{"id":7704,"date":"2017-09-20T14:17:15","date_gmt":"2017-09-20T14:17:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/per\/?p=7704"},"modified":"2017-10-06T07:31:23","modified_gmt":"2017-10-06T07:31:23","slug":"creative-ways-of-working-a-gift-that-keeps-on-giving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/per\/?p=7704","title":{"rendered":"Creative ways of working; a gift that keeps on giving"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Professor

Professor Richard Holliman, The Open University. Credit: Michael Francis.<\/p><\/div>\n

Over the past four years (2013-2016) researchers at the Open University have been working in partnership with the Denbigh Teaching School Alliance in Milton Keynes. <\/p>\n

Through our project, Engaging Opportunities<\/a>, we sought to work collaboratively and cooperatively coordinating direct engagement between students, teachers, and university researchers in ways that were meaningful to participating stakeholders.<\/p>\n

Anthony Steed from Denbigh School and I are putting together a version of the activity that’s described in more detail below for an NCCPE-coordinated event in London. Select SUPI Sharing Workshop<\/a> if you’d like to download a copy of our slides from this event.<\/p>\n

At this event the SUPIs will meet together with anyone interested in school-university engagement with research to share the learning from their respective partnerships with other schools and universities. <\/p>\n

If you’d like more details about this event, select: Reimagining School-University Partnerships<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Sharing learning<\/strong><\/p>\n

Representatives from the 12 SUPIs met regularly through the lifetime of this initiative, supported by colleagues from the NCCPE<\/a> and RCUK’s Public Engagement Team<\/a>. <\/p>\n

At the first meeting each SUPI was asked to prepare a short presentation to address the following question, “What\u2019s the big idea?”<\/p>\n

\"Bees

Bees on a honeycomb.<\/p><\/div>\n

Suffice to say that we pitched an idea to the other SUPIs around the idea of a ‘hive of activity’. We would be organized, busy and productive in our ways of working with the aim of raising the aspirations and life chances of children and young people in Milton Keynes.<\/p>\n

Having discussed these ideas at the opening SUPI event, we sought ways to represent this concept. I worked with Mark Russell (a teacher at Denbigh School), Peter Devine (a graphic designer at the OU) and Trevor Collins (an educational technology researcher at the OU) to develop an activity where school students had a voice in how these ideas were represented.<\/p>\n

We developed a participatory design approach with six school students to explore perceptions of school-university partnerships held by young people and university researchers, and to develop information resources for schools and researchers that communicate the values underpinning the initiative. <\/p>\n

You can find out more about how the activity worked, and download the resources from: Communicating partnership<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"The

The participatory design team from Denbigh School: l-r Lucy Turner, Daniel Roberts, Tiegan Stratford, Emily Banks, Cerys Griffiths, Olusola Ojo. Photo: Mark Russell.<\/p><\/div>\n

The gift that keeps on giving<\/strong><\/p>\n

I recently ran a version of the Communicating Partnership activity with staff working in the Open University’s Research and Academic Strategy (RAS) Office. If you would like to download a copy of the slides used for the activity, you’ll find them here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The aims of the activity were twofold: <\/p>\n