Students Leading Curriculum Transformation Experts stream WELCOME!

Facilitators: Emily Theseira, Curtin University, Australia Lan Vu, Curtin University, Australia Ebony Chang, Curtin University, Australia Calvin Hong, University of Tasmania Wendy Green, University of Tasmania Karin Crawford, University of Lincoln, UK

Manifesto for students as partners in curriculum transformation To achieve this, the proposal is that together we will build a Manifesto for students as partners in curriculum transformation On Friday we can then present our response, articulating values, vision and mission to take this work forward Manifesto is a powerful, public declaration – a statement – of intended action based on explicit beliefs, opinion, goals and objectives – commonly these are political or governmental statements that drive policy and outline the direction of action.

Aims of the stream To consider the challenges posed by the keynote speaker (Chris Rust) in relation to students leading curriculum transformation by; Exploring the current role of students in curriculum reform activities, opportunities of students as partners and aspirational ‘what could be’ models for curriculum reform; Identifying existing curriculum reform practices that reposition students as collaborative partners in reform efforts, and imagine possibilities for students and staff co-creating curriculum together; Articulating real risks, challenges and opportunities of students as partners in curriculum transformation rhetoric and propose ways of migrating such risks to foster genuine student-staff learning relationships.

Outline plans for the three days Tomorrow Identifying aspirations and actions; Articulating risks, challenges and opportunities; Developing our vision for the future. Today Getting to know each other; Setting the scene; Exploring existing practices; Articulating values. Friday Considering a mission to take forward; Reflecting on the challenges and aspirations at different levels; Agreeing a manifesto to present to the conference; Exploring ways to continue the conversation!

Working together An opportunity for facilitated, collaborative, interactive debate; We will propose a range of activities that are intended to stimulate discussion, sharing of practices and ideas; You are invited to share openly and to question and challenge constructively; We aim to keep to time, so may have to close activities before we would ideally like to – please bear with us! Creative, progressive, innovative and possibly ‘wacky’ ideas are welcome!  With your permission we would like to take some photographs throughout the stream, including products of the activities and general shots of us working together (please let us know if you are not comfortable with this); We will also be taking notes where feasible and are happy to share these with the group afterwards; Over the sessions we will mix groups up hoping you get the chance to work with everyone at some point and that everyone’s voice is heard; We want to foster a sense of openness and honesty, so being mindful of the mix of participants, would ask that details of discussions are kept confidential within the room, unless agreed otherwise. Does everyone feel comfortable with this? Anyone want to add or change anything?

Acknowledging and building on previous work and experiences Key texts and conceptual models, e.g. Bovill, C. (2013) ‘Students and staff co-creating curricula: An example of good practice in higher education?’ in Dunne, E. and Owen, D. (Eds) The Student Engagement Handbook: Practice in higher education pp. 461-475 Bingley: Emerald Cook-Sather, A., Bovill, C. and Felten, P. (2014) ‘Engaging students as partners in teaching and learning; a guide for faculty’ San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Healey, M., Flint, A. and Harrington, K. (2014) ‘Engagement through partnership: students as partners in learning and teaching in higher education’ York: Higher Education Academy National initiatives like Teaching Fellowships that address students as partners; Local institutional initiatives. Many researchers and authors have delved into this work – a number of helpful models exist Many of the stream participants will be presenting on aspects of this work at this conference All of our work and discussions will be informed by and build on the evidence base that exists Refer to hand-out – Mick Healey’s work for the HEA as an example of the existing literature and developing theoretical basis

Definitions What does partnership mean to you? ‘… partnership is understood as fundamentally about a relationship in which all involved … are actively engaged in and stand to gain from the process of learning and working together. Partnership is essentially a process of engagement, not a product. It is a way of doing things, rather than an outcome in itself’ (Healey et al, 2014, p.12). …………………………………………….. Also different understandings of and elements of ‘curriculum’. It is also worth noting that Chris Rust offers a wide understanding of what is meant by curriculum – we just need to be clear in all our discussions what aspect of the curriculum we are referring to.

Activity - getting to know each other (or speed dating!) Take a few minutes on your own to think of three words that describe why you have chosen to participate in this stream; Moving around the room briefly introduce yourself to other participants – sharing your name, job title, institution and the three words that will help them understand why you have chosen this stream; When indicated, close the conversation and move on to meet another person in the room. Continue in this way until the time is up! Take photos – and we’ll tweet and encourage tweeting

Activity - examining existing practice Read through the short hand-out of case-studies. Then working in groups consider and discuss the following questions; Can you relate any of the case-studies to your own practice? If so, how? If not is there a reason for this (e.g. contextual, different approaches, specific constraints?) Do the case-studies relate to other practices you know of? If so, in what way? What are the commonalities and why are they apparent? Share and discuss any questions, ideas or concerns that these case studies raise for you.

Activity - agreeing a value base Each table has a set of cards, some blank and some with values that might underpin student partnership work written on them. In your group, discuss each of the values / cards – what do they mean to you and your practice in the context of student-staff partnership in curriculum transformation? Working together as a group, use the blank cards to add to the list of values, or to change any of the words, as appropriate; Then go back through the cards and prioritise them (must keep, may keep, can discard) with the aim of having three key values prioritised in the ‘must keep’ group.

Students Leading Curriculum Transformation Experts stream Day 2!

Recap from yesterday We began to get to know each other; We set the scene; We explored existing practices; We articulated values.

Manifesto – values statement

Aims for today To identify aspirations and actions; To articulate risks, challenges and opportunities; To develop our vision for the future.

Activity - Creating our vision Working in groups, but with colleagues you didn’t work closely with yesterday, consider how meaningful staff and student partnership in curriculum transformation could look in an ideal world. This is an opportunity to articulate your aspirations as if there were no constraints! Using flip chart and coloured pens, illustrate that vision (your illustration may be a model, a mind map, a drawing, something conceptual, but make it creative, colourful and representative of your group thinking); We will aim to capture summary notes of key points in group conversations as the illustrations develop.

Activity – risks/challenges and benefits/opportunities? Having considered how student-staff partnerships in curriculum design could look in an ideal world, discuss in your groups what issues need to be considered in moving in this direction? Using the flip charts, articulate the risks and challenges, benefits and opportunities, that may be inherent in taking this work forward. To structure your thinking decide whether these issues are specific to Students Staff HE institutions or Wider society.

Activity – what is our vision? Having discussed aspirations, ideals, risks, challenges, benefits and opportunities – what is our vision? In your groups develop and agree your vision statement. We will then share these and collate them into the collaborative Manifesto. [A vision statement is a road map, stating what you aim to achieve, what the direction of travel is, where you want to go or end up within a certain time frame. Your statement should be no more than one or two sentences. For example ‘By (date) we will … by doing … in order to …] An example of a vision statement – with a different purpose – is ‘By 2021 be a global 'thought leader' for 21st Century higher education. We will be known for addressing the opportunities and challenges presented by the changing world by developing a new approach to education and knowledge development.’

Students Leading Curriculum Transformation Experts stream Day 3!

Recap from yesterday We identified aspirations and actions; We articulated risks, challenges and opportunities; We developed our vision for the future.

Vision

Aims for today To consider statements of mission to take forward; To reflect on the challenges and aspirations at different levels; To agree a manifesto to present to the conference; To explore ways to continue the conversation!

Activity – from values and vision to MISSION Drawing on the work of the last two days, let’s pause, reflect and begin to articulate actions. Developing our mission means working through what needs to happen and who needs to make it happen; developing goals that others will want to be part of. Three groups will each work on one element of partnership system. Group 1 – what needs to happen to enable students to meaningfully engage in these partnerships? (and who needs to make it happen?) Group 2 – What needs to happen to enable staff to meaningfully engaged in these partnerships? (and who needs to make it happen?) Group 3 – What needs to happen to ensure HE institutions support and enable partnership approaches (and who is responsible?)

STUDENTS STAFF HE INSTITUTIONS SOCIETY What needs to happen? Who needs to make it happen? STAFF What needs to happen? Who needs to make it happen? HE INSTITUTIONS What needs to happen? Who needs to make it happen? SOCIETY What needs to happen? Who needs to make it happen? Whole group discussion to fill in the blanks – with final wider discussion about the societal aspect

Students Leading Curriculum Transformation Experts stream Thank you for your engagement in this stream!

Students Leading Curriculum Transformation Experts stream Our Manifesto

Facilitators: Emily Theseira, Curtin University, Australia Lan Vu, Curtin University, Australia Ebony Chang, Curtin University, Australia Calvin Hong, University of Tasmania Wendy Green, University of Tasmania Karin Crawford, University of Lincoln, UK

An interactive discursive process Exploring existing practices and the current evidence base; Articulating values; Identifying aspirations and actions; Articulating risks, challenges, benefits and opportunities; Developing our vision for the future; Exploring the missions – what actions are needed by whom to enable change, for students, for staff, at institutional and societal levels? … and finally exploring ways to continue the conversation.

The following values underpin our Manifesto for student-staff partnerships in curriculum transformation:- We believe …

Our vision for the future of student-staff partnerships in curriculum transformation is We aim …

The mission to take student-staff partnerships in curriculum transformation forward is We will …