Engaging students as partners in learning and teaching: a guide for faculty

In an era where calls for accountability within higher education are becoming more predominant, post-secondary institutions are reconsidering the purpose(s) of higher education. For students to learn? For faculty members to share expertise? To prepare globally minded citizens? In Engaging Students as Partners in Learning and Teaching: a Guide for Faculty, Alison Cook-Sather, Catherine Bovill, and Peter Felten encourage readers to consider that one purpose of higher education is to create spaces for meaningful student and faculty engagement. Firmly believing that this kind of experience can be accomplished through student and faculty partnership and collaboration both in and out of the classroom, the book is framed within the authors’ shared beliefs about higher education including that students have insights into teaching and learning that can improve faculty practice, that faculty can gather these insights through collaboration with students, and that partnerships shift understandings and improve teaching and learning. Building on these beliefs, the book explores the how and why of faculty and students engaging as partners and asks two foundational questions: ‘How often and how carefully do we listen to students and respond to their ideas? How often do we collaborate and work alongside students to enhance learning?’ (p. ix). The authors invite readers to join them in partnership work essentially unpredictable; it is a journey of discovery with the potential to transform the way that staff and students see and act in higher education. The authors are clearly proponents of partnership but are always critical, scholarly, and never evangelical. They acknowledge that their examples tend to be those where initiatives have been successful, but also call for more research about problematic issues. They note how partnership approaches may clash with other current discourses and challenge not only academic developers, staff, and students but student unions too. Nonetheless they suggest ways of mitigating such tensions. I found this work inspirational and convincing – and full of interesting ideas to reflect on, as well as good practice to emulate. The publication misses little that is salient, except perhaps a stronger student perspective. This tells us we have not gone very far on this road, yet, but it promises to be an exciting journey.