Fostering belonging: an interdisciplinary journal club

Abstract

This session explored the evolution of an interdisciplinary journal club open to undergraduate and Master’s students, the challenges faced, and how we plan to develop the project going forward.

The aim of the club is to empower students through an initial staff-led workshop, followed by student-led peer-to-peer discussion sessions, developing their confidence in group working (and indirectly meeting new people), critical reading and analysis. The club also provides the opportunity to analyse and interpret statistical data, an area that can be daunting for students (Mezgebe, Chesson and Thurston, 2019). Articles for discussion in the club are chosen to be accessible to students from all disciplines, with a focus where possible on aspects of equity, diversity, and inclusion. Collaboration between different facets of our learning development team allow our Librarian, Writing, and Maths and Statistics advisers to bring their specific expertise to the initiative, resulting in a holistic approach additionally underpinned by students’ increased ownership.

Impact is measured through pre- and post-participation surveys* with mostly positive comments, touching on benefits beyond obvious ‘skills development’, most notably participation being seen to instil a sense of connection and belonging with fellow students, contributing to students’ sense of wellbeing and the appreciation of having a space to explore learning outside of the core assessed curriculum.

We hoped to tap into delegates’ experiences of any similar initiatives and explore possibilities for further developing our initiative, which could include embedding subject-specific clubs within course programmes (i.e., empowering academic staff to facilitate these), with the aim of further enhancing a sense of belonging across the institution. Equally, the model we have developed is adaptable to different contexts, so we would encourage delegates to consider the potential for adaptation to their institutional contexts.

*Ethical approval has been obtained to use survey responses for research.