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
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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)
Student
engagement
Co-creation
Partnership
Defining co-creation (2)
•
•
•
•
“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)
Student co-creation roles
Co-researcher
Pedagogical
co-designer
Consultant
Representative
Bovill, Cook-Sather, Felten, Millard and Moore-Cherry (forthcoming)
Why would you co-create L&T?
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“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
Loughborough
University, UK
Subject/
Discipline
Maths
Elon University,
North Carolina,
USA
Education
University
College Dublin,
Ireland
Geography
University of
Glasgow,
Scotland, UK
University of
Reading, UK
Biology
Classics
Co-creation focus
Students Involved
Design of worksheets for
second year students
focused on ‘troublesome
concepts’
Student-staff curriculum
design teams
e.g. choosing text book
Retrospective - 2 x 3rd year
students
Retrospective – 4 x second year
students +
Future – 4 x future students
1. Retrospective - 3 x 3rd year
students
2. Current - whole cohort of 400
students
Design of microbiology
Current - 6 x 1st year students
laboratory classes
Retrospective? - 6 x laboratory
demonstrators
Students write own essay Current - whole cohort x 2nd year
title
students
1.Design of VLE
2. Use of student work in
curriculum
More examples of co-creation...
• 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
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
Staff experiences
“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)
Student 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)
However…
My first years don’t
20 years of
Wehave
are all
experience
like
me, to
overstretched
and
this
IWe
only
teach
these
have a
know
what
needs to be
sounds
like
more
students
for
two
weeks
professional body that
in the
content of the
work…
and
the
course
is
coconstrains what we
first year chemistry
ordinated
by
someone
can do with our
curriculum…
else…
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
Co-researcher
Pedagogical
co-designer
Consultant
Representative
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 CoCreators 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