Understanding Student Learning Gain: Using Student-Staff Partnerships within Higher Education to Inform the Continuous Improvement Process

This paper considers a staff-student partnership approach to gather undergraduate business studies students’ perceptions of the Learning Gain that they have achieved on a university module. This understanding can then be used to improve teaching for subsequent cohorts of students studying the same subject. The Learning Gain model used considers both the explicit knowledge gained by a student (Distance Travelled) and the tacit understanding (Journey Travelled). Data is collected at the end of the teaching, and the students are asked to reflect on their perceptions of how much they had learnt based upon specific question areas. The questions themselves are evolved from the Intended Learning Outcomes of the module being studied. Student responses highlighted areas of both successful and less successful learning for each participating student and also for each topic area. Differences in the learning being reported based upon both gender and project type were also identified. The model provides a unique perspective regarding how students view their own learning, from which a set of recommendations can be developed, to highlight key areas in which teaching needs to be reviewed to improve effectiveness. The lessons from this study demonstrate the value of staff-student partnerships as an integral part of the continuing improvement process within education.