The Co-Created Classroom: Enhancing Students’ Professional Identity through a Teaching Apprentice Assignment

Abstract

Professional identity development of students is an often discussed but never resolved issue in higher education. To facilitate a shift toward developing students’ professional identity, we propose a pedagogical model where students are tasked with developing and providing instruction to their classmates during a 75-minute teaching session. Students work collaboratively with the instructor to design and implement class sessions, enhancing involvement and engagement with the material. Through the assignment, students receive extensive coaching, are empowered to make decisions, and collect peer feedback from their classmates. In this article, we offer anecdotal evidence which suggests that the inclusion of a co-created classroom assignment in college courses may support students’ professional identity development while deepening all students’ understanding of course content.