Students as partners in learning and teaching: The benefits of co-creation of the curriculum

Tanya Michelle Lubicz-Nawrocka

doi:10.15173/ijsap.v2i1.3207

Tanya Michelle Lubicz-Nawrocka

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v2i1.3207

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Abstract

This research explores the benefits of co-creation of the curriculum, which is seen as one form of student-staff partnership in learning and teaching in which each partner has a voice and a stake in curriculum development. This qualitative research analyses participants’ perceptions of co-creation of the curriculum in the Scottish higher-education sector. Initial findings show that some staff and students participating in co-creation of the curriculum perceive it to benefit them by (a) fostering the development of shared responsibility, respect, and trust; (b) creating the conditions for partners to learn from each other within a collaborative learning community; and (c) enhancing individuals’ satisfaction and personal development within higher education. Using Barnett’s conceptualisation of supercomplexity and Baxter Magolda’s three-pronged view of self-authorship, the author suggests that critical and democratic engagement in co-creation of the curriculum can develop the self-authorship of both students and staff members, including their cognitive, interpersonal, and intrapersonal abilities which help them adapt to an ever-changing, supercomplex world.

Highlights

This paper shares initial research findings focusing on the benefits of the co-creation of curriculum initiatives in the Scottish higher-education sector
Since the literature on student engagement and co-creation of the curriculum has been criticised for being undertheorised (Macfarlane & Tomlinson, 2017), this paper seeks to understand connections between the benefits of co-creation and theoretical work on the development of self-authorship
In my research, I aim to provide both an explanatory account of co-creation of the curriculum and an interpretivist account of how participants work towards embedding partnership in the Scottish higher-education sector

Summary

Introduction

This paper shares initial research findings focusing on the benefits of the co-creation of curriculum initiatives in the Scottish higher-education sector. It seeks to add to the students-as-partners literature by examining trends in students’ and staff members’ perspectives across a variety of related projects within Scotland. The majority of this literature includes staff members’ perspectives relating to small-scale, extracurricular projects that focus on reporting the benefits for students (Mercer-Mapstone et al, 2017). I value staff members’ and students’ views whilst seeking to understand. Since the literature on student engagement and co-creation of the curriculum has been criticised for being undertheorised (Macfarlane & Tomlinson, 2017), this paper seeks to understand connections between the benefits of co-creation and theoretical work on the development of self-authorship. Self-authorship tends to focus on students’ personal and professional development which “is simultaneously a cognitive (how one makes meaning of knowledge), interpersonal (how one views oneself in relationship to others), and intrapersonal (how one perceives one’s sense of identity) matter” (Baxter Magolda, 1999, p. 10)

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