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Positive Digital Communities

About the project

The University of Bradford are taking part in an Office for Students funded project, titled 'Positive Digital Practices'. The strand that we are facilitating is titled, 'Positive Digital Communities'. We have changed the name from community to ‘circle’ as we feel it is more inclusive.

The aim of the project is to create new resources, known as toolkits, to provide guidance to groups of people who might be communicating with other people from the University in digital circles. These groups might be hosted on platforms such as WhatsApp, Teams, Instagram etc.

The project is made up of three strands:

  1. Our Student Peers Circle- Supporting students or staff to create or engage in peer circles that are related to programmes of study.
  2. Our Programme Circle - Supporting staff to create and embed peer circles in the context of a programme of study.
  3. Our Student Interest Circle - Supporting students to create or engage with positive digital circles within student-led activity groups, such as societies.

The project's end date is July 2023.

Positive digital communities logo

Why is the project important?  

This project will be valuable for showcasing good examples of where this is already working well, for learning more about the benefits of such groups, and any challenges that may occur, and how digital circles support students’ wellbeing generally. This research-informed guidance aims to aid you in providing an inclusive and supportive experience for students’ whilst at the university.

How will it help you?

It will provide resources and key questions to aid discussions around how to set up, maintain, evaluate, and encourage engagement with digital circles. The key areas this includes are:

  • Netiquette guidance (what practices/behaviours are appropriate in a digital circle)
  • Scoping questions for setting up a digital circle
  • What platforms could be used
  • Reflecting on the benefits and challenges of digital circles
  • Intersectionality considerations for different types of students
  • Evaluating users’ experiences of digital circles
  • A guidance document encompassing all the above

The resources are accessible for all, and some are editable so they can be downloaded and used as you wish.

Meet the team

Staff

Alison Hartley

Project manager (Associate Dean for Learning and Teaching- Faculty of Health Studies)

Alison Hartley, Associate Dean Learning and Teaching (Faculty of Health Studies)

Alison is the project manager and her main duties include planning and developing the project idea inline with the project partners' strand of the project, monitoring progress and managing the budget and engaging students and staff to be part of the pilot phase of the project. 
Alison Hartley, Associate Dean Learning and Teaching (Faculty of Health Studies)

Project manager (Associate Dean for Learning and Teaching- Faculty of Health Studies)

Sophie Jones-Tinsley

Positive Digital Communities Officer

Profile photo

Sophie is the project's facilitator and her role includes conducting, synthesing and evaluation research (both secondary and primary), co-creating resources with the Students as Active Collaborators, liaising with project partners and University staff to monitor and evaluate the impact of the resources and guidance produced.  

Contact

Email
s.jones-tinsley@bradford.ac.uk
Profile photo

Positive Digital Communities Officer

Ruth Lefever

Student Success Manager

Ruth Lefever, Student Success Manager, University of Bradford

Ruth assists on the project due to her experience of working on Office for Student funded projects. Her work on peer assisted learning links directly to the projects aims of enocuraging peer support. 
Ruth Lefever, Student Success Manager, University of Bradford

Student Success Manager

Students

Paul Nyagah

Student as Active Collaborator

Paul Nyagah, Student Active Collaborator, University of Bradford

Paul is studying for his MSc in International Business and Management at Bradford. 

His involvement with the project includes conducting secondary and primary research into the impact of digital circles on the wellbeing of students and staff and creating resources in relation to this. 

 
Paul Nyagah, Student Active Collaborator, University of Bradford

Student as Active Collaborator

Daniela Silva Lobo

Student as Active Collaborator

Daniela Silva Lobo, Student Active Collaborator, University of Bradford

Daniela is studying for her MSc in Project Planning and Management at Bradford. 

Daniela's role on the project consists of undertaking research (both primary and secondary) on the impacts of digital communities on students wellbeing; creating resources such as an accessible powerpoint presentation on the intersectionality between digital communities and student groups. 
Daniela Silva Lobo, Student Active Collaborator, University of Bradford

Student as Active Collaborator

Hussain Akhtar

Student as Active Collaborator

Hussain Akhtar, Student Active Collaborator, University of Bradford

Hussain is studying for his MSc in Applied Artificial intelligence and Data Analytics.

His role in the project consisted of collating information from students, recording and organising data, researching solutions to academic and non-academic challenges and creating resources for student and staff engagement.
Hussain Akhtar, Student Active Collaborator, University of Bradford

Student as Active Collaborator

Mohammad Roshaan Khan

Student as Active Collaborator

Mohammed Roshaan Khan, Student Active Collaborator, University of Bradford

Roshaan is studying for his Msc in Digital and Strategic Marketing.

His role in the project consists of creating resources (which resulted in a comprehensive toolkit) to help in the creation and evaluation of a digital communities within Higher Education. 
Mohammed Roshaan Khan, Student Active Collaborator, University of Bradford

Student as Active Collaborator

Get in touch

You can contact us by emailing Sophie Jones-Tinsley.

s.jones-tinsley@bradford.ac.uk

Project partners 

Student minds, Warwick University, Jisc, Open University, UMHAN