How to support students’ agency in the curriculum in blended learning

Anna Troisi: Course Leader BSc Creative Computing, Senior Lecturer, Creative Computing Institute

Student agency refers to the quality of engagement of students with their environment. This involves concepts of power and will. Making sure the students engage in a difficult time with online teaching, embedding mechanisms to support students’ agency constitutes a win-win opportunity. The benefits touch areas of great interest for HE in the UK: engagement, attainment, wellbeing, graduate outcomes, employability and inclusivity. With this specific aim in mind this year we have adopted a communication framework called Non-Violent Communication (Marshall, 2015) at the BSc CreativeComputing which has improved the quality of learning and teaching experience for both tutors and students.