Volunteering & Student-Led Engagement Working Group

Gabriella Hanrahan (UL)Joanna Ozarowska (DCU)

Actioning Engagement Conference (HEA, Campus

Engage) at DCU

Dec2012

Convenors invited all HEIs to action plan meetings:Vol WG meeting at UL

SLE WG meeting at DCU

Apr2013

WGs Convenors prepared and presented action plans to Campus Engage Steering Committee and HEI reps

Jun2013

Outcome: 4 HE civic engagement activities

identified for further development: SLE, Vol, CBL, CBR

4 working groups established

Outcome:Agreed action plan for Vol WGAgreed action plan for SLE WG

Outcome:Agreement and proposal to merge

the Vol-SLE WGs, and CBL-CBR WGs

How It Began…

Gabriella Hanrahan (UL), Joanna Ozarowska (DCU)

National Student Volunteering/Student Led Engagement Workplans Agreed (1/2)

Priorities Vol WG Plan SLE WG Plan V/SLE WGTraining & Development

National learning events; training workshops; national conference

Network and learning community; training modules for student leaders

Campus Engage Collaborative Learning Day  SLE Roadshow  National V/SLE Conference 

Networking and Shared Resources

Online community; best practices; toolkit of resources

Opportunity mapping; website; framework; best practices; toolkit of resources

Campus Engage Collaborative Learning Day to inform issues to be addressed in toolkits of resources Campus Engage website  National Volunteering Management System and Database

Gabriella Hanrahan (UL), Joanna Ozarowska (DCU)

National Student Volunteering/Student Led Engagement Workplans Agreed (2/2)

Priorities Vol WG Plan SLE WG Plan V/SLE WGNational Events National

conferenceNational conference; national student-friendly campaign to promote SLE

National V/SLE Conference SLE Roadshow 

Research/Evidence

Research on student volunteering; research/evidence framework; best practices; toolkit of resources

Opportunity mapping; website; framework; best practices; toolkit of resources

Campus Engage Collaborative Learning Day  National Volunteering Management System and Database 

Gabriella Hanrahan (UL), Joanna Ozarowska (DCU)

Delivered So Far

Training & Development

April 13 – presentProject Plans, SC

Approval Process, CE Away Day,

Volunteering Day, Today’s Event

PromotionConvenor Meetings,

Reports to WGs (Plans, Collaborative Day), SC Reports, CE

website (case studies). How-To

Volunteering Guide

NSVMSDocuments &

Processes: Proposal, Tender, Procurement,

Project Plan, SC Approval Process

Phase 1 – Discovery Completed

Networking &Shared ResourcesHEIs Collaborative Days, Volunteering

Day, SC Updates, Vol Ireland, SU, Socs, Community Orgs

Gabriella Hanrahan (UL), Joanna Ozarowska (DCU)

NSVMS - Context

• Student volunteering and student led engagement make a valuable contribution to HEIs internal and external communities and the profile of HEIs.

• The administration of student volunteering involves a significant range of activities:– building University/Community relationships– creation and dissemination of volunteer opportunities– promoting student volunteering– connecting volunteer organisation and students and supporting both in the

process– capturing the diversity of communities and students engaged– reporting all this activity

• The problem: even though a small number of HEIs have built a volunteer infrastructure, no HE infrastructure exists.

Gabriella Hanrahan (UL), Joanna Ozarowska (DCU)

NSVMS - Context

• Effect on Stakeholders: – Students: No national picture on the range of volunteering activities

students are involved in and/or student led volunteering initiatives and/or their impact on their student experience and communities’ experience.

– Community Organisations: No national picture or database on the organisations engaging with HEIs.

– HE Civic Engagement Practitioners: Duplication of effort and costs involved in building bespoke volunteer management system; student volunteering policies and practices; creation and dissemination of volunteer opportunities; promoting student volunteering; connecting volunteer organisations to HE students.

– HEIs: No national demographics, experiences, impact on HE students, the communities they serve, HE profiles, and HE award systems.

Gabriella Hanrahan (UL), Joanna Ozarowska (DCU)

NSVMS - Concept

• The development of NSVMS, a centralised single national system, built in such a way to offer bespoke dimensions and flexibility for individual HEIs, will encourage, develop, support and report this activity across the sector.

• NSVMS will provide functionality to support the administration/management activities, provide evidenced based research on this extra-curricular student activity, and establish a national clubs, societies, and internal/external community based organisation database.

Gabriella Hanrahan (UL), Joanna Ozarowska (DCU)

NSVMS - Concept

• The NSVMS will:– profile student volunteers, and their volunteer preferences– profile clubs & socs and community organisations

(internal/external) engaging with student volunteers– profile student led engagement activities– monitor performance of both students volunteers and their

clubs, socs, community organisations – produce local and national reports to facilitate responses

to this activity – provide a resource that will stimulate research in this civic

engagement area

Gabriella Hanrahan (UL), Joanna Ozarowska (DCU)

Why a National Student VMS?

Cost-effective, ready made infrastructure – less duplication of

effort and cost

Increase in student volunteering and student-led engagement activities

across the HE sector

Stimulate and share good volunteer practice across HEI sector

Promote cross-sectors dialogue, partnership and collaboration, HE &

Community

Embed volunteering as an extra-curricular student activity

Establish a network of HEI volunteer practitioners

Develop a local, national and international voluntary/community

organisations database

Acknowledge contribution of student volunteers to local, national and

international communities-innovation, social and financial

contribution

Gabriella Hanrahan (UL), Joanna Ozarowska (DCU)

Why a National Student VMS?

• Cost-effective national infrastructure: Less duplication of effort and cost of sustaining and building student volunteering activity across the HEI sector

• Increase student volunteering and student led engagement activities across the HEI sector

• Embed volunteering as a normal extra-curricula HE student activity• Promoting cross-sectors dialogue, partnership and collaboration between HEI

colleagues and national/local based organisations • Stimulate and share good volunteer practice across HEI sector• Acknowledge the contribution HEI student volunteers make to their local, national and

international communities (innovation, practices, social and financial contribution• Develop a local, national and international voluntary/community organisations database • Establish a network of HEI volunteer practitioners with expertise in the National Student

Volunteer Management System, student volunteering, student clubs/societies/internal/external community based organisations/oversees community based organisation

Gabriella Hanrahan (UL), Joanna Ozarowska (DCU)

NSVMS - Work So Far

Tender process and interviews with tech companies – Monsoon Consulting selected (Nov-Dec 13)

Consultations with Volunteer Ireland and Monsoon – strategic alliance, technical details and schedule of works (Dec 13-Mar 14)

Prepared and submitted project proposal and funding proposal for Campus Engage Steering Committee – signed off (May 14)

Discovery Phase for NSVMS completed based on UL PVAs spec; secured hosting on HEAnet (Apr 13-May 14)

Project and funding proposals sent out to HEIs who expressed interest – 7 HEIs on board for the Development Phase (Jun 14)

Gabriella Hanrahan (UL), Joanna Ozarowska (DCU)

Future Plans

• Student-Led Engagement and Volunteering Roadshow (Oct 2014 – May 2015) – Working Group Needed– To cover 5-10 campuses– Student competition to showcase SLE initiatives– Training events and workshops for students at launch and awards

ceremony (Common Purpose, Enactus, Social Entrepreneurs Ireland, RAG, Volunteer Ireland)

• National Volunteering and Student-Led Engagement Conference (2015) – Working Group Needed– Call for papers, posters and presentations– International speakers

• Roll-out of National Volunteering Management System (February 2015) – Working Group Needed

Gabriella Hanrahan (UL), Joanna Ozarowska (DCU)

Conversations

• Q1: Community-based learning and volunteering – how do they differ? – purposes & ethos– accreditation– student leadership– value in HE sector

• Q2: The value HE place on student volunteering – contribution to student experience– contribution to communities– HEI profile– student employability– recognition – seen as “less”?

• Q3: Definition of higher education student volunteering

Gabriella Hanrahan (UL), Joanna Ozarowska (DCU)