Passing the (proverbial) baton: Engaging students as partners in module design

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v7i2.5235

Keywords:

co-creation, curriculum design, module design, partnership, students as partners

Abstract

Student-staff partnership, understood as the situation when students and staff work together on a project, contributing equally but in potentially different ways, is an innovation that is gaining traction on university campuses worldwide. This case study details my first foray into the partnership arena. I invited undergraduate students from the Schools of Law and Geography, Geology, and the Environment at Keele University to partner with me in designing a new optional module–Contemporary Issues in Environmental Law. My aim here is to provide an honest warts-and-all account of the experience, written from my perspective. I will document the positive outcomes for both the students and staff participating, of which there were many, but also some of the challenges faced. Despite these challenges, there can be no doubt that student-staff partnership is a worthwhile endeavour, and I hope others can view this as an example that can be adapted to suit their specific contexts.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Bovill, C. (2017). A framework to explore roles within student-staff partnerships in higher education: Which students are partners, when and in what ways? International Journal for Students as Partners, 1(1). https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v1i1.3062

Bovill, C. (2020). Co-creation in learning and teaching: The case for a whole-class approach in higher education. Higher Education, 79(6), 1023–1037. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-019-00453-w

Bovill, C., Cook-Sather, A., Felten, P., Millard, L., & Moore-Cherry, N. (2016). Addressing potential challenges in co-creating learning and teaching: Overcoming resistance, navigating institutional norms and ensuring inclusivity in student-staff partnerships. Higher Education, 71(2), 195–208. http://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-015-9896-4

Bovill, C., & Woolmer, C. (2019). How conceptualisations of curriculum in higher education influence student-staff co-creation in and of the curriculum. Higher Education, 78(3), 407–422. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-018-0349-8

Cook-Sather, A. (2014). The trajectory of student voice in educational research. New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies, 49(2), 131–148.

Cook-Sather, A., Bahti, M., & Ntem, A. (2019). Pedagogical partnerships: A how-to guide for faculty, students and academic developers in higher education. Center for Engaged Learning. https://doi.org/10.36284/celelon.oa1

Cook-Sather, A., Bovill, C., & Felten, P. (2014). Engaging students as partners in learning and teaching: A guide for faculty. Jossey-Bass.

Dianati, S., & Oberhollenzer, Y. (2020). Reflections of students and staff in a project-led partnership: Contextualised experiences of students as partners. International Journal for Students as Partners, 4(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v4i1.3974

Dunne, E., & Zandstra, R. (2011). Students as change agents: New ways of engaging with learning and teaching in higher education. ESCalate. https://dera.ioe.ac.uk/id/eprint/14767/

Felten, P. (2017). Emotion and partnerships. International Journal for Students as Partners, 1(2). https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v1i2.3070

Garcia, I., Noguera, I., & Cortada-Pujol, M. (2018). Students’ perspective on participation in a co-design process of learning scenarios. Journal of Educational Innovation, Partnership and Change, 4(1).

Healey, M., Flint, A., & Harrington, K. (2014). Engagement through partnership: Students as partners in learning and teaching in higher education. AdvanceHE. https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/engagement-through-partnership-students-partners-learning-and-teaching-higher

Healey, M., Flint, A., & Harrington, K. (2016). Students as partners: Reflections on a conceptual model. Teaching & Learning Inquiry, 4(2), 8–20. https://doi.org/10.20343/teachlearninqu.4.2.3

Kupatadze, K. (2018). Course redesign with student-faculty partnership: A reflection on opportunities and vulnerabilities. Teaching and Learning Together in Higher Education, 1(24). https://repository.brynmawr.edu/tlthe/vol1/iss24/2

Mantzari, D. (2017, July 26). Engaging students as partners in the redesign of an existing course curriculum. T&L Exchange: Centre for Quality Support and Development, the University of Reading. https://sites.reading.ac.uk/t-and-l-exchange/2017/07/26/engaging-students-as-partners-in-the-redesign-of-an-existing-course-curriculum/

Marquis, E., Jayaratnam, A., Mishra, A., & Rybkina, K. (2018). “I feel like some students are better connected”: Students’ perspectives on applying for extracurricular partnership opportunities. International Journal for Students as Partners, 2(1), 64–81. https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v2i1.3300

Matthews, K. (2020). The experience of partnerships in learning and teaching. In L. Mercer-Mapstone & S. Abbot (Eds.), The power of partnership: Students, staff and faculty revolutionising higher education (pp. 119–121). Center for Engaged Learning. https://www.centerforengagedlearning.org/books/power-of-partnership/section-two/chapter-7/

Mercer-Mapstone, L., Dvorakova, S., Matthews, K., Abbot, S., Cheng, B., Felten, D., Knorr, K., Marquis, E., Shammas, R., & Swaim, K. (2017). A systematic literature review of students as partners in higher education. International Journal for Students as Partners, 1(1). https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v1i1.3119

Millmore, A. (2019, August 19). Embedding employability through collaborative curriculum design. T&L Exchange: Centre for Quality Support and Development, the University of Reading. https://sites.reading.ac.uk/t-and-l-exchange/2019/08/19/embedding-employability-through-collaborative-curriculum-design/

Millmore, A. (2021). Hand over the reins: A case study for student-staff partnership in designing module assessments. International Journal for Students as Partners, 5(1), 86–96. https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v5i1.4382

Downloads

Published

2023-10-16

How to Cite

Allen, E. (2023). Passing the (proverbial) baton: Engaging students as partners in module design. International Journal for Students As Partners, 7(2), 103–110. https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v7i2.5235

Issue

Section

Case Studies