Two University of Brighton social science students reported their experiences of becoming knowledge producers to the university's Annual Learning and Teaching Conference held at the Falmer Campus on 13 July 2012. The presentation which focused on collaborative learning reflected the conference theme of ‘Connectivity: linking the learning community'.
Ryan Cannell, Mark Pope and Hannah Frith
Mark Pope and Ryan Cannell, who recently completed their undergraduate degrees, volunteered to work alongside Dr Hannah Frith on a project located outside of the curriculum designed to develop students' confidence in research skills and to engage students in 'real world' research. By working collaboratively to design, implement and disseminate a research project exploring the content of internet-based materials on sexuality, Dr Frith said that she "hoped students would see themselves as producing an original contribution to knowledge and become more confident in their own ideas and insights as they worked alongside an experienced researcher".
By engaging in the practicalities of designing and conducting research, the two students reported that they learned the importance of developing their own professional judgment. As Mark observed, "the process of analysis is messy, it was interesting to discover that there are no set themes to ‘find', we had to make our own decisions and judgments about how to organise the data". Working collaboratively changed the dynamics of learning from a top-down didactic approach to one in which students are actively involved in developing learning. "We shared a research problem that none of us had the answer to", said Mark, "Even though Hannah has a PhD and years of experience she doesn't know everything! I had a set of experiences and knowledge which I brought to the research that was different and I had something to contribute".
Ryan noted that the project "enhanced my experience as a student by transforming it from one of consumption to a more dynamic experience with the opportunity to produce something of value beyond the course itself". Mark, Ryan and Hannah are currently working together to publish the results of their research.
