Empowering the student voice

Over the lifetime of the Flexible Learning Programme, we placed and empowered students to be at the centre of change. As a result, students have had several opportunities to shape and influence our Flexible Learning strategy and change initiatives, including our transition from Blackboard to Canvas. 

So how did we do this? 

We recruited students in several paid roles during the programme's lifetime including five Graduate Interns, two Future Leaders Graduates, and 15 student partners in total, where all of them got the opportunity to:

• gain real work-experience in cross-organisational projects and change initiatives
• contribute or lead in student engagement workshops to encourage and collate student feedback 
• participate in professional development and training 
• develop skills in project management and communications 

Student Design Group

In 2022, we did a callout across the University with a particular focus on students who are often under-represented to join our Student Design Group mailing list where they would receive workshop invitations to feed into our communications and change initiatives. For every hour of their time, we offered a £15 love2shop voucher as to thank them for their contribution.

At the start of every academic year, we would encourage more students to join which allowed us to have a mailing list of our 300 students one academic year that were keen to take part in our student workshops. We asked students their feedback and opinion of a number of topics including our communications, how they found their assessments and submissions, what digital capabilities they wanted to develop, and to test our tenders for a new Central Learning Environment, which helped us select Canvas by Instructure as our new CLE supplier. 

What did our students and graduates have to say?

"My time as a Flexible Learning Programme student partner really helped develop my professional communications skills. I got the opportunity to contribute to discussions about the Assessment Toolkit with senior staff who valued my perspective as a student, at both advisory group meetings and the ITL conference. This was instrumental in building my confidence to share my view and collaborate with a range of colleagues. 

The role also sparked my passion for helping foster an inclusive student experience at the University and working in higher education longer term. Woking as a student partner provided the groundwork experience I needed to begin my graduate internship in the Student Partnerships Team at UoM and move to my current role in the Library’s Teaching, Learning and Students Team."

Theo Abbott, Student Partner (academic year 2023/24)

"Being part of the Flexible Learning Programme supported my professional development by enhancing my communication, creativity, and digital engagement skills. I gained valuable work experience through engagement stalls promoting the JISC Discovery tool and LinkedIn Learning, while sharing how these resources helped improve digital skills.

I also facilitated workshops to collect student feedback on their Central Learning Environment (CLE) to identify what needs to be included on our new CLE, Canvas. Through these projects, I have contributed to positive change by improving student engagement and awareness of flexible learning resources."

Masnuna Chowdhury, Student Partner (2021-2025)

"Being a Graduate Intern at the FLP was an incredible experience. Working on the LinkedIn Learning and Canvas launches gave me invaluable hands-on experience in tech rollouts and strategic comms. The team was wonderfully supportive, sharing their expertise generously and helping me develop a diverse skillset I'll carry throughout my career. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to learn and grow with such an amazing group of people."

Yamin Mushtaq, MGT Graduate Intern, (academic year 2024/25)