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Articles

What really matters to undergraduates on creative and media courses: UK study into student voice

Pages 21-27 | Received 14 Feb 2016, Accepted 24 Feb 2016, Published online: 19 May 2016
 

ABSTRACT

The UK National Student Survey gathers student feedback on a variety of different university and course experiences. But it does not ask which, if any, matter most to students. Yorke and Vaughan (Citation2012) acknowledge a lack of research into Creative and Media organisational pedagogies. How can we know what is truly important to students? What do they really care about? A pilot study, utilising UK NSS qualitative open text box comments, has supplied the data for my forthcoming research project, signposting areas within student experience that deserve further attention. A phenomenological approach was used and Q methodology afforded a systematic analysis of students’ ‘insider’ views. The study's aim was to explore students’ individual subjective beliefs and reveal any shared or contradictory opinions. Thirteen students took part in Q sorts generating a unique insight into each student's own subjective experience. Three distinct factors, or viewpoints, emerged, identifying those students holding similar views. Innovative yet small and in its infancy, findings from the pilot study may have significant applications – particularly for course organisation and marketing strategies.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Marzenna Hiles is a doctoral researcher at Bournemouth University. Her research interests into how film production students experience being taught in specialist cohorts stem from her work as a university lecturer and her industry experience as a film script supervisor. She has set up and taught Skillset's regular short course in Film Script Supervision at the NFTS and is a qualified Assessor on Skillset's Level 4 Diploma in Script Supervision. She holds an MA in Creative and Media Education and is a fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

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