Undergraduate Students as Partners in a Writing Course: A Case Study

Abstract

Abstract Engaging undergraduate students and faculty as partners in learning and teaching is arguably one of the most important and flourishing trends higher education in the 21st century, particularly in the UK, North America, Australia, and New Zealand. Students as partners is a concept that intersects with other major teaching and learning topics, such as student engagement, equity, decolonization of higher education, assessment, and career preparation. In this context, the aim of this presentation is to report on a case study, where four undergraduate students (hired as undergraduate research students) and a faculty/program coordinator collaborated in the fall of 2020 to review and re-design the curriculum of English A02 (Critical Writing about Literature), a foundational course in the English program at the University of Toronto Scarborough. This presentation will serve as a platform for these students and faculty to share the logistics of this partnership, its successes, challenges, future prospects, and possible recommendations for faculty and students who may partake similar projects in the future. Keywords: Students as Partners (SaP), writing, curriculum, decolonization