Virtual writing groups: staff-student collaboration for enhancing research quality, re-building cohort identify and fostering student confidence.

Abstract

Writing groups for creative and academic writing have proven to be an impactful way to enhance quality and build a community of people with similar goals (Murray 2012; Murray & Moore 2006; Rocco & Hatcher 2011). They have been typically done in an in-person and in physical environment that is conducive for allowing participants to focus on the task without being distracted by other responsibilities. This presentation shares the experiences of taking writing groups into the virtual domain to support MBA students in their project work and how these have developed into a platform for social interaction and re-building a community impacted by isolation imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The MBA cohort is known historically for its a strong identity and sense of belonging (‘my MBA family’), despite and because more than 80% of the students are coming from abroad. Developing quality criteria and helping each other in study groups has been easy to achieve when their work was on campus. The MBA Director and the Project unit leader, having previous experience with writing groups, started this co-curriculum initiative with the aim to create other opportunities to develop confidence in understanding the quality criteria for their academic work and enable peer support, as well as to offer opportunities for participants to get to know their academic leads and each other better. The pilot of a series of 4 writing groups of 3 hours once a week delivered via MS Teams, run informal evaluation of each session and of the series overall. The feedback confirmed the value of the experience and is now a key provision offered as part of the MBA student support system. The initiative has been reported internally and now more staff-student writing groups have been introduced across the faculty and the university.