Authentic learning through SKETCH

What is authentic learning?

Authentic learning is not new. Indeed, the age-old apprenticeship model, mixing theory with practice over an extended time, is based on the idea of ‘learning by doing’ and preparing learners for the ‘real world’ (Black, 2019). 

In Higher Education, however, there is a relatively new emphasis on experiential learning, involving getting out of the classroom and contributing to the world around us. 

The main driver is a concern with graduate employability. If students get involved in, for example, walk-in advice clinics, or consultancy projects for the community, then they are more likely to develop the skills needed for the fast-changing, unpredictable and complex professional world that awaits them. 

Here are some key features of authentic learning in higher education (based on Pitchford, 2021: viii):

• Collaboration (we need to learn to work together)
• Interdisciplinarity (we need to understand the connections between academic subjects)
• Sensible, meaningful, immersive and engaging activities (we learn well when it’s fun and has a clear purpose)
• Coaching, mentoring and wrap-around support (we need to learn how to learn and how to behave in professional settings)
• Reflection (we need to take time out to discuss what we’ve learned, and how we can apply it in future)
• Original and valuable outcomes (we are motivated by creating something new, and those who helped us should also benefit from this)

At Queen Mary, through SKETCH, student teams from across the University are mentored to provide legal and financial advice clinics, consultancy projects for local businesses and community partners, and investment services for responsible SMEs and social enterprises. 
We aim to promote all the above features of authentic learning. But, as always, we can do more, and better.

How is SKETCH values-led?

The study of leadership teaches us the importance of establishing and promoting an organisation’s shared values. Setting a ‘moral compass’ together should help steer the organisation over its long term, as times and personnel inevitably change and threaten to derail the organisation’s plans.

Queen Mary is a values-driven university, concerned with inclusivity, cultural diversity and the public good. It follows that SKETCH should also be values-led, rather than activity-led.

The three driving values of SKETCH are to be:

• interdisciplinary;
• locally rooted; and
• socially purposeful.

Interdisciplinary

Increasingly employers demand high-level skills including “creativity and innovation, critical reflexivity, collaboration, and digital literacy … [which requires] crossing and breaking down disciplinary and professional silos” (Debbie McVitty, Editor of WonkHE, 30 November 2020, From work-ready to world-ready). Such trends are reinforced in the findings of the ISE Student Development Survey 2021.

In SKETCH, we aim to ‘mix it up’. The main subject areas involved so far are Law, Economics, Business and Management. Within this we have provided clinics, consultancy projects and investment services, typically mixing students from across undergraduate and postgraduate, and across Home and International. And increasingly SKETCH is mixing students across the subject areas, including reaching out through collaborations with Computer Science, Psychology, Linguistics, Medicine, Geography, English and Drama.

Locally rooted

The university has a long history of being part of and engaging with the local East London community. It recently became the first university to be awarded the Platinum Engage Watermark. As part of this tradition, SKETCH student teams have, for example, recently undertaken projects with the QMSU Community Sports Foundation and Tower Hamlets Council for Voluntary Services.

Socially purposeful

Our students are passionate to lend their expertise not just to non-profit community partners, but also to responsible profit-making businesses that aim to create social value and protect the environment. Such student knowledge exchange is known as ‘critical service learning’, as opposed to ‘traditional service learning’ (Pitchford, 2021: 76).

SKETCH student teams have therefore collaborated to advise such community partners as the student emergency telephone service Nightline and food project With Compassion, as well as advising Sticksology, a local brand of compostable and ethically sourced tea and coffee sticks, and investing in alumni-founded and environmentally-sustainable producers Biophilica and Sweed.

What are the benefits to students, partners, and the university?

The three main beneficiary stakeholders of SKETCH are: the students themselves; our community and local business partners; and the university overall.

To help us capture the impact of SKETCH, we are developing our own ‘common outcomes framework’ for values-led authentic learning. This involves identifying and measuring a few key areas for each beneficiary group.

For students, we aim to develop:

• advanced employability skills (including communication, self-leadership and critical reflexivity);
• knowledge enhancement (including interdisciplinarity and real-world knowledge); and
• career networks.

For partners, we aim to facilitate:

• talent development (including familiarisation with our students as future employees);
• changes in their business/staff capability; and
• enhanced partnerships with university and local networks.

For the university, we aim to develop:

• the SKETCH Learning Model (a tested and scaled model of values-led student knowledge exchange); 
• new and existing local partnerships; and 
• increased capacity for ‘co-production’.

It is still early days in our values-led authentic learning experience, but we are enjoying the journey.

References

Black, K. (2019). Perspectives on Authentic Learning with Large Student Groups. Chartered Association of Business Schools. 

Pitchford, A. (2021). A handbook for authentic learning in higher education: Transformational learning through real world experiences. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.