Core elements of student and staff co-creation

What is student and staff co-creation?

Student-staff co-creation involves shared decision-making and negotiation of curriculum design or elements of the curriculum, and a distinction can be made between “co-creation of the curriculum (co-design of a programme or course, usually before the programme or course takes place) and co-creation in the curriculum (co-design of learning and teaching within a course or programme usually during the course or programme)” (Bovill & Woolmer, 2019). Student and staff co-creation has gained both popularity and traction within higher education over the last five to ten years as colleagues have become increasingly aware of the benefits of bringing students’ perspectives into discussions and decisions about learning.

Why it is important?

Co-creation provides a powerful change and opportunity to the status quo of teaching. It is an ultimately disruptive approach, which challenges the accepted ways in which we have been led to believe teaching and learning should take place. Co-creation shifts learning and teaching from something we do to students, towards something we do with students.

Trust and relationship building between staff and students, and between students and their peers are foundational tenets to successful co-creation. Students are encouraged to bring their experience into the curriculum, and students’ interests, needs and strengths become central to the learning and teaching process.

What is also impressive is that many of these outcomes are shared by staff and students, even if experienced in different ways. Cook-Sather, Bovill & Felten (2014 and Bovill (2020) identify six benefits of student and staff co creation, shown below in the diagram (also explained in the following list.)

Six benefits of student and staff co-creation

1. Increased motivation and engagement
2. Increased metocognitive understanding of learning and teaching
3. More developed sense of identity
4. Greater academic performance
5. Increased sense of responsibility for learning and teaching
6. More positive relationships and deeper trust

Next steps

Learn more about embedding student and staff co-creation in your practice

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