Flipping the Cellar Floor
Following a successful application for an LEI Grant, we spoke with Beth Loveys and Imogen McNamara, both a student and academic who were involved in the Student as partners program. Hear about their journey on the Flipping the Cellar Floor project and how it impacted both students and staff.
Beth Loveys(Academic voice),Senior Lecturer and Education Specialist, School of Agriculture Food and Wine
Imogen McNamara(Student voice), Student,Fourth Year Bachelor of Viticulture and Oenology with Honours
Tell us why you wanted to be involved with the Students as Partners program?
Beth:When I first heard about the concept of working with students as partners at a presentation by Mick Healey I immediately thought “Why am I not doing this already??” It seemed like the most obvious way to find out why things in the courses I taught didn’t work and what could be tried to make them better. As a teacher your aim to create learning opportunities for students and the best way to do that is to directly and explicitly involve students in the process. I could see students as partners as a great way to improve my teaching.
Imogen:I am a mature age, full-time student with a family and weekend job. Upon starting my degree, I had very minimal maths and science skills and it had been over a decade since I left school. My University journey has been a personal challenge from the beginning and is the hardest thing I have ever done. I quickly came to the belief that if there is anything I can do to make someone’s University experience better than it’s worth, being a part of and Students as Partners was a great program to do just that.
I’ve had the opportunity to work in a number of SaP projects now and I find each project has different rewards. Through my SaP project work, I have been able to improve the future student learning experience by building new content for courses and learning support resources. I have built great relationships with my teachers and peers. I have learned more about the University structure and have seen learning and teaching from another perspective.
How do you think the Students as Partners program benefits those who are involved? What are some key transferrable skills can they develop?
Beth:The benefits of working in a team with staff and students are huge! As a teacher, I learn so much from the studentswhoI work with. It gives you a unique insight into what it is like being a student today and also the factors that make it easier for students to achieve their own goals. Once you have this insight as a teacher your teaching consequently becomes more effective. You all learn how to communicate and work collaboratively but what is key to aStudentsas Partners approach is that both parties have the same goal- making education more relevant, engaging and fun.
Imogen:SaP has many benefits, from networking, leadership experience, working in diverse groups, knowledge and skill development. These are key skills in a number of industries for students to be employable, and some of these attributes can’t always be taught in the classroom.
It gives you a chance to bring your ideas to the table and work with teachers/researchers on projects and research that you may have thought was out of reach for a student. I have been fortunate enough to have met academics from across a wide range of disciplines. I have both attended and presented at several conferences, which has allowed me to share my SaP experienceswithacademics, educatorsandstudents from all around the world. As anUndergraduate, it is such a rewarding experience.
Tell us a bit about the ‘Flipping the Cellar Floor’ project – How were Student Partners involved? And what was the need for this project?
Beth:There was a clear need for learning resources that could be accessed by students anywhere and anytime. Our cohort of studentsinbecoming increasingly diverse in terms of cultural background, ageandexperience. Class sizes are also increasing, putting the staff under greater pressure during face to face sessions. Because winemaking is largely a hands-on, practical activity it is very important for students to become competent at those practical skills that they will be expected to have when they join the workforce. To support their hands-on learning on the cellar floor and in the analytical laboratory we determined that instructional videos for students to watch and re-watch would be a great start.
We invited students to be involved right from the beginning. We felt it was important for all members of the team to start the process together. Students had a role in deciding which skills needed the most support, scripting for the videos, performing in the videos and narrating all scripts post-production.
Imogen:As students we were involved fairly early on in the project, there were some existing videos that were old and not well produced. We all took a video to