CRADLE Seminar Series: Equity-group students' experiences of university

Improving access, participation and success of equity-group students in Australian higher education is in the national spotlight, taking a central position in the Australian Universities Accord (O’Kane et al., 2023, 2024). In this context, we conducted a qualitative longitudinal study to investigate undergraduate equity-group students’ day-to-day experiences in negotiating their life, work and learning at Deakin University. Through this investigation, we sought to elicit fine-grained narrative data from students which might inform the design and implementation of supports for equity-group students. Thirty-five students took part in a series of four interviews from June 2023 to July 2024, resulting in a total of 123 in-depth interviews. Despite having some similar characteristics and circumstances, such as juggling their studies with paid work and parenting, and experiencing some similar challenges, the students in this study were a heterogeneous group; there was diversity in terms of study mode and type of attendance; responsibilities such as parenting/caring and work; practical challenges; and positive/negative learning experiences.

In this seminar, we will offer an overview of findings from the project with a focus on moments of precarity, success, and failure, and implications of this work for research, policy and practice in higher education.

Join us for this compelling and this topical presentation online.

is a Senior Research Fellow at CRADLE. Jo researches student perspectives on learning and assessment from university to the workplace, peer-assisted learning, feedback, assessment literacy, developing capacity for evaluative judgement and research synthesis.

• @DrJoannaT

• [email protected]

is a Senior Research Fellow, currently working on several research projects at the Centre for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning (CRADLE), Deakin University. She was an Equity Fellow at the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education (NCSEHE) and an educator in the University Preparation Program at the University of Tasmania. Nicole’s research interests include equity and inclusion in higher education, student and staff mental wellbeing, and enabling education.

• https://experts.deakin.edu.au/62003-nicole-crawford
• https://scholar.google.com.au/citations?user=C8lLdLwAAAAJ
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-crawford-a56063318/

, The University of British Columbia, Scientist in the Centre for Health Education Scholarship, Professor in Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine.

Rola's research seeks to create learning environments that support health professional trainees to succeed, particularly in the messiness of practice and workplace learning, examining how supervision can be embedded into clinical practices, how feedback processes unfold, and how to create equitable assessment in the workplace. Her research is strongly theoretical and qualitative and highly relational; revealing the taken for granted assumptions about and hidden complexities of practice, and to extend understanding of methodologies that unravel these. She leads several programs of research into feedback and workplace learning cultures, student failure and success, and latterly belonging and well-being in health professions education.

• Google Scholar

• [email protected]

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