Duncan Cross

The University of Bolton is a Teaching Intensive Research Informed (TIRI) institution.
In 2016, a successful bid was made for the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) Catalyst fund in Innovation in teaching and learning. The bid written by the principal investigators was based on their mutual interest in students as partners and the co-production of technology-based learning interventions. The project engaged undergraduate students researching their own student body, to discover the needs of the student community. This paper discusses the process of the technological development of a mobile app and reflects on the project incorporating student and staff voice.

At the start of 2020, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared COVID-19 as a global pandemic. Pregnant women were deemed a vulnerable group globally and advised to shield. Due to social distancing and the changes in maternity services, it was a reasonable assumption that pregnant women would turn to the online platform for advice and guidance. Using reflexive thematic analysis, this chapter explored the effect of social media, support groups, and app usage on pregnant women during the outbreak. Results evidenced that pregnant women utilised social media, support groups, and apps for information and support. Positive aspects were maintaining social connections whilst adhering to social distancing guidelines, access to support groups and people in similar situations, and ease of access to information. Negative aspects were excessive amounts of and overwhelming information, misinformation, judgement from others, and increased anxiety. Apps were deemed positive for general pregnancy but lacked COVID-19-related information.

The development of the Skilful surfing Online For Anxiety Reduction (SO-FAR) in pregnancy (SO-FAR) mental health (mHealth) application (app) was supported by previous research which modelled the theory of Skilful Surfing. The model informed the app development, with each facet of the model corresponding to a different intervention included in the app. The aim of this chapter was to report the development of an mHealth app to relieve pregnancy-specific health anxiety. App content inclusion was based on previous literature and recommendations for mHealth app inclusions. Overall, the chapter provides the reader with a comprehensive account of the development of the SO-FAR app which may reduce levels of pregnancy-specific HA by encouraging women to become more adept when navigating through online health information, self-aware, and educated and promoting the ability to identify triggers and understand when and why they are experiencing maladaptive cognition and rumination in a self-guided manner.

Anxieties can be typical to pregnancy. At the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, pregnant women were classified as at risk and advised to shield. This may have caused increased generalised anxiety disorder and health anxiety across the demographic. This study aimed to explore current, actual and perceived levels of generalised anxiety disorder and health anxiety in pregnant women during the COVID-19 outbreak. A sample of 674 participants completed an online questionnaire consisting of demographic and pregnancy related questions, the GAD-7 and HAI. The COVID-19 outbreak has increased self-reported levels of general anxiety and health anxiety in pregnant women. Of the sample, 633 (94%) agreed that the outbreak had increased their general anxiety; 607 (90.1%) also reported increased health anxiety. Due to the negative effects that anxieties may cause during pregnancy, it is recommended that reintroducing normality to pre- and postnatal healthcare, where safe to do so, will be beneficial.

This case study considers a students-as-partners’ research project that aimed to develop technologically-driven tools to enhance teaching and learning in higher education. It focuses on how the project enabled student participants to gain real world research skills and experience. We present reflections from both a student and a staff perspective and propose START (Support, Time, Adapt, Risks, Trust) as an approach to engage students to gain real-world research skills. Support refers to providing support for skills gaps and learning in an applied setting. Time refers to providing time to settle into the project and develop confidence, including realistic timeframes and deadlines. Adapt refers to giving students the space to develop not only the required skills but also the tools to develop their own abilities and confidence through a supportive, flexible and open environment. Risks refers to taking risks for example in terms of roles, responsibilities and leadership. Trust refers to providing guidance and encouragement that will allow students to achieve on their own and take shared ownership.

In order to enable learners to take control of their learning needs and actively contribute in their learning processes, educators can partner with students in various reciprocal student-staff partnership (SSP) settings where students can be co-creators, co-producers, curators or co-deliverers of the curriculum. This case study, undertaken to enhance the curriculum as part of teaching qualification, places emphasis on educators partnering with first-year undergraduate students over e-content creation within an existing module using readily accessible digital applications in order to promote active learning in students and improve student engagement. The extent to which SSP as an approach to the creation of e-learning materials using digital applications, enhanced learning and student engagement in an existing module, was evaluated. Results indicated, students’ perceived SSP to be an excellent platform for learning, actively engaging in the classroom as well as for developing various skills. However, some concerns were expressed with regards to overcoming the power hierarchy barrier within an SSP initiative.

Student-Staff Partnership (SSP) encapsulates the pedagogy of teaching and learning in various settings through student-staff reciprocal partnership practices in the Higher Education (HE)sector. The application of SSP for successful redesigning and delivery of the curriculum can be traced across various disciplines in a number of pedagogical contexts. This paper narrates a case study of how educators can partner with first year undergraduate students to redesign and deliver an existing module curriculum through co-creation of e-learning materials for teaching and learning. It also exemplifies how readily accessible digital applications can be used in order to develop students’ digital literacy skills and promote inquiry based learning in the process.
An action research project was undertaken to assess the benefits of including specific digital applications in the curriculum in order to promote learners’ digital literacy skills. The impact of SSP as an approach for curriculum redesign, delivery and as a facilitator of research and inquiry skills in undergraduate students was also evaluated in the process through the co-creation of e-learning materials. A focus group was conducted to capture participants’ responses and thematic content analysis was undertaken for data analysis. Findings suggests, using digital applications for co-creation of e-learning materials improved learners’ confidence in embracing and using digital applications for learning, communication and dissemination of evidence based information through the process of inquiry and research based learning. Additionally, students found SSP effective as an approach for redesigning the curriculum since it provides a platform to capture students’ expectations of the use of relevant digital applications in the delivery of the curriculum to facilitate learners’ digital literacy skills development processes. Furthermore, through this project a large database of co-created e-learning materials were generated which were integrated into the module for blended learning and future re-purpose in the delivery of the curriculum.

This chapter considers how technology can enhance teaching and learning through technology within the higher education setting. The chapter considers findings and draws conclusions from a recent project conducted by the authors involved in this technologically innovative project. In particular this chapter aims to consider how mobile apps can be beneficial for learning and education purposes, consider the pedagogic value of technology use within higher education (HE), look at how students can be co-creators in their own learning, and provide an overview of the mobile app and the research findings that it was developed from. The chapter will also take into consideration the challenges associated with developing and implementing a technological intervention in HE.