Student Empowerment in Higher Education. Reflecting on Teaching Practice and Learner Engagement

Book excerpt: Student Empowerment in Higher Education brings together the accumulated knowledge and experience of many accomplished teachers and students from higher education institutions around the world, and has much to offer those who are engaged in higher education, as students, teachers or support staff. The authors offer personal reflections in teaching, learning, mentoring, assessment, hands-on activities, course design and student identities in higher education across the globe, supported by academic research and scholarship. Readers are provided with a window into tried and tested empowering practices in varying contexts, enabling them to see what works and what does not, alongside the challenges and possibilities. A distinctive feature of this book, and its paramount strength, is that it explores best practices in student empowerment, whilst reflecting on matters of teaching and learning that are familiar to students and teachers alike, and also explores practices in a variety of disciplines. The intention of these volumes, therefore, is not only to inform readers about the diverse learning and teaching approaches of the authors, but, most importantly, to facilitate processes of student empowerment and promote reflection on teaching and learning practices. "In recent decades, higher education policy discourse has persistently implied that a university education is 'delivered' to students under the impersonal banner of 'the student experience'. Not only does this commodify the diverse, individual experiences of students into one marketable product, it also creates false barriers and power dynamics between students and their teachers. In Student Empowerment in Higher Education, the students and lecturers who collaborated to write this important volume have literally blown such misleading notions out of the window! I highly recommend each varied and autonomous chapter to learn what really inspires confidence and success in university students." Professor Sarah Hayes, Professor of Higher Education Policy, University of Wolverhampton "The two volumes of Student Empowerment in Higher Education offer the reader rich and varied examples and understandings of student empowerment from around the world. The authors provide reflective accounts of learning and teaching from diverse perspectives and disciplines, which focus on many different areas of practice in higher education. It is this variety that will appeal to many readers, as the source of ideas and inspiration for numerous possible routes to empowerment. With many chapters co-authored by students and staff, the book models the collective responsibility students and staff have for enhancing student empowerment." Dr. Catherine Bovill, Senior Lecturer in Student Engagement, University of Edinburgh; Fulbright Scholar, Elon University, North Carolina, USA; Visiting Fellow (Knowledge Exchange), University of Winchester