1. Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education
Student Co-Creation as a Mechanism for Reinventing the Curriculum and the Student Experience
Mollie Dollinger
PhD Candidate
Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education

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
Student Partnership?
Consumer Feedback
Prosumer Behavior
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7. Co-Creation (CC) or Students as Partners (SaP)?
Encompasses all types of student contributions
Potential for scalability
Can be used as a design tool, procedural strategy or for collaborative analysis
Emphasis on equal contributions of student/staff
Concerns over exclusivity
Usually framed as a holistic endeavor
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8. Example: Course Timeline
Student Feedback!!!
Pre-Course Planning/ Design
Syllabus Draft
Initial Teaching
Mid Semester Review
Papers/Projects
Final Test?
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10. 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),

11. Curriculum Outside the Classroom
Examples of case studies:
Student-student mentoring
Student-staff magazine
Student-staff produced learning resources

12. Approaches to Co-Created Curriculum
Approach 1: Allow for open content and assessment through projects (individual or group) Approach 2: Allow for feedback, suggestions, evaluations on the content, teaching/delivery, assessment (e.g. teaching consultants)

13. Two Cases of Co-Created Curriculum
ENG: Leading Change in a Complex World
WIL: Management Consulting
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14. What kind of contributions did students make?
What’s interesting about this is the structure of the course..
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15. Did students feel comfortable contributing?
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16. Are students more comfortable with less responsibility?
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17. Quote from student in WIL:
“There was some confusion in the beginning about what was required and the direction- I found that at the start that this is what was going on and it was hard to get your head around what was happening with timelines and deadlines. At times I felt like there was a lack of support, but that might have been the program just developing our professional skills.”
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18. Benefits to Students: Comparison
ENG
WIL
Self-awareness
Engagement
Ownership
Student Voice
Motivation
Teamwork
Breadth of knowledge
Work Experience
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19. Why include the ‘student voice’?
Empowering global citizenship
Challenge assumptions
Provide leadership opportunities
Improve/innovate higher education service
Create belongingness/ alumni networks
Campus community building
*Challenges: managing power balance; initial investment of time; funding; incentives/motivation; organisation; questions over impact on learning
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20. Co-Creating the BA curriculum
BA graduates take longer and have lower wages than others
Help them gain leadership/ competitive advantage/ tie into ‘practical’ skills
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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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22. Moving Forward More case studies and deeper comparison is necessary
Exploring and linking specific factors to specific outcomes
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