Practicalities of co-creation: how to truly engage the student voice

Co-creation, the process of designing and delivering education in collaboration with students, has evolved from a buzzword into a practical strategy for improving engagement, equity and innovation in higher education.

But how do we turn talk into action?

This guide provides actionable steps for integrating co-creation in teaching and assessment spaces.

Building inclusivity from Day 1

Students have different expectations when they enter the university classroom; some might be familiar with a more instructor-led approach, while others will adapt easily to co-creative classes. Educators need to consider this when introducing co-created tasks or activities.

Designing low-stakes structured opportunities that involve students in shaping the process is important from Day 1. This can even begin in the first class, where students might use a shared digital document to annotate the syllabus collectively. The instructor can invite comments and questions about different parts of the syllabus.

Educators can show their intention around designing an early touchpoint such as this; in doing so, they indicate that every student’s point of view is a valuable contribution to the co-creative process, building more inclusive dialogue from the beginning.

Designing class activities for participation

Getting students actively involved, instead of being passive participants, involves more than just the invitation to contribute. A rotating “student lead” role can be introduced. The role of a student lead is to serve as a pedagogical co-facilitator, converting passive student receivers into intellectually active learner participants. The student lead works in collaboration with the teacher before the lesson to identify and create discussion questions that will allow for contextualised learning and maximum student engagement.

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Students who are from different cultural and academic backgrounds can bring various possibilities to a co-created class. The student leads, who can change regularly, can ensure that topics and discussions in class reflect students’ own experiences of learning and daily life. For example, in a business or humanities class, the student leads could be invited to introduce the case study for the week. Instead of referring predominantly to well-known examples from the Global North, they could select cases of impactful companies, organisations or cultural texts from their own backgrounds.

This is not just about including different cultures, but a way to test the course’s ideas in a new situation. Students would use the theories they’ve learned to examine how this might work, or not work, in practice. With the instructor’s help in framing the class learning aims and agenda, the class would be guided to compare and contrast, responding to questions such as: “Do the same management principles or interpretations apply?” or “Where do they fit, and where do they differ?” This kind of discussion connects textbook theories to real-world diversity. It makes the class more engaging for everyone and helps students learn to think more critically and flexibly.

However, the student lead does not teach or assess students as a specialist in their respective subject areas; rather, they function as a connection between what is being taught in the classroom and the life experiences of the students themselves. This can surface class angles and issues relevant to the students’ experiences and help to construct inclusive topics and discussions.

Making assessment a shared dialogue

The principle of participatory roles can also be applied to the area of peer feedback, which is a different activity from summative assessment. Assessment usually provides a definitive judgement (such as a grade), while feedback is a formative process that provides information about how to improve. The aim is not to have students judge each other but to have them practise the methodology of critique, which will ultimately enable them to become more self-aware and assess their own learning.

One effective way to create a set of expectations and develop an evaluation criterion is to have students collaborate on these while completing an assignment. The instructor can lead the class in a step-by-step process. First, they help the class brainstorm a list of essential qualities for the assignment, such as clear writing, original ideas and strong evidence. Next, the class works together to describe what each of those qualities looks like at different levels, such as “excellent”, “good” or “needs improvement”. Another helpful method is to show students two or three rubrics for the same project. Students can then discuss, compare and decide which rubric they think is the fairest and best matches the goals of the assignment.

Using this approach allows students to focus on the criteria for achieving well-prepared results rather than simply waiting for an instructor’s evaluation to determine the outcome. In addition, through having students participate in defining what an “excellent” product is, compared with simply a “good” one, students learn how to create consensus in developing their criteria and therefore develop more detailed expectations and self-assessments of their own learning.

Feedback from classmates allows students to analyse how their peers are progressing with their projects as opposed to relying solely on their instructor’s assessment. Students will use these constructive comments for creating more comprehensive and customised views and for reflective thinking. Peer feedback facilitates the class’s evolution from a traditional hierarchical teacher-student dynamic into a collaborative community of learners, in which students contribute to both their own development and their peers’.

A dynamic built on trust and transparency

Co-creation requires a mindset shift. It shares work between teachers and students, establishes co-classroom dynamics built on trust and transparency. When educators have clear intentions, listen intently and act on those observations, they can go from just listening to integrating student voices as powerful contributors to the educational experience.

Shuhui Yin is an assistant professor in the University International College at the Macau University of Science and Technology.

Acknowledgement: AI was used for English proofreading and formatting in the preparation of this article.

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