Testing students-as-partners theory: Science and engineering students’ perspectives on a students-as-partners consultant model for supporting an instructor-centered curriculum development community of practice

Abstract

Students as partners (SaP) has emerged as a way to innovate curriculum development and create more inclusive learning experiences for students in postsecondary settings. Popular models of SaP are time intensive, involving student and instructor dyads that meet frequently. Less is known about short-term consultant models of SaP and the impact on students. This study proposes a student-as-partners consultant (SaP-C) model and tests whether it can operationalize the principles of SaP theory. Student responses to a questionnaire (n= 7, 41% response rate), analyzed using an explanatory sequential mixed methods approach, indicate that the SaP-C approach does, according to students’ perspectives, operationalize SaP principles and positively influences students’ feelings of connection to other students and faculty. This model offers instructors an evidence-based, less time-intensive way to work in partnership with students in order to be pedagogically responsive to their perspectives and experiences in course or program design efforts