Faculty Engagement - Student as Colleagues


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Faculty Engagement 

Students as Colleagues: Collaborators to Faculty for Integration

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"Students as Colleagues" is a term that signifies how students play a leadership role on campus, in courses, and with faculty in community engaged learning experiences. The term also can be found in the scholarship of engagement. Richard Battistoni and Nicholas Longo address it in this article "Putting Students at the Center of Civic Engagement," found in To Serve a Larger Purpose: Engagement for Democracy and the Transformation of Higher Education, edited by John Saltmarsh and Matthew Hartley.

 

In the Classroom

 Seven principles that can help to improve undergraduate education are identified. Based on research on college teaching and learning, good practice in undergraduate education:

(1) encourages contacts between students and faculty;

(2) develops reciprocity and cooperation among students;

(3) uses active learning techniques;

(4) gives prompt feedback;

(5) emphasizes time on task;

(6) communicates high expectations; and

(7) respects diverse talents and ways of learning.

 

Examples of good approaches include: freshman seminars on important topics taught by senior faculty; learning groups of five to seven students who meet regularly during class to solve problems set by the instructor; active learning using structured exercises, discussions, team projects, and peer critiques, as well as internships and independent study; and mastery learning, contract learning, and computer-assisted instruction approaches, which required adequate time on learning.

 

In Project Design

 A collaborative student led model that placed student teams as researchers and central actors in the planning, organization and implementation of their own community action projects.  The model included: 1) facilitated democratic group decision making and a collaborative process for choosing projects; 2) in class "work days" to support students’ independent action and scaffolding the skills they needed to engage community organizations responsibly; 3) regular “theory-to-practice challenges;” 4) written work emphasizing theory connections in community life, including reflection papers, a theory paper, and a final paper integrating course texts and the action project; and 5) comparative case studies for context and empirical grounding in human rights issue areas.

 

On Campus

 As faculty members, academic administrators, and student life staff, time is spent on trying to understand students, colleagues, institutions, and the personal self. There are seven principles of good practice when integrating relationships with students: (1) encouraging contacts between students and faculty, (2) developing reciprocity and cooperation among students, (3) using active learning techniques, (4) giving prompt feedback, (5) emphasizing time on task, (6) communicating high expectations, and (7) respecting diverse talents and ways of learning. 

 

In the handout on Students as Colleagues, which captured some of the models for programs that campuses in the Bonner Network were using, you can learn more. In this handout, you will find more detailed examples and a downloadable handout with examples from Allegheny College, Berea College, Oberlin College, Saint Mary's College of California, and Siena College. 

 

Examples of "Students as Colleague" Roles

Academic Roles

 

Program Roles 

 

Typical Benefits of these Models

Campuses design and implement strategies to integrate student, faculty, and partner voice in curricular integration. 

 

 

 

 

Training Students as Colleagues

Create and implement training and support for students:

 

 

Examples of Models/Structures

 

Read more about these models in the "Students as Colleagues" handout. 

 

 

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