Teachers and students meet to transform learning

Teachers and students from around Australia gathered at The University of Queensland to share insights and transform the learning experience together.

The second annual Students as Partners Roundtable saw representatives from 23 national and international higher education institutions coming together.

National Teaching Fellow and project driver Dr Kelly Matthews from UQ’s Institute of Teaching and Learning Innovation (ITaLI), said it was a chance for staff and students to gain new perspective and insight into each other’s worlds.

“The event created a space for students and staff to grapple with the issues important to them, and to really work together to solve them,” Dr Matthews said.

“Bringing students into conversations typically reserved for staff reminds us that higher education is a joint enterprise between learners and educators, and invites students to become more active participants in shaping their student experience as genuine members of the university learning community.”

University of Queensland Pro Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning) Professor Doune Macdonald said the Students as Partners program sought to harness student and staff creativity.

“The program provides an opportunity to share practices, ideas and experiences while discovering new ways of engaging students as partners, co-creators and change agents in higher education,” she said.

“Students as Partners is the essence of transformative teaching – enabling students to collaborate with their teachers and drive their own learning.

“It is a way of thinking and engaging that can positively impact UQ’s culture and permeate every single aspect of the UQ student experience.”

UQ is in the early phases of implementing its Student Strategy which focuses on enhancing the student experience, improving graduate outcomes, offering flexible study options, blending active and digital learning, and creating engaging learning environments.

“We’re very pleased to have hosted this event once again, to highlight the project and enable other institutions to adopt such beneficial practices,” Professor Macdonald said.

The event featured international student partnership experts including Professor Alison Cook-Sather, a leading scholar of student voice and Director of Teaching and Learning Institute at Bryn Mawr and Haverford College; and Professor Mick Healey, leading scholar on students as partners, higher education consultant and Emeritus Professor at the University of Gloucestershire.

More information on Students as Partners program at UQ is available here.

Media: Zarese Kisielewski, z.kisielewski@uq.edu.au, +61 7 3365 6211.