“Creating an interactive poster and video guide to help students master professional university communication”, by Alexander Endean, Riley Lim, and Gauresh Kuradia

Effective online communication is key to university success. A team of Royal Holloway Psychology students and staff launched a co-production project, highlighting the importance of staff-student interaction. Our goal was to collaboratively create practical, student-focused resources that address communication anxieties, amplify the student voice and make a positive impact within the Royal Holloway community. This post details our process creating an interactive poster and video guide to help students master professional university communication, reflecting on our teamwork and co-creation.

The development of the interactive communication poster was a highly collaborative and iterative process. The student team worked together to translate the project’s goals addressing student anxiety and clarifying professional communication norms into a visually engaging resource. This involved extensive brainstorming sessions to determine the most effective structure, tone, and content delivery method. Students brought their skills and strengths to contribute. Riley and Gauresh discussed the poster process as a challenge as there were many ideas to include, multiple edits made and lots of feedback shared. However, to make this easier, there were clearly defined goals. In the end, the design was easy to follow and engaging. We were proud of our work and had received valuable feedback from staff members throughout the design phases. This meant that the final piece was not only student-friendly but also accurately reflected staff expectations for professional communication, making it a truly co-produced resource. The final poster was designed to be interactive, encouraging students to actively engage with the content and apply the principles immediately.

The video process brought together students and staff members from the psychology department, working together to help create something meaningful. We discussed potential script ideas, focusing these on specific parts of the infographic to make these points stand out. For example, a video on work hours delivered the message concisely but also allowed staff to share real stories about previous communication with students, including both good and bad examples! These videos further meant that the infographic was more engaging, and accessible to a wider range of student audience. Reis explained that editing meant compiling all the videos, watching and ordering them in the relevant clips. Screenshots of the infographic were directly edited in the videos, allowing these to be visually appealing but also making things feel continuous, smooth and relevant.

All students involved, enjoyed and appreciated the project, though each student had their own takeaway. Max explained that ‘it was really fulfilling to be part of a team where everyone could melt into a role as and when needed’. Alex highlighted the importance of ‘strengthening communication and teamwork skills, whilst helping to advocate for student voices’. Common themes were building teamwork skills, working with, and meeting peers and the opportunity to make a positive impact at Royal Holloway. The infographic has now been distributed around the university, which has been amazing to see. The next steps will include focus groups and continuing to support and guide students on how to best communicate with staff.