International Journal for Students as Partners

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

Emma Allen — 2023-10-16

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.

Curriculum enhancement through co-creation: Fostering student-educator partnerships in higher education

Ana Cabral — 2023-10-16

This case study presents an institutional approach to curriculum enhancement and co-creation. It explores how these two elements of a university’s strategy interlink through institutional values, curriculum development initiatives, and the advent of a new recognition scheme for student co-creators at Queen Mary University of London in the UK. It explores how the delivery of curriculum enhancement projects has been made possible through co-creation with students and discusses its outcomes: curriculum enhancement resources for staff and students, recognition for students, and joint presentations and publications. This case study also reflects on the experience of student co-creators and the benefits and challenges for staff and the institution, considers the specific contexts required to promote a shift in institutional culture towards co-creation, and shares successes and recommendations for implementing this approach.

Employing customizable digital observation tools to support classroom-focused pedagogical partnership

Emily Donahoe — 2023-10-16

This case study examines the use of the Generalized Observation and Reflection Platform (GORP)—a digital tool for developing fully customizable observation protocols as well as for collecting, analyzing, and reporting quantitative observation data—within the University of Notre Dame’s Inclusive Pedagogy Partnership. We found that the tool enhanced collaboration between partners in articulating and setting goals for their work and in highlighting and conceptualizing growth in the classroom. It also improved the efficiency of classroom observations and generated visual and quantitative data that usefully supplemented more traditional qualitative observations. Because of a steep learning curve, however, providing extensive time and support for partners in incorporating GORP was key to its successful implementation. We also suggest that GORP may serve as a useful tool for helping partners move between product- and process-oriented understandings of their work and for empowering student partners to take ownership of their observations.

Student partnership in creating an event: Benefits, challenges, and outcomes

Eliza Kitchen — 2023-10-16

This case study explores a partnership within an events management topic. Students were encouraged to take ownership over the creation and operation of an event held on the university campus. The topic lecturer provided guidance throughout the process and liaised with the students to define the assessment and the marking rubric for the event project. Research data was captured through two surveys—one during the event project and one after the event project was completed. The surveys captured quantitative and qualitative data about students’ perceptions on the benefits, challenges, and outcomes of this experiential learning experience. Survey findings indicated that communication and teamwork were key aspects that needed to be managed to effectively collaborate on the project. Classroom discussion and online communication tools were used to share ideas and information, and work towards the common goals of the event. Through this project, students developed their relationships with their peers and university staff and felt that they had a valuable learning experience that helped to connect theory with practice.

Co-selecting students for more democratic co-creation: A case study from the Create a Subject Challenge

Ger Post — 2023-10-16

Democratic processes are at the foundation of the students-as-partners (SaP) framework. Student selection for SaP projects however, is typically in the hands of staff, which is undemocratic and faculty assumptions and practice exclude particular students from co-creation projects. We describe a case study in which students and staff jointly select students for a co-creation project in the School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Melbourne. Our reflections suggest that co-selection, compared to selection of students by staff alone, further realizes the democratic ideal of SaP by integrating the student perspective early in the co-creation process. We reflect on the democratic processes in our case study through the lens of deliberative democracy and share prospects and perils of voting and deliberation to embed the student voice in student selection for co-creation.

ePortfolio to support professional development during experiential learning placements: Guided by students-as-partners theory, enabled through students-as-partners practice

Cicely Roche — 2023-10-16

This case study applies a students-as-partners focus to the use of ePortfolio concepts during experiential learning placements. In describing our project and as evident here, in referring to ePortfolio in the singular, we cite it as an abstract concept, while the plural reference marks practice, in this study taking the form of student-generated instances of ePortfolio use, in particular as detailed in the ePortfolios experiences of two final-year students on experiential placement in a pharmacy programme. These two students used their ePortfolio to document and reflect critically on their experiential placements, showcasing their own student-generated ePortfolios at a symposium co-hosted by student partners, their placement preceptor, and other mentors. This student co-developed case study summarises key findings, including how the use of ePortfolio can support learner agency, and outlines recommendations for further incorporating ePortfolio use in experiential learning contexts. While grounded in the context of an undergraduate pharmacy programme, much of the study will resonate with colleagues based in other disciplines aligned with competency frameworks. The staff-student collaborative approach explored in this case study is likely of interest to students, educators, preceptors, tutors, mentors, and others developing curricula with an ePortfolio component.

How can students-as-partners work address challenges to student, faculty, and staff mental health and well-being?

Sarah Slates — 2023-10-16

Three models for embracing student expertise in the development of pedagogical partnership programs

Alison Cook-Sather — 2023-10-16

University work-study programs transitioning from student employment opportunities to student-faculty partnerships

Erica de Souza — 2023-10-16

Reflections on a student-faculty partnership on task design

Hwee Hoon Lee — 2023-10-16

Co-facilitating pedagogy circles for diversity, equity, and inclusion: Two student-partner experiences

Abhirami Suresh — 2023-10-16

Equalizing student and teacher: Using COVID-19 to (re)imagine curriculum

Megan Adams — 2023-10-16

COVID-19 created an opportunity to (re)envision students as partners in curriculum development and the curriculum process. Understanding the design and delivery of courses as a flattened hierarchy, particularly with graduate students as partners, is the focus of this study. This article reports findings from research undertaken collaboratively with students as partners in developing a new approach for conducting a capstone course and project. This research was enacted at a research-intensive university in the United States in 2020 and 2021. We describe the need for the shift in stance to students as partners in our institution as well as what the findings indicate as imperatives for teachers in both K–12 settings and institutions of higher education. The findings indicate how teachers’ mental health and experiences of stress were affected by specific attributes of the pandemic and pandemic teaching (which aligns with the majority of COVID-19 research in education), as well as how some learned to cope with these demands. Findings also indicate the need for flexibility in all learning environments.

But do they agree? Examining differences in science faculty and student perceptions’ of the presence of student partnership values

Laura Chittle — 2023-10-16

There is growing support for the use of student-faculty partnerships within higher education. Successful partnerships, capable of sustainable transformation, require the presence of several underlying values held by both faculty and students. The purpose of this study was to examine differences in the perceptions of student-faculty partnership values across science faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, and determine whether these values differ by partnership category. Faculty and students responded to the Student Staff Partnership Questionnaire which included five scales aimed to assess values for successful student partnerships: reciprocal respect, influence, autonomy, commitment, and partnership. Our findings suggest that faculty perceive themselves as aligning with the values of reciprocal respect, influence, autonomy, and partnership to a higher degree than undergraduate and graduate students perceive faculty as adhering to them. No differences in values were noted across partnership categories. Implications for higher education are discussed.

Co-designing an equity, diversity, and inclusion (un)conference by and for staff and students

Seb Dianati — 2023-10-16

We describe the critical-digital approach and co-design of a bespoke unconference on inclusion, diversity, and equity for staff and students. We offer a critical digital pedagogy framework that engages and promotes student-led equity, diversity, and inclusion in what we refer to as the fourth wave of students as partners (SaP) conferences. The SaP unconference was unique in several ways. The unconference was aimed at both staff and students and was designed and delivered in a cross-disciplinary students-as-partners project. This forum was transformative as it was supported by a critical digital partnership and pedagogical framework. Further, the unconference positioned the audience as participants on equal footing with panellists in critical dialogue and conversation. As such, the unconference offered a counter-narrative to traditional conference culture. Reinventing the academic conference space for SaP is critical to ensure conferences are authentic, contextualised instantiations of partnership.

‘Trying to open the doors’: The co-creation of digital resources for disadvantaged primary school pupils

Tamara Thiele — 2023-10-16

This article explores the use of co-creation as an approach for involving university students in the development of educational initiatives for widening participation (WP) in higher education (HE) during the COVID-19 pandemic. At present, research and guidance looking at how co-creation practices can enable the production of such initiatives within HE is highly limited, which can deter others from employing this approach. To this end, we provide a case study of a WP project called Topic in a Box that involved staff and students working together to produce digital learning material for primary schools and students over several months. Through the use of semi-structured interviews with nine students, this research provides insight into the steps that were taken to develop the project, capturing the motivations, benefits and challenges of co-creation practice from a student perspective. We argue that this mode of co-creation should be used to a greater extent across the university sector and in recognition that university students have much to offer in terms of widening access to university.

Student-staff partnership in India: A future possibility within contested terrain?

Preeti Vayada — 2023-10-16

Existing literature on named “students-as-partners” (SaP) practices suggest that these practices are still in their embryonic stage in Southeast Asia. In addition, the literature on SaP that supports it as a global practice has not examined the suitability of student partnership (SP) practices in Indian higher education (HE) yet. It is here that this paper seeks to contribute by examining Indian students with experiences in being a student partner in an Australian university to reflect on the challenges and possibilities in relation to implementing these practices in Indian HE. Adopting a postcolonial theoretical frame, this paper examines empirical evidence from an informal group discussion among six Indian collaborators. The data, analysed using a reflexive thematic analysis suggested by Braun and Clarke (2019), provide four interrelated themes that focus on the suitability of these practices in India intertwined with the inherent challenges. The study argues in favour of context-specific adaptation of the practice. Through the Indian students’ experiences, it adds to the ongoing conversations about knowing and understanding SaP in new ways and about positioning students as knowledgeable individuals, which is at the core of partnership practices. By bringing the voices of Indian students to the fore, this article argues in favour of embodying SaP as culturally relevant or a decolonising practice.

Reviewer recognition and acknowledgment

Antonio Dos Santos — 2023-10-16

Expanding student expertise through a diversification of genres and roles

Alison Cook-Sather — 2023-10-16

Book Review of Building courage, confidence, and capacity in learning and teaching through student-faculty partnership: Stories from across contexts and arenas of practice, edited by Alison Cook-Sather and Chanelle Wilson

Bill Reynolds — 2023-10-16