Co-creating curriculum with students

There are four categories informed by the when (before, during, after the term), who (all enrolled students, selected enrolled students, students not enrolled) and what (co-creating learning and teaching, redesigning curriculum, research) of engaging students in co-creation through partnership (from Cook-Sather & Matthews, 2021). Each includes links to real examples, including UQ scholarship.

1. The partnership classroom: engaging with all students enrolled in your subject to foster student agency and ownership of learning through co-creation.

• Scholarly examples in Matthews and Cook-Sather (2021); Deeley and Bovill, 2017; Deeley and Brown, 2014
• UQ examples: Monsen, Cook, & Hannant (2017); Godbold et al (2021)

2. Pedagogical consultation: engaging with some students as the subject unfolds to enhance teaching and learning practices in real time.

• Scholarly examples in book with 10+ examples edited by Cook-Sather and Wilson (2020) (access from UQ Library)
• UQ examples: Enright et al (2017)

3. Curriculum co-design: engaging with some students before, during, or after a subject to redesign the curriculum or co-design a whole new subject.

• Scholarly examples: Hubbard et al (2017); Woolmer et al, 2016; Cook-Sather, Des-Ogugua & Bahti (2018)
• UQ examples: Knaggs et al (2021)

4. Knowledge co-creation: engaging students in research and inquiry that contribute to new disciplinary knowledge, including pedagogical knowledge.

• UQ examples: Zimbardi & Myatt (2014); Matthews (2018)

Note: these four categories can and do overlap.

More examples
HigherEd Heroes podcast: How to involve students in the (re)design of your courses
HigherEd Heroes podcast: How to place students in the driving seat during your lectures

Either way, students and teachers report numerous beneficial outcomes (as reported in Matthews et al, 2019):

• Stronger learning relationships that promote empathy and trust
• Improved disciplinary learning (students) and learning about teaching (teachers)
• Deeper engagement as students and as teachers
• More confidence as learners or teachers
• Shift in identity toward more shared responsibility for learning and teaching
• Stronger sense of belonging to a learning community within the University
• Enhanced curricular materials and teaching approaches.

The benefits of engaging in partnership through curriculum co-creation are desirable and many teaching academics aspire to such outcomes for themselves and their students.

More than a practice or model, co-creation diverges from hierarchical, top-down, content-delivery models. It requires a shift in mindset and in modes of engagement. Therefore, it is important to ask yourself some basic questions about how you conceptualise education, teaching and learning, and, specifically, the role and responsibilities of teachers and students (from Cook-Sather & Matthews, 2021).

1. Do you see teaching as delivery of information and learning as a passive receipt of that information or teaching and learning as more of an active exchange?
2. Do you see classrooms and assignments as spaces within which students absorb and repeat back what you tell them or as dynamic spaces within which students participate, question, offer differing perspectives on the topic and how they are learning it?
3. Do you see students as recipients and consumers of knowledge or as contributors to knowledge creation through research and inquiry?
4. Thinking beyond your disciplines, what opportunities are there for your students to prepare themselves for engagement in society as active and thoughtful citizens in our increasingly complex local and global communities?

There will be challenges. Knowing some of these challenges before you start can inform your planning and strengthen your resilience for when challenges do arise. Below are five of the most common challenges and how you might reframe them as opportunities (from Cook-Sather & Matthews, 2021).

1. Resistance and reluctance
Some students question partnership or see it as an imposition.

• Reframe
  • There are good reasons why some students will resist the idea (they don’t believe in it, it takes more energy, they see teaching as the lecturer’s job, it can introduce conflict into classrooms, etc).
• Resilience idea
  • Start small. Communicate your intentions about why you are engaging in partnership to open up dialogue about student concerns, excitement and questions. Give it time and be explicit and transparent.

2. Time
You or students do not have the time to engage in partnership practices.

• Reframe
  • Investing time upfront in developing partnership practices can save you time later, since learning experiences will likely be more motivating, engaging and meaningful.
• Resilience idea
  • Rethink fixed notions of time (schedule) to attend to how you direct your energy and attention. 

3. Curriculum constraints
Accreditation or institutional reporting requirements mean you cannot change the curriculum (or you are not the subject convener or coordinator).

• Reframe
  • Accept what can’t be changed and focus on what you can co-create. 
• Resilience idea
  • Invite your students to consider with you how to meet the curricular requirements of a subject, and work within the given constraints to engage in co-creation.

4. Inclusivity
Selecting a small number of students to partner as co-designers or consultants necessarily means other students are being excluded.

• Reframe
  • Embrace equity as a guiding principle, which might mean including all students or it might mean inviting traditionally underrepresented and underserved students into partnership.
• Resilience idea
  • Open a dialogue with students about what inclusivity might mean in any given context where their input and choice contribute to criteria for selection.

5. Resources and support
Your institution or department does not have programs to support partnership practices.

• Reframe
  • Sometimes you can do more, at least initially, within and between the existing structures than within new ones.
• Resilience idea
  • Consider how you might use existing curricular structures (e.g. independent studies) and redeploy existing resources (e.g. departmental budget lines for teaching assistants, curricular innovation funds).

Practices

1. How-to guide on co-design with students: For detailed discussions of classroom- and curriculum-focused partnerships between lecturers and students and supported by campus-wide pedagogical partnership programs (like UQ’s SSP projects), see this free, open-access book from Cook-Sather, Bahti, and Ntem 2019.
2. How-to guide on co-creation of curriculum: Practical chapter in edited book for new university teachers on co-creation through partnerships. Much of this website was informed by this chapter (co-authored by author of this webpage content), see Cook-Sather & Matthews, 2021 but check it out from the UQ Library.
3. How-to guide on research and inquiry: The world leaders on engaging students in subject-based research and inquiry write this practical guide, see Healey and Jenkins (2009).
4. Helpful website on engaging students in research: Australian Council for Undergraduate Research: www.acur.org.au/acur/about-undergraduate-research/useful-websites/.
5. Practical, open-access framework for guide planning for co-creation, see Bovill (2019)
6. Make sure you check out all the linked references to real examples in the above section ‘What does this look like in practice: real examples’.

Theory

1. Easy to read text outlining literature with examples of co-creation, see Bovill (2020) but check it out from the UQ Library.
2. An argument for involving students in curriculum development, see Cook-Sather, Matthews & Bell (2019) but check it out from the UQ Library.

UQ SSP projects mean you can engage in co-design with students in a supportive community that enables inclusive participation of students compensated with financial grants.

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