Staff | Students | University |
Can see how the changes they make and the work they do impacts at ‘grassroots’ level. | Gain an understanding of the structure of the University, and an awareness of what goes on ‘behind the scenes’ to improve student experience. | Increases communication between staff, students and the SU to ensure students’ opinions are heard. |
Gain a real insight into the lives of their students and to find out more about what the University and its students are like. | Gain an insight into the operations of senior management in a university and the running of a large scale organisation. | Help improve relations between professional staff and students to help foster an atmosphere of collaboration. |
Develop a wider perspective from which to inform their work. | A valuable experience to develop key skills; and which can be added to their CV. | Develop a greater sense of community by gaining an understanding of the daily life of other people within the University. |
Develop an insight into how other services and academic departments operate. | Gain an insight into what it is like to work in a large institution and research potential career paths. | A better knowledge of how all within the University can contribute to help achieve our collective goals. |
The dates for shadowing should be agreed between both parties. The suggested time for the shadowing experience is half a day, and on a day that is considered to be representative or fairly ‘typical’.
During shadowing periods, you are encouraged to reflect on what you observe and experience. These reflections might focus on aspects that impact on the student experience or staff experience in general, on learning and teaching, and personal development. You might also wish to reflect on any surprises, difficulties or challenges, interests, and personal feelings that you experience.
For both parties there may be parts of the day that cannot be shared: the staff member may have a confidential meeting, or the student may have a lecture, where the lecturer is not happy about having another member of staff sitting in.
We would encourage you to have a short conversation together to discuss what you have learned from each other’s days. This would be a great opportunity for you to ask specific questions about anything you would like to know more about based upon what you have observed.
You are also required to both complete the formal online feedback which will be useful to us in understanding more about the student experience and how we can continue to work to enhance it. It also provides really useful feedback on how we can continue to improve the shadowing scheme. All feedback will be treated completely confidentially.