1. Co-Creation in Higher Education
Presented by Mollie Dollinger
PhD Candidate
The University of Melbourne
Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education
(MCSHE)

2. Student Roles: Then and Now
Despite a lot of time, and lot of very smart people, for all intents and purposes, higher education hasn’t changed much for this.
Well, except now we have ipads.
For those of you who don’t know, my undergraduate was in East Asian studies. And it was Confucius who once said that students are like empty vessels. I refer to this as ‘empty vessel’ philosophy.
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But while Confucius might have been right about a few things, he wasn’t right about that. In fact, as a student myself, I find it a little offensive that some educators might think of students are blank slates or empty vessels that, without their knowledge, have nothing to offer.
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4. Students are Valuable Resources
Perspective
Knowledge
Time
Opinions
Energy
My thesis therefore will be a break from ‘empty vessel’ philosophy and instead thinking of students as filled with value. This is thinking of students as student as resources. Far from being empty they have valuable knowledge, perspectives, opinions and time that they can contribute to improve higher education.
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5. Examples: Co-Creating with Users
And there’s even more examples in industry. Interesting, As you can see, these are three totally different examples. What they all have in common is that they are using previously untapped user resources to either create an entirely new business or improve on one. Co-creation is tricky like that, it takes many forms and style- in higher education, I expect this to be no different
Physical Resources
Mental/Psychological
Resources
Skillset
Resources
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6. A love story: development of co-creation
Customization
Crowdsourcing
Co-
Creation
Consumer Feedback
Prosumer Behavior
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7. Example: Course Timeline
Student Feedback!!!
Pre-Course Planning/ Design
Syllabus Draft
Initial Teaching
Mid Semester Review
Papers/Projects
Final Test?
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8. Potential for Co-Creation
So actually I think CC can positively impact many, many activities in higher education – in fact, I’m so sure, that there are already some examples where it has, students as partners research out of the UK, students creating dashboards here in Australia, and student stories and narratives actively showing up on university media
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9. Kick-Start Examples Ex. Student as consultants Course Topics
LMS systems/Dashboards
Assessment Practices
Learning Activities
Ex. Students as ambassadors
Industry Interns
Community Role Models
Social Media Coordinators
Policy representatives
Case studies so far
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10. Not all Co-Creation is Created Equally!
Stages
Listen
Inform
Consult
Participate
Partner
Control
Inputs (planning/design) X
Processes (structures)
Outputs (assess, disseminate, publish)
Also align issues of comparsion
*Informed by participation matrix in Bovill, C. (2017). A Framework to Explore Roles Within Student-Staff Partnerships in Higher Education: Which Students Are Partners, When, and in What Ways?. International Journal for Students as Partners, 1(1).

11. Model for Exploring Co-Creation
What are the antecedents for co-creation?
What are the variables/ key factors for assessing co-creation?
What are the benefits of co-creation?
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Key Considerations
Co-Production
Value-in-Use
Indicators
Knowledge
Sharing
Equity
Interaction
Experience
Personalisation
Relationship
Co-Creation
Benefits
Innovation
Knowledge
Relational
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13. Expanding the Benefits

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15. Curriculum Conceptualised*
Category A: The structure and content of a unit
Category B: The structure and content of a programme of study
Category C: The students’ experience of learning
Category D: A dynamic and interactive process of teaching and learning
The defining feature of Category D is the understanding of curriculum as a collabo- rative process of learning, with teacher and student acting as co-constructors of knowledge.
*Fraser, S. P., & Bosanquet, A. M. (2006). The curriculum? That’s just a unit outline, isn’t it?. Studies in Higher Education, 31(03),

16. Two Cases of Co-Created Curriculum
ENG: Leading Change in a Complex World
WIL: Management Consulting
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17. What kind of contributions did students make?
What’s interesting about this is the structure of the course..
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18. Did students feel comfortable contributing?
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19. Benefits to Students: Comparison
ENG
WIL
Self-awareness
Engagement
Ownership
Student Voice
Motivation
Teamwork
Breadth of knowledge
Work Experience
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20. Have you ever co-created?
ENG
WIL
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21. Take-Aways
Students feel like they contribute more and with greater diversity when they have more control
However, students may feel less comfortable in more co-created situations
Ultimately, the benefits seem rich and broad
**Yet classification of ‘co-creation’ may not always be clear
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22. Moving Forward More case studies and deeper comparison is necessary
Exploring and linking specific factors to specific outcomes
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23. Want to get involved? Mapping the Australian context
Know of an existing co-creation example?
Want to start a co-creation case study?
Contact me!
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