TransformingPracticeProgramme2016

Student Engagement:

Students as Partners in Teaching and Learning

Overview

TheOffice forLearning andTeaching(OLT) promotesandsupportschangein highereducation institutionsfor theenhancementoflearningandteaching.Itsresponsibilitiesinclude:supportingthe developmentofeffectivemechanismsfortheembeddingofgoodpracticein learningandteachingin Australianhighereducation;encouragingcollaborationandsharingofgoodpracticeforimproved studentlearningoutcomes;andfacilitatingnetworkingandprofessionaldevelopmentopportunities foracademicsandprofessionalstaff.It alsocommissionsworkonissuesofstrategicsignificanceto thehighereducationsectortoinformpolicydevelopmentandpracticeinrelationtolearningand teaching;andfundsfellowshipsandsecondmentsforleadingeducatorstoaddresssignificantnationaleducationalissues.

TransformingPracticeProgramme(TPP)

In 2013, theOLT signeda MemorandumofUnderstanding(MOU)with theHigherEducation Academy (HEA)(UK).Includedin thatMOUwasanundertakingtoexplorethepossibilityofrunninga collaborativeChangeProgrammeinAustraliaandtheUK,basedon thesuccessof theThematic ChangeProgrammestheHEAhasrunfor sometime. ProfessorPatrick Crookes,fromthe UniversityofWollongong,was secondedtotheOLT toimplement thisprogramme, which was named the Transforming Practice Programme (TPP).

TPPinvolvesparticipatinginstitutions:identifying smallteamsofrelevantstaff, acrossall levelsof theorganisationplusa studentrepresentative;whothen workcollaborativelyto solvea problemorimplement aplanforchange,ina particularareaofactivity.These teamsare then facilitatedtoworkwith teamsfromotherinstitutions,thus sharingexpertise andsolutions,aswell asencouragingongoingcross-institutionalcollaboration.Theteamsare supportedthroughoutby thefacilitatorsof theprogramme.

ThePilot: Reward and Recognition for Teaching

In 2014,a successful pilotof TPPwas conducted inAustralia.It was facilitatedby AustralianandUKacademics with a focus on ‘rewardand recognitionforteaching’particularlywith respecttopromotionpolicies,proceduresandpractices.TheTPP pilotfacilitatedknowledge translation,aswell asthesharingofexpertiseandinsights intomanagingsuccessfulinnovationandchangeinuniversities.

TPP 2016: Students as Partners

Given the success of the 2014 TPP pilot, a second TPP will be conducted on students as partners. Students as partnershas emerged from concerns about the 21st century student experience in higher education amid international acknowledgement that new approaches are needed to engage students in their learning (Webb, Russell, & Jarnecki, 2014; Krause, 2012; Kuh, 2007). Australia shares this concern, with several funded OLT project on student engagement and student leadership in teaching and learning. For example, the Student leadership in curriculum development and reform project investigated students with more formal roles in curriculum development at institutional policy level.Two recently funded projects also afford potential synergies with students as partners approaches:Innovative perspectives and approaches for enhancing the student experienceandStudent engagement in university decision-making and governance. In 2015, Kelly Matthews was awarded an OLT National Teaching fellowship on students as partners, which will open up a national debate on the student as partners in Australia whilst piloting student-staff partnership activities in the sciences at The University of Queensland.

The Higher Education Academy has recognised the transformative power ofstudents as partnersto advance teaching, learning, and curriculum in higher education (Healey et al., 2014). This is supported by international empirical research that highlights positive outcomes for both students and academics engaged instudents as partnersinitiatives.

Benefits for students:

  • Increased meta-cognitive learning (Jarvis et al., 2014; Barnes et al., 2010; Cook-Sather et al., 2014),
  • Raised awareness of graduate attributes and employability skills (Jarvis et al., 2014),
  • Positively shifted traditional power dynamics between students and academics (Barnes et al., 2010),
  • Engaged and empowered under-represented students (Cook-Sather and Agu, 2013), and
  • Increased student ownership for learning (Cook-Sather et al., 2014).

Benefits for staff:

  • Transformation in teaching and learning beliefs and practices (Cook-Sather et al., 2014), and
  • Reconceptualisation of teaching as a collaborative process to foster learning (Cook-Sather et al., 2014).

Last year, A “how-to-guide” for implementing student-staff partners was published to guide academic staff (Cook-Sather, Bovill, & Felten, 2014).

Further detailsof theprogramme regarding dates etc, are provided in the expression of interest form.

References

Barnes, E., Goldring, L., Bestwick, A. and Wood, J. (2010) A collaborative evaluation of student–staff partnership in inquiry-based educational development. In: Little, S. (Ed.)Staff-student partnerships in Higher Education, (pp. 16–30). London: Continuum.

Bovill, C., Cook-Sather, A., and Felten, P. (2011) Students as co-creators of teaching approaches, course design, and curricula: implications for academic developers.International Journal for Academic Development.16 (2), 133– 45.

Cook-Sather, A. and Agu, P. (2013) Student consultants of color and faculty members working together toward culturally sustaining pedagogy, in Groccia, J. E. and Cruz, L. (Eds.),To Improve the Academy: Resources for Faculty, Instructional, and Organizational Development32, (pp. 271–85). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

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

Healey, M., Flint, A., & Harrington, K. (2014).Engagement through partnership: students as partners in learning and teaching in higher education. London, Higher Education Academy. Available from: 16 January 2015].

HEA (2014) Framework for partnership in learning and teaching.Higher Education Academy. Available from: 16 January 2015].