Engaging Students as Partners in Learning and Teaching - (Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education (Hardcover)) (Hardcover)

About the Book

"The book is designed to offer both a theoretical grounding and practical guidelines and advice--from faculty, students, and coordinators/directors of teaching and learning centers--on how to develop student-faculty partnerships focused on affirming and improving teaching and learning in higher education. This is a why-to and a how-to book, and it provides those interested in trying out their own version of student-faculty partnerships with theory and evidence that supports such efforts, various models of how to go about creating and supporting such partnerships, and advice from a wide-range of experts, on the one hand, and faculty and students who have tried this approach, on the other hand. That balance--of theory, step-by-step guidelines, expert advice, and practitioner experience - will provide those interested with a wide range of perspectives and possibilities on how to build student-faculty partnerships and various levels of guidance. The book will include helpful responses to a range of questions that we have been asked by academic staff from different institutions, disciplines, and levels of experience. These responses will attempt to help faculty overcome some of the perceived barriers to student-faculty partnerships and suggest a range of possible levels of partnership that might be appropriate in different circumstances"--

Book Synopsis

A guide to developing productive student-faculty partnerships in higher education

Student-faculty partnerships is an innovation that is gaining traction on campuses across the country. There are few established models in this new endeavor, however. Engaging Students as Partners in Learning and Teaching: A Guide for Faculty offers administrators, faculty, and students both the theoretical grounding and practical guidelines needed to develop student-faculty partnerships that affirm and improve teaching and learning in higher education.

• Provides theory and evidence to support new efforts in student-faculty partnerships
• Describes various models for creating and supporting such partnerships
• Helps faculty overcome some of the perceived barriers to student-faculty partnerships
• Suggests a range of possible levels of partnership that might be appropriate in different circumstances
• Includes helpful responses to a range of questions as well as advice from faculty, students, and administrators who have hands-on experience with partnership programs

Balancing theory, step-by-step guidelines, expert advice, and practitioner experience, this book is a comprehensive why- and how-to handbook for developing a successful student-faculty partnership program.

From the Back Cover

Teaching and learning together to transform higher education

Engaging Students as Partners in Learning and Teaching is a guide to an innovative approach to higher education. Around the world, student-faculty partnership is gaining attention as a forward-thinking way to ensure that student voices inform pedagogical practice. This book, authored by three of the most widely recognized experts on the topic, gives faculty members and administrators concrete advice for adopting partnership models that could make passive, disengaged learning a thing of the past.

By exploring the core principles of respect, reciprocity, and shared responsibility, readers will learn how to conceive of higher education as a collaborative process of sharing insights, as well as how to put this deepened conception to practice. Designing the learning experience with the participation of everyone involved is unfamiliar to many and may seem impractical to some. This book shows that it can--and should--be done. The authors provide:

• The key ideas and arguments behind the partnership model
• First-hand accounts from students and faculty showing how student-faculty partnerships work
• Step-by-step guidelines for developing individual, program-level, and institution-level partnerships
• Summaries of research on partnership outcomes
• Concrete strategies for assessing faculty-student partnership projects

All students have insights into the learning process, even if they have never had the chance to voice them. Too often, students find higher education to be a passive, alienating experience where they listen to lectures, take tests, and follow the syllabus to succeed. It's no wonder that so many students disengage and treat learning as a burdensome inconvenience. Engaging Students as Partners in Learning and Teaching reframes the student (and faculty) experience in higher education. Read this book to learn why and how to take advantage of the transformative potential of student-faculty partnership.

About the Author

ALISON COOK-SATHER is the Mary Katherine Woodworth Professor of Education and coordinator of the Teaching and Learning Institute at Bryn Mawr College. She publishes and presents widely on student voice and student-teacher partnerships.

CATHERINE BOVILL is a senior lecturer in the Academic Development Unit at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. Her research and publications focus on students and staff cocreating curricula.

PETER FELTEN is executive director of the Center for Engaged Learning and assistant provost at Elon University. His other books include Transformative Conversations: A Guide to Mentoring Communities Among Colleagues in Higher Education (Jossey-Bass, 2013).