Student Engagement is key for inclusive curriculum (re)design

As part of our university lives, we have all encountered ideas of ‘inclusive curriculum design’ as a key objective and imperative of teaching and learning in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). However, what does it mean? And, what is the role of students in it? It is often the case that inclusive curriculums are designed by university educators themselves without engaging students in the formulation of ideas and proposals for more inclusive teaching, learning and assessment practices. In this blog, we share findings from the co-creation workshops we conducted in 2023, as part of our scholarship grant 'Co-creating a USBS staff-student community on innovative teaching and learning’. Our findings suggest that ‘inclusive curriculum design’ refers not only to a diversity of teaching and learning methods that can cater to people’s different learning needs, but also to methods that can make students more active agents in their own learning. However, from our workshops, we also learn that inclusive curriculum design is also very much about how to make processes of curriculum design more inclusive. And, here student engagement is key. And, as students commented, our workshops can be an example of how this can be done!</p

Student Engagement is key for inclusive curriculum (re)design

As part of our university lives, we have all encountered ideas of ‘inclusive curriculum design’ as a key objective and imperative of teaching and learning in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). However, what does it mean? And, what is the role of students in it? It is often the case that inclusive curriculums are designed by university educators themselves without engaging students in the formulation of ideas and proposals for more inclusive teaching, learning and assessment practices. In this blog, we share findings from the co-creation workshops we conducted in 2023, as part of our scholarship grant 'Co-creating a USBS staff-student community on innovative teaching and learning’. Our findings suggest that ‘inclusive curriculum design’ refers not only to a diversity of teaching and learning methods that can cater to people’s different learning needs, but also to methods that can make students more active agents in their own learning. However, from our workshops, we also learn that inclusive curriculum design is also very much about how to make processes of curriculum design more inclusive. And, here student engagement is key. And, as students commented, our workshops can be an example of how this can be done!</p