A student-staff partnership approach to course enhancement: Principles for enabling dialogue through repurposing subject-specific materials and metaphors
Lucy Chilvers, Centre for Learning and Teaching, and the School of Art, University of Brighton; Alice FoxCentre for Learning and Teaching, and the School of Art, University of Brighton; Sarah Bennett, Centre for Learning and Teaching, and the School of Art, University of Brighton;
Although describing a museum-based art class, the central principles and many of the strategies used can be adapted to STEM disciplines. The staff (authors' term) designed their museum-based class to create opportunities for dialogue with students, hear their voices, and use the information gleaned from to enhance learning and evaluate the class and pedagogical decisions. The qualitative analysis of student and staff experiences shows not only responsiveness by both groups, but increased engagement and sense of belonging by students from historically marginalized groups. The article includes quotes from staff about the challenges of this strategy (such as needing to remain 'unplanned') and practical constraints such as funding shortfalls. They end with 5 principles for module design including 'creative evaluation' (their term for this): 1. embedding regular opportunities for formative reflection and evaluation; 2. evaluative activities allow students to reflect on their learning and on the course; 3. staff are listening responsively and adapting to students' feedback where needed; 4. time is allocated for collaborative activities to build trust and support reflections; 5. activities and assessments are relevant to the discipline.
Suggested Citation
Chilvers L, Fox A, & Bennett S (2021) A student-staff partnership approach to course enhancement: Principles for enabling dialogue through repurposing subject-specific materials and metaphors. INNOVATIONS IN EDUCATION AND TEACHING INTERNATIONAL 2021, VOL. 58, NO. 1, 14–24 https://doi.org/10.1080/14703297.2019.1675530