our SIA. I’m excited to read the final product and see how student perspectives helped to shape it.
Have we inspired you? Moved you to tears of joy, or food envy? How would you make this even better? What Lego creation would sum up your experience of SRUC? Comment below or email SRUCSA@sruc.ac.uk, we’re always happy to have a blether.
Peace and pinecones,
Mhairi