The literature and approaches to partnership can
cause confusion because of a wide variety of terms and interpretations.
Some terms emphasise partnership in research and
inquiry and “students as researchers and inquirers” (Healey and Jenkins 2009),
“student as producer” (Neary 2012), “student as collaborator and producer”
(Taylor and Wilding 2009), and students as co-authors (Healey, Marquis and
Vajoczki 2013).
Others emphasise how students may be engaged as
“learners and teachers” (Cook-Sather 2014) or as “co-creators” in the
learning experience (Bovill, Cook-Sather and Felten 2011) and “student
engagement in educational development and quality enhancement” (Gibbs 2013).
Later, Gibbs (2016) refers to ‘student engagement’
as the current buzzword and overall a ‘slippery concept’. Definitions in fact link to whoever is using
the term though many fail to agree. The
HEA has adopted the term “students as partners” (HEA 2014). Though these, and
other terms, overlap, and they have been developed for different purposes and
with different underlying conceptualisations.
The HEA advocate partnerships within
a wide base: learning, inclusivity, developing staff and student
knowledge and capabilities, community and belonging, addressing higher
education challenges but significantly as a constructive alternative to
consumerist models of higher education (HEA, 2014: 2).
Healey et al (2014) proposed a simple model of
recognising two ways of engaging students as partners, which may, in turn, be
divided in two:
• student engagement in learning, teaching and
research through –
o learning, teaching
and assessment;
o subject-based
research and inquiry;
• enhancement of learning and teaching practice
and policy through –
o scholarship of
teaching and learning;
o curriculum design
and pedagogic consultancy.
This nicely outlines the means and ways to
enable partnership, though critics have argued this may be added on rather than
embedded.
The ownership of learning experiences base and
the pursuit of value and transformation from university courses is still a key
issue for students, and partnerships built and sustained within institutional
structures are more likely to be influential and succeed.
The
dominant models of community discussed and applied within learning and teaching
in higher education are learning communities and communities of
practice (as in Wengers conceptual model), both of which share a focus on
social learning.
Such communities facilitate deep connections
between staff and students and lead to enhanced learning and motivation for all
community members. The question is how to engage and develop these as it is
well known that communities of practice are challenging to initiate and develop.
A constructivist perspective sees learning as
participation in “a kind of community created over time by the sustained
pursuit of a shared enterprise” (Wenger 2001, p. 45). Learning in these
communities takes place through experience (meaning), doing (practice),
belonging (community) and becoming (identity).
The question is how this is fostered and how
deeply embedded or used. The literature around partnership and communities of
learning and practice in higher education is rich and suggests there may be
common features that foster their development. For example McMillan and Chavis
(1986, p. 4) identify a four element construct of partnership communities of
learning: membership. Influence, reinforcement and shared emotional connection.
The additional question is what does this
partnership look like in practice? There
are many examples in institutions and the HEA (Healey et al, 2014)
and follow up (HEA, 2014) is replete with examples and guidance. Within
Middlesex there are ample home examples and these will be outlined within the
next sections.
References:
Bovill, C., Cook-Sather, A., and Felten, P.
(2011) Students as co-creators of teaching approaches, course design, and
curricula: implications for academic developers. International Journal for Academic
Development. 16 (2), 133–45.
Cook-Sather, A. (2013) Student-faculty
partnership in explorations of pedagogical practice: a threshold concept in
academic development. International Journal for Academic Development 18
(1), 1–12. Retrieved from:
Gibbs, G. (2013) Types of student engagement.
In: Higher Education Academy Students as Partners’ Summit: Escrick: Yorkshire.
24-25 September 2013.
Gibbs, G. (2016) 53 Powerful Ideas All Teachers
Should Know About: ‘Student
engagement’ is a slippery concept. SEDA. Retrieved from: https://www.seda.ac.uk/resources/files/publications_199_42%20'Student%20engagement'%20is%20a%20slippery%20consept.pdf
Higher Education Academy (2014) Framework for
partnership in learning and teaching in higher education. York: Higher
Education Academy. Retrieved from: https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/system/files/resources/hea_framework_for_partnership_in_learning_and_teaching.pdf
Healey, M. and Jenkins, A. (2009) Developing
undergraduate research and inquiry. York:
Higher Education Academy. Retrieved from
www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/York/documents/resources/publications/DevelopingUndergraduate_Final.pdf
Healey, M., Flint, A., & Harrington, K.
(2014). Engagement through partnership: Students as partners in learning and
teaching in higher education. York: Higher Education Academy. Retrieved from https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/engagement-through-partnership-students-partners-learning-and-teaching-higher-education
Healey, M., Marquis, B. and Vajoczki, S. (2013)
Exploring SoTL through international collaborative writing groups. Teaching
and Learning Inquiry: The ISSOTL Journal, 1 (2), 3–8. Special Issue:
Writing without borders: 2013 international writing collaborative
Levy, P. (2011) Embedding inquiry and research
into mainstream higher education: A UK perspective. Council on Undergraduate
Research Quarterly. 32 (1), 36–42.
McMillan, D. and Chavis, D. (1986) Sense of
community: a definition and theory. Journal of Community Psychology. 14, 6–23.
Neary, M. (2012) Student as producer: An
institution of the common? [or how to recover communist/revolutionary
science]. York: Higher Education Academy. Retrieved from: http://studentasproducer.lincoln.ac.uk/files/2014/03/ELiSS0403A_Guest_paper.pdf
Taylor, P. and Wilding, D. (2009) Rethinking
the values of higher education – the student as collaborator and producer?
Undergraduate research as a case study [Internet]. Gloucester: QAA.
Available from: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/599b/8d7ad44742105350116df8e53dfdd88560c5.pdf
Wenger, E. (2001) Communities of Practice:
Learning, Meaning and Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
