Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education Student Co-Creation as a Mechanism for Reinventing the Curriculum and the Student Experience Mollie Dollinger PhD Candidate Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education

Student Roles: Then and Now Despite a lot of time, and lot of very smart people, for all intents and purposes, higher education hasn’t changed much for this. Well, except now we have ipads. For those of you who don’t know, my undergraduate was in East Asian studies. And it was Confucius who once said that students are like empty vessels. I refer to this as ‘empty vessel’ philosophy. molliedollin #cocreate

molliedollin #cocreate But while Confucius might have been right about a few things, he wasn’t right about that. In fact, as a student myself, I find it a little offensive that some educators might think of students are blank slates or empty vessels that, without their knowledge, have nothing to offer. molliedollin #cocreate

Students are Valuable Resources Perspective Knowledge Time Opinions Energy My thesis therefore will be a break from ‘empty vessel’ philosophy and instead thinking of students as filled with value. This is thinking of students as student as resources. Far from being empty they have valuable knowledge, perspectives, opinions and time that they can contribute to improve higher education. molliedollin #cocreate

Examples: Co-Creating with Users And there’s even more examples in industry. Interesting, As you can see, these are three totally different examples. What they all have in common is that they are using previously untapped user resources to either create an entirely new business or improve on one. Co-creation is tricky like that, it takes many forms and style- in higher education, I expect this to be no different Physical Resources Mental/Psychological Resources Skillset Resources molliedollin #cocreate

A love story: development of co-creation Customization Crowdsourcing Student Partnership? Consumer Feedback Prosumer Behavior molliedollin #cocreate

Co-Creation (CC) or Students as Partners (SaP)? Encompasses all types of student contributions Potential for scalability Can be used as a design tool, procedural strategy or for collaborative analysis Emphasis on equal contributions of student/staff Concerns over exclusivity Usually framed as a holistic endeavor molliedollin #cocreate

Example: Course Timeline Student Feedback!!! Pre-Course Planning/ Design Syllabus Draft Initial Teaching Mid Semester Review Papers/Projects Final Test? molliedollin #cocreate

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Curriculum Conceptualised* Category A: The structure and content of a unit Category B: The structure and content of a programme of study Category C: The students’ experience of learning Category D: A dynamic and interactive process of teaching and learning The defining feature of Category D is the understanding of curriculum as a collabo- rative process of learning, with teacher and student acting as co-constructors of knowledge. *Fraser, S. P., & Bosanquet, A. M. (2006). The curriculum? That’s just a unit outline, isn’t it?. Studies in Higher Education, 31(03), 269-284.

Curriculum Outside the Classroom Examples of case studies: Student-student mentoring Student-staff magazine Student-staff produced learning resources

Approaches to Co-Created Curriculum Approach 1: Allow for open content and assessment through projects (individual or group) Approach 2: Allow for feedback, suggestions, evaluations on the content, teaching/delivery, assessment (e.g. teaching consultants)

Two Cases of Co-Created Curriculum ENG: Leading Change in a Complex World WIL: Management Consulting molliedollin #cocreate

What kind of contributions did students make? What’s interesting about this is the structure of the course.. molliedollin #cocreate

Did students feel comfortable contributing? molliedollin #cocreate

Are students more comfortable with less responsibility? molliedollin #cocreate

Quote from student in WIL: “There was some confusion in the beginning about what was required and the direction- I found that at the start that this is what was going on and it was hard to get your head around what was happening with timelines and deadlines. At times I felt like there was a lack of support, but that might have been the program just developing our professional skills.” molliedollin #cocreate

Benefits to Students: Comparison ENG WIL Self-awareness Engagement Ownership Student Voice Motivation Teamwork Breadth of knowledge Work Experience molliedollin #cocreate

Why include the ‘student voice’? Empowering global citizenship Challenge assumptions Provide leadership opportunities Improve/innovate higher education service Create belongingness/ alumni networks Campus community building *Challenges: managing power balance; initial investment of time; funding; incentives/motivation; organisation; questions over impact on learning molliedollin #cocreate

Co-Creating the BA curriculum BA graduates take longer and have lower wages than others Help them gain leadership/ competitive advantage/ tie into ‘practical’ skills molliedollin #cocreate

molliedollin #cocreate Key Considerations Co-Production Value-in-Use Indicators Knowledge Sharing Equity Interaction Experience Personalisation Relationship Co-Creation Benefits Innovation Knowledge Relational molliedollin #cocreate

Moving Forward More case studies and deeper comparison is necessary Exploring and linking specific factors to specific outcomes molliedollin #cocreate