Co-creation of learning and teaching: background, evidence and strategies for success

Dr Catherine Bovill, Senior Lecturer

Academic Development Unit, Learning & Teaching Centre

University of Edinburgh PTAS Forum, 10th June 2014

Overview

Origins of co-created learning and teaching Student co-creation roles Examples Evidence and outcomes Challenges Important pre-design decisions Practical guidance

Origins of co-created L&T

Student engagement (Bryson and Hand 2007; Kuh et al 2008, Mann 2001)

Students as participants, co-researchers, change agents, co-creators, producer(s)… (Bovill et al, 2011& 2009; Dunne & Zandstra, 2011; McCulloch, 2009; Neary, 2010)

Students as partners (Cook-Sather, Bovill & Felten, 2014; Healey, Flint & Harrington, 2014)

Influence of critical pedagogy and

student voice in schools (Cook-Sather 2007; Darder et al, 2003; Fielding, 2004; Giroux, 1983; Rogers and Freiberg, 1969)

Defining co-creation (1)

“Within...[critical pedagogy and student voice]...literature there are some elements that are considered crucial for creating more democratic approaches to education. These include:

• that learning is meaningful; • that there is freedom for students to make choices; • that the student-tutor relationship is facilitatory,

collaborative and based on dialogue; and • that the learner is viewed as a knowledgeable and

critical partner in learning

(hooks, 1994; Neill, 1995; Rogers and Freiberg, 1969).”Bovill (2013)

Defining co-creation (2)

Student co-creation roles

Bovill, Cook-Sather, Felten, Millard and Moore-Cherry (forthcoming)

Why would you co-create L&T?

“My course is broken” My students are not engaged I want to make my classroom more democratic The benefits look worth exploring The university is going through a structural change There is a small amount of funding available Students voices are important and

are currently missing or not valued

Examples of co-creation

Institution Subject/Discipline

Co-creation focus Students Involved

Loughborough University, UK

Maths Design of worksheets for second year students focused on ‘troublesome concepts’

Retrospective - 2 x 3rd year students

Elon University, North Carolina, USA

Education Student-staff curriculum design teamse.g. choosing text book

Retrospective – 4 x second year students +Future – 4 x future students

University College Dublin, Ireland

Geography 1.Design of VLE 2. Use of student work in curriculum

1. Retrospective - 3 x 3rd year students2. Current - whole cohort of 400 students

University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK

Biology Design of microbiology laboratory classes

Current - 6 x 1st year studentsRetrospective? - 6 x laboratory demonstrators

University of Reading, UK

Classics Students write own essay title

Current - whole cohort x 2nd year students

• students and staff discussing the students’ evaluation feedback on a course

• students choosing the topic for their research project• students involved in the course/programme approval

process• students as consultants in learning and teaching • students co-designing marking criteria with staff• students co-design learning outcomes

More examples of co-creation...

Student and staff experiences

Enhanced... • engagement, motivation and learning• meta-cognitive awareness and stronger sense of identity• teaching and classroom experiences• student performance in assessments

Staff also say...

Risky, intense, nerve wracking

Transformatory

Bovill, 2014; Bovill et al 2011; Cook-Sather et al, 2014; Delpish et al, 2011; Mihans et al, 2008

“It was liberating … we moved from teaching … that just didn’t work to … [teaching]… that … was put together in ways that I never even imagined were possible … so… it’s really transformed how I think about teaching and how I teach. I think one of the things I … learned was trust the students … if you actually give them responsibility they will … take it … students are a lot brighter than we give them credit for …at the start of their first assignment they are well beyond what I would imagine a first year should be able to write about. So giving them the freedom has actually allowed them to shine…” (Lecturer at UCD)

(Bovill, 2014: 18)

Staff experiences

“I grew up thinking what I assumed every other student thought and the majority of students still think – what do I want to get out of this class? An A. The thought of actively trying to learn something never crossed my mind. Then one day as we were discussing this chapter, we happened upon the subject of teacher and student responsibility and then wham! The realization hit me: What were my own responsibilities for my education? It was such an odd question. Why had I not thought of this before? The more I thought about it, the more it shook up everything I associated with education and learning…”

(Manor et al 2012: 5)

Student experiences

However…

We have a professional body that

constrains what we can do with our

curriculum…

I only teach these students for two weeks and the course is co-

ordinated by someone else…

We are all overstretched and this

sounds like more work…

My first years don’t have 20 years of experience like me, to know what

needs to be in the content of the first year chemistry curriculum…

Difficult decisions?

Pre-design decisions

Staff act as gatekeepers of curriculum design (Bourner 2004)

Which students do you involve? Retrospective - Current – Future (Bovill 2014)

Whole cohort?

Selection?

– criteria for inclusion

– rewards

Guidance for staff (1)

Getting started- start small - be patient - ensure participation is voluntary - think carefully about which students to involve - create shared aims - cultivate support- learn from mistakes

Cook-Sather, Bovill & Felten (2014)

Guidance for staff (2)

Sustaining and deepening partnerships- Integrate partnerships into other work, - give/get credit for working in partnership, - enhance diversity in partnerships, - CPD for staff and students involved, - value the process, - formally end partnerships when it is time.

Cook-Sather, Bovill & Felten (2014)

Guidance for staff (3)

Negotiating roles and power in partnerships- Consider your own attitude to roles and power- Develop ways to negotiate- Be honest about where power imbalance exists

Cook-Sather, Bovill & Felten (2014)

Implications

• Evaluation and evidence growing, more research needed• You may be doing this already - can you develop ideas

further? Can you evaluate what you are doing?• Speak to colleagues e.g. micro-cultures (Mårtensson et al, 2014; Roxå &

Mårtensson, 2009 )

• Talk to students about learning and teaching ‘Being in the world’ (Barnett and Coate, 2005)

Just out...

References

Barnett, R. And Coate, K. (2005) Engaging the curriculum in higher education. Maidenhead: Open University Press/The Society for Research into Higher Education.Bourner, T. (2004) “The Broadening of the Higher Education Curriculum, 1970–2002: An Ipsative Enquiry.” Higher

Education Review, 36(2), 39–52.Bovill, C. (2014). An investigation of co-created curricula within higher education in the UK, Ireland and the USA.

Innovations in Education and Teaching International. 51 (1) 15-25.Bovill, C. (2013) Students and staff co-creating curricula – a new trend or an old idea we never got around to implementing? In Rust, C. (Ed) Improving Student Learning through research and scholarship: 20 years of ISL. Oxford: The Oxford Centre for Staff and Educational Development. (Chapter 3 pp96-108). Bovill, C. Cook-Sather, A. and Felten, P. (2011) Changing Participants in Pedagogical Planning: Students as Co-

Creators of Teaching approaches, Course Design and Curricula. International Journal for Academic Development 16 (2) 133-145.

Bovill, C. Cook-Sather, A., Felten, P., Millard, L. and Moore-Cherry, N. (forthcoming) Addressing potential tensions in co-creating learning and teaching.Bovill, C., Morss, K. & Bulley, C.J. (2009). Should students participate in curriculum design? Discussion arising from

a first year curriculum design project and a literature review. Pedagogic Research in Maximizing Education, 3, 17–26.Bryson, C., and Hand, L. “The Role of Engagement in Inspiring Teaching and Learning.” Innovations in Education

and Teaching International, 2007, 44(4), 349–362.Cook-Sather, A., Bovill, C. and Felten, P. (2014) Engaging students as partners in learning and teaching: a guide for f aculty. San Fransisco: Jossey Bass.

References

Cook-Sather, A. (2007) Resisting the impositional potential of student voice work: lessons for liberatory educational research from poststructuralist feminist critiques of critical pedagogy. Discourse 28 (3) 389-403.

Darder, A., Baltodano, M. & Torres, R.D. (2003). Critical pedagogy: An introduction. In A. Darder, M. Baltodano & R.D. Torres (Eds.) The critical pedagogy reader (pp. 1–26). New York: RoutledgeFalmer.

Delpish, A., Darby, A., Holmes, A., Knight-McKenna, M., Mihans, R., King, C. & Felten, P. (2010). Equalising voices: Student faculty partnership in course design. In C. Werder and M.M. Otis (Eds.) Engaging student

voices in the study of teaching and learning (pp. 96–114) Virginia: Stylus. Dunne, E. & Zandstra, R. (2011). Students as change agents. New ways of engaging with learning and teaching in

higher education. Bristol: ESCalate Higher Education Academy Subject Centre for Education / University of Exeter. Fielding, M. (2004) Transformative approaches to student voice: theoretical underpinnings, recalcitrant realities.

British Educational Research Journal 30 (2) 295-311.Freire, P. (2003) From Pedagogy of the Oppressed. In Darder, A., Baltodano, M., Torres, R.D. (Eds) The critical

pedagogy reader. New York: RoutledgeFalmer.

Giroux H.A. (1983) Theory and resistance in education. A pedagogy for the opposition. London: Heinemann.Healey, M., Flint,A. and Harrngton, K. (forthcoming) Developing students a partners in learning and teaching. York:

Higher Education Academy.Kuh, G., Kinzie, J., Schuh, J. H., and Whitt, E. J. Student Success in College: Creating Conditions that Matter. San

Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2010.

References

McCulloch, A. (2009). The student as co-producer: Learning from public administration about the student-university relationship. Studies in Higher Education,34, 71–183.

Mann, S. J. “Alternative Perspectives on the Student Experience: Alienation and Engagement.” Studies in Higher Education, 2001, 26(1), 7–19.

Mårtensson, K., Roxå, T. & Stensaker, B. (2014) From Quality Assurance to Quality Practices – an investigation of strong micro-cultures in teaching and learning. Studies in Higher Education 39:4, 534-545.

Mihans, R., Long, D., & Felten, P. (2008). Power and expertise: Student-faculty collaboration in course design and the scholarship of teaching and learning. International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and

Learning, 2, 2, 1–9.Neary, Mike (2010) Student as producer: a pedagogy for the avant-garde? Learning Exchange, 1 (1). Rogers, C., & Freiberg, H.J. (1969). Freedom to learn, (3rd ed.) New York: Macmillan Publishing.Roxå, T. & Mårtensson, K. (2009). Significant conversations and significant networks – exploring the backstage of

the teachingarena. Studies in Higher Education 34(5): 547-559