Working as Partners: Teachers & Students

This week, we would like to to share a paper on redesigning a first year undergraduate chemistry course at a 40,000 student university, entitled “Working as Partners: Course Development by a Student–Teacher Team”. by Bengston et al.

The purpose of the research was to explore levels of student engagement. Students were first interviewed on the role of the course in their degree program, capturing qualitative data. Second, a student-teacher team developed curriculum and teaching material in partnership. New changes included seminars focusing on conceptual understanding, redesign to increase student participation and updating course literature. The redesigned course significantly increased student satisfaction compared to previous years. Important success factors were involvement of the student organization to promote the project, institutional support, early selection of concrete development tasks, and allowing team members to choose according to their own expertise. In addition to students feeling more empowered, the exam results were comparable to previous years. Overall, the study resulted in significant changes in the course curriculum, produced high-quality learning material and led to higher levels of student outcomes.