EMPOWERING STUDENTS FOR QUALITY STUDY AS DEMONSTRATORS

The introduction of a student as demonstrator is an instrument that allows the active integration of the individual teacher and student groups. The instrument’s purpose is to achieve higher effectiveness and quality of the teaching process.

One of the ways to improve active participation of students in the classroom is the introduction of student as demonstrator who each leads and guides a chosen group of 4 to 6 students. Preparation of demonstrators for the learning process for every pedagogical activity within the following week is carried out after a preliminary meeting between teacher and students as demonstrators. This preparation accelerated active participation in each student group, while strengthening leadership competences of group leaders. The introduction of demonstrators in the teaching process requires minimal additional engagement of a teacher.

The purpose of this paper is to present the instrument of a student as demonstrator, and demonstrate how this instrument may be useful for the pedagogical process, because it contributes to a better working atmosphere in the classroom and to greater efficiency and quality of pedagogical work. At the same time it provides the teacher an instant feedback on his/her work performance. The method is especially useful for teachers working in the classrooms.

In the 2014/15 academic year a pilot project of students as demonstrators at the Faculty of Administration (FA), University of Ljubljana, was carried out within the course Management in Public Sector (University Study Programme in Public sector governance - 1st Cycle). It investigated the perceptions of students about pedagogical process within this course. The aim of the project was to find out how students experience the pedagogical process and evaluate the quality of pedagogical process.

The survey compared the 2014/2015 observations from the course Management in Public Sector to observations from the same course from two preceding years, where the instrument student as demonstrator was not applied. The 2014/2015 observations from Management in Public Sector were further compared with results from other courses from the same study program for the 2012/2013, the 2013/2014, and the 2014/2015 academic year, where this instrument was not used.

The results of the student survey suggest that advantages of introduction of demonstratorship are multifold: it is not only the direct real-time feedback on teaching from students as demonstrators but also the process of planning strategies to address areas for improvements in teaching and learning. The instrument enables an active, intensive and accelerated teaching process, and strengthens students’ leadership competencies. As such, the instrument contributes to the academic excellence in teaching and learning and thus accelerates the improvements in the pedagogical culture of an institution.

Student survey results demonstrate both the improvement of the quality of pedagogical process according to several established quality criteria, and the improvement of the overall teaching grade for the 2014/2015 course Management in Public Sector in comparison with two preceding years, and in comparison with other courses from the same study program for academic years 2012/2013–2014/2015.

The implications of these findings for those who study and apply various instruments and/or methods in pedagogical process and those responsible for promoting student learning are discussed.