Pedagogical partnerships: A how-to guide for faculty, students, and academic developers in higher education

Alison Cook-Sather, Bryn Mawr College; Melanie Bahti, University of Pennsylvania; Anita Ntem, Bryn Mawr College;

Based on their experiences working with several of the 50+ institutions word wide with institution-level "pedagogical partnership" programs for faculty instructional development, the authors step readers through considerations for establishing and growing such programs. The pedagogical partnership model (sometimes referred to as "students as partners") engages faculty and students serving as "student consultants" (who typically are not concurrently enrolled in the faculty members' courses) in reciprocal partnerships to reflect on the faculty members classroom practices. Student consultants are positioned with these programs to take active roles in instructional development with their faculty partners and bring their unique perspectives as students to the collaboration. Student consultants also frequently work with faculty partners to collect and debrief on feedback from students enrolled in the faculty members' courses. Pedagogical partnership is based on a set of core principles that focus on valuing student knowledge of teaching and learning, building on strengths, supporting exchange over "change for the sake of change," mutual respect, reciprocity, and shared responsibility. Authors describe two different types of pedagogical partnerships: (1) curriculum-focus partnerships where faculty-student partners work together to design or redesign a course, and (2) classroom-focused pedagogical partnerships where partners focus on faculty members instructional approaches through course observations and collaborative discussion.

Learn more at: Pedagogical partnerships: A how-to guide for faculty, students, and academic developers in higher education

Suggested Citation

Cook-Sather, A., Bahti, M., & Ntem, A. (2019). Pedagogical partnerships: A how-to guide for faculty, students, and academic developers in higher education. Elon University Center for Engaged Learning.