14 November 2024

Being Co-Creators in the Learning Experience

Authors

Dr Yanning Yang
Loughborough University

Dr Susana Monserrat
Loughborough University

Abigail Pearce
Wolverhampton University

Introduction

In higher education, lecturers are traditionally seen as the “givers” of knowledge, standing at the front of the lecture rooms, while students are the “receivers”, quietly absorbing information – or at least trying to. Feedback, when given, were typically through anonymous feedback forms. This convention has led to staff interpreting students’ feedback from the survey forms and adjusting their teaching in isolation. Often, staff and students may feel the “divide” between them. However, when we were involved in the student-staff collaborative observations, we began to see the possibility to create a learning environment where both staff and students are equal contributors to the teaching and learning process.

This blog shares the reflections of three lecturers who participated in the project, Enhancing learning and teaching quality through collaborative observation, a model that invited staff and students to work together in observing lectures and improving learning and teaching practice. Together, we’ll explore how this partnership model reshaped our experiences as educators and learners and reflect on the challenges and opportunities it presented.

Section 1: Support is at the heart of effective student-staff partnerships

Yanning’s Perspective:

My experience with the project began with comprehensive training sessions. These sessions, whether in-person or online, were designed to clarify roles, responsibilities, and expectations for all participants, including staff and students. They introduced us to the overall timeline and stages of the project, gave practical advice on how to conduct observations, and offered insights into best practices for taking notes and providing feedback.

These sessions did more than provide logistical details; they created a space where staff and students could begin building rapport, helping to establish trust and mutual respect before the formal observation began. We openly talked about concerns we had, for example, staff were worried that students may be overly critical, students were worried about the lack of experience in observing a lecture. Together we developed a mutual understanding on what we hoped to achieve together from the observations. The combination of structured guidance and open communication meant that, as a staff member, I felt well-prepared and confident to engage in the collaborative process.

Susana’s Perspective:

I will expand on Yanning’s experience, as we received the same training at Loughborough University. The project leader at our University, Dr Victoria Wright, provided a variety of material and training sessions to us, including my 3 students and a colleague from another discipline, all of them acting as observers, and myself. Victoria's attitude was very welcoming and extremely positive throughout the process, which I think is paramount for a project like that, especially when bringing together staff from different disciplines from all over the campus. Her empathetic attitude was key, always ready to help with a smile on her face. Not only did she provide us with the training material, but also helped us design the leaflets to engage our students in the study and organised the pre-observation meetings in a very efficient way.

The training sessions helped me to better understand the 6 stages of the Cycle of Collaborative Observation (CoCO) and how to reflect on my teaching and students’ learning, engaging with them in a collaborative way, through reflective inquiry. I shared with my students certain aspects that I wanted to be observed, such as the suitability of my in-class tasks, as I wanted to receive open and honest feedback on certain aspects that could be improved in my research methods classes with a very large group of students (more than 150), mostly international, who had very different competencies (some had already completed a dissertation before and others were complete beginners).

Abigail’s Perspective:

Dr Jenni Jones was the project lead at my institution and had an encouraging, positive approach to the project and explained the roles and expectations for myself as the lecturer and my student as the observer in detail. Initially before going into the training session, I was a little nervous! I had been observed many times before by colleagues, but never by my students, so although I was enthusiastic about being part of the project, I was grateful to have the opportunity to learn more about the aims of the project and have a safe space to ask questions. This was particularly important for this project as this type of observation is likely to be new to both the lecturer and the student, and therefore opportunities to query details, gain a deeper understanding of the wider context of the project, and set expectations was helpful.

This training session also offered the opportunity to reflect upon and discuss any specific areas for the student observer to focus on during the observation. For example, at the time I was struggling to foster engagement in discussion activities from international students in the group. Discussing this as an area of focus in the training session firstly highlighted to the student that this is a challenge I have identified, and secondly anchored as a point of motivation for the student as they were presented with an opportunity to make recommendations about a challenge they had personally witnessed in the classroom. I think this worked really well as the student and I both felt that we were working on a challenge together, making for a positive start to the project. 

Section 2: Opportunities and challenges

Student-staff collaborative partnerships offer exciting opportunities to improve teaching, but they also come with challenges. Navigating differing perspectives, managing logistical complexities, and ensuring that both staff and students feel empowered can be difficult. However, these challenges are part of the growth process, and with every challenge comes the opportunity to enhance the learning experience.

Yanning’s perspective:

One of the biggest challenges I faced was recruiting students. Due to the project’s requirement for long-term involvement, students needed to be available for the entire 18-month duration. However, I taught third-year optional modules and postgraduate modules, meaning most students would graduate after one year. Through discussions with the local project lead, I managed to identify nine students on an integrated four-year undergraduate master’s course and successfully recruited two of them. Although I was able to secure students for the collaborative observation cycles, engaging them in the project’s dissemination phase after their module ended proved to be more difficult.

Aside from the logistical complexities, the experience was overwhelmingly positive and empowering. Face-to-face interactions with students allowed us to clarify feedback in real time, discuss potential actions together, and ensure that the solutions were mutually agreed upon. In contrast, traditional anonymous student feedback often feels frustrating—there’s no way to clarify what the feedback means or to confirm that the actions taken align with students' expectations. With collaborative feedback, however, we were able to build a joint action plan that integrated both the teacher’s and students’ perspectives, resulting in more meaningful and effective improvements to the teaching process.

Susana’s perspective:

The first difficulty I had was not being able to recruit first year students of the sports management degree, as after two attempts in some lectures and seminars of a module I am responsible for, I could not get any student involved. This led me to change the recruitment strategy and try with more mature students from the master's degree in sport management and there we succeeded.

Likewise, the idea of having John as a partner, a lecturer in another scientific discipline completely different from mine such as anatomy, seemed quite difficult, but what initially seemed like a challenge became an opportunity. Although we did not share the same scientific approach (I was teaching qualitative methods to big groups and he was teaching a seminar on applied anatomy with artificial skeletons and several mock vertebrae in small groups), the fact of attending his seminar as an observer, without knowing anything about his subject, was very positive, since it allowed me to learn how to organize small working groups in which the student was asked to reflect in writing after each practical task. It was a type of methodology that was not familiar to me and that made me reflect on how to incorporate it into my teaching.

Abigail’s perspective:

I saw the project as a unique opportunity to get an in-depth insight into student learning experiences. As an institution we value student voice and conduct several points of evaluation of the learning experience throughout the academic year. However, we did not currently have an experience like this on offer, so I knew that it would be a brilliant opportunity to collaborate with students and better understand their classroom experience. Additionally, although I have an excellent rapport with my students, they do not speak to me in the same authentic way as they speak to other students in the classroom. During this observation, the student observer was able to gather feedback from the other students about the seminar, which added richness and more depth to the observation feedback. This meant that not only did I have the benefit of the student observer’s insight, but also a more authentic, honest student voice from the rest of the class.

The key challenge for me during the project was making sure my students felt comfortable and confident enough to provide honest feedback. I had built a great relationship with the student observer prior to this observation but had never previously asked for face-to-face feedback on my teaching. This added a layer of complexity because if not managed correctly, the student observer could feel quite vulnerable in providing honest feedback. This is where I think the training session and expectation setting before the session helped, as the trust had been established before the observation took place. Furthermore, during the post-observation meeting, I explained to the student that I was very open to feedback and looked forward to hearing their recommendations and reflections on the session. This again reestablished the trust and ensured that the student felt comfortable to be honest with me – especially as some parts of my session definitely did not go to plan!

Section 3: A unique opportunity

Engaging in a student-staff partnership isn’t just about making small improvements to teaching practice; it’s about fundamentally shifting the way we think about education. This project gave us a new lens through which to view both teaching and learning. It allowed us to see first-hand the impact of our work on students and provided a space for collaborative problem-solving.

Yanning’s Key Takeaway:

The most important lesson I’ve learned through this process is the value of direct, face-to-face engagement with students. While anonymous feedback has its place, nothing compares to the clarity and mutual understanding that comes from having an open dialogue. The collaborative observation model provided a platform where students and staff could co-create solutions, ensuring that feedback was not only received but understood and acted upon in a meaningful way. This has changed how I will approach my teaching, and I’m eager to integrate more opportunities for direct feedback into my future modules.

Susana’s Key Takeaway:

I would say that the most important thing about this project was that the students' comments during the sessions following the observations gave me the opportunity to think about the best in-class activities for next year, as the discussion held was very rich. Empowering the students gave them the opportunity to share their opinions in a more direct way, bringing a new perspective that I had never received before through the annual quality surveys. They gave me specific recommendations on how to enable them to participate more effectively in the classroom, and we were able to discuss them in depth. Next year I will always offer two types of activities in my lecture, one for beginners and one or two for more advanced students.

In addition, I would say that the students who participated in this project, most of them international, and myself were very happy to have a more direct lecturer-student interaction. It helps us to feel a valuable part of the learning and teaching experience.

As a summary I would say that the project gave me the opportunity to feel more closely the needs of the students and to think about changing some classroom activities for next year.

Abigail’s Key Takeaway:

I gained so much from being a part of this project! I have always valued my students’ views, inputs and experiences on my modules; however, I do not think I have ever considered collaborating with them to solve a classroom-based problem. This provided me with a new tool for my teaching practice that I had not previously heard of or used myself.

In the short-term, I realised a few points about my personal teaching practice. Firstly, that encouraging international students to speak about their own culture and experiences is a great way to foster classroom engagement and build confidence. Secondly, that reflecting in action is not always perceived negatively by students, but exhibits resilience and resourcefulness – two key skills required for today’s graduates.

Longer term, I have a fresh outlook on student-staff collaboration in education. For example, I will be actively encouraging peer discussions about teaching experiences. I look forward to installing this model of observation as a regular form of observation in my teaching practice as I gained so much insight that I would not have gained from more traditional methods of teaching evaluation.

Conclusion

The collaborative observation project has shown us that through open dialogue and mutual respect, staff and students can work together to create a more dynamic, inclusive learning environment. Together, we are not simply teachers and students; we are partners in the pursuit of knowledge and co-creators in the learning experience.

You can read more about this project, and access the resources, on its web page: Enhancing learning and teaching quality through collaborative observation.