QAA Enhancement Themes Conference Glasgow, Scotland, 12 June 2013

How Do We Engage and Take Seriously Diverse Students in Student-Faculty

Partnership Work?

Dr. Alison Cook-SatherMary Katharine Woodworth Professor of Education and Coordinator

of The Andrew W. Mellon Teaching and Learning Institute, Bryn Mawr College, USA

Jean Rudduck Visiting Scholar, Homerton College, Cambridge University, UK

acooksat@brynmawr.edu

Ways to show students we are taking them seriously

Create programs that position and name students in ways that confer legitimacy and authority

• Students as Learners and Teachers (SaLT) at Bryn Mawr College, USA

• Students Consulting on Teaching (SCoT) at Brigham Young University , USA

• Students Consulting on Teaching (SCOT), University of Lincoln, UK

• Course Design Teams at Elon University, USA• Students as Change Agents, University of Exeter, UK• Student Lead Learning Programs, University of

Ballarat, Australia

• For many more examples, see “Students as Change Agents” handout at http://www.mickhealey.co.uk/resources

Ways to show students we are taking them seriously Design an application process that

invites students to analyze and articulate what positions them well to be informants, consultants, partners, and/or change agents

• Sends a clear signal to students that they are, in fact, qualified to take on such roles

• Begins the reflective, analytical process of helping them develop awareness and language to name what they know

• Legitimates their role in the minds of others

Ways to show students we are taking them seriously Co-construct forums for genuine

listening and dialogue

• Weekly meetings of same- and cross-constituencies in SaLT

• Bi-weekly meetings of faculty, students, and staff in Western Washington University’s Teaching-Learning Academy

• Student-led focus groups through the Wabash-Provost Scholars Program at North Carolina A&T

• For many more examples, see “Students as Change Agents” handout at http://www.mickhealey.co.uk/resources

Ways to show students we are taking them seriously Co-author with and quote student

participants in publications on this work

• Jointly compose articles and chapters• Include student words wherever possible• Use names, where appropriate — not just “a

student said”• Quote students’ less formal statements

“Having my informal reflection used as support for a scholarly argument means more [than authoring my own article] because the reflection was not crafted to make a specific point but rather was a personal comment about my own experience. It helps affirm that our unpolished, unrehearsed thoughts are valuable to others, even beyond the college.”

Creating Redefined “Counter-spaces”

Student consultants in Bryn Mawr’s SaLT program experience the program forums as redefined “counter-spaces”

“[SaLT] looks for differences; it is not looking for

everybody to be the same. The work is looking for different voices present, so there isn’t one dominant voice. In most educational settings, everyone is trying to come to one point, to agreement; [SaLT] is always trying to find what others have to say and trying to make it normal.” - Student Consultant

Places where deficit notions of difference are replaced by

explicit valuing of differences

Students as Learners and

Teachers (SaLT)

• Partners undergraduate students and faculty members in semester-long partnerships to explore pedagogical issues

• Faculty participants to date: 150

• Student participants to date: 9020 international students (China, India, Ghana, Japan, Taiwan) 30 students of color (African–American, Latina, Chinese-American)

Seeking and finding space of belonging

“It is hard for international students to find a place on campus, a mainstream place in the campus; participating in the SaLT program helped me find a place on campus and identify more with Bryn Mawr and get more involved. It built my confidence and enthusiasm about the Bryn Mawr experience; SaLT provided me with an opportunity to engage with faculty and classes and also an opportunity to interact with more students (if I didn’t participate in SaLT I wouldn’t talk to students).” – student from China

Amplifying voice and affirming identity

“I feel like being a Student Consultant literally gave me a voice. I started being more vocal in and outside of class. As an African American student, I used to let people tell me how I should think and act. I used to let them reprimand me for not being black in the way they’d like. Looking back on those times, I am embarrassed and vow to never let someone have that kind of power over me ever again. I attribute much of this sense of empowerment to my participation in the [SaLT program]. It made me feel like who I am is more than enough—that my identity, my thoughts, my ideas are significant and valuable.” –African-American student

Learning is not always about comfort…