This episode features Tim Herrick, Ana Souto & Rebecca Godwin reporting back about their findings of a RAISE-funded project to evaluate the impact of two student observation of teaching schemes - Students as Teaching Observers at Nottingham Trent University, and Student Observation of Teaching at the University of Sheffield. Both place students and staff volunteers in small groups to discuss learning and teaching, based on a specific experience such as the student members observing and offering feedback on some of the staff member’s practice. While similar in purpose, SOOT has been established since 2017, and SaTO first ran in 2023; and the two schemes have slightly different remits. Each scheme engages with relevant literature around student observation of teaching (e.g. Cook-Sather, Bovill, and Felten, 2014; O’Leary and Cui, 2020; Herrick and Shotts, 2024), and is closely intertwined with RAISE events and priorities.

The evaluation has highlighted areas where the schemes are working well, and those where they could be developed further. They also identified points of good practice that could be extended to other student observation schemes, or indeed student partnership schemes more broadly. The evaluation project was funded by RAISE, and was carried out by student co-researchers Rebecca Godwin, Morven Keay, Anthea Hiu Ching Ma, and Ria Rampersad, and led by Tim Herrick and Ana Souto.

Please contact Tim or Ana for more information.