research

Assessment plays an important role in higher education, both guiding student learning and judging student success. However, assessment that treats all students the same is inequitable, since it ignores differences in students’ past and present circumstances. A shift to assessment for inclusion is advocated to promote student equity; one that incorporates diverse students’ perspectives on and experiences of assessment. A students-as-partners approach was taken to explore diverse students’ experiences of assessment, and their suggestions to make assessment more inclusive. A team of six staff and five student partners undertook a co-research project, facilitating workshops with 52 students from diverse backgrounds to understand their assessment experiences. While assessment goals varied, students reported assessment was an emotional experience, citing challenges with assessment design, process and broader university support. These findings can be aligned and incorporated within a previously developed assessment design framework, demonstrating that students can make nuanced judgements about the quality of assessment design in relation to inclusion. Future work on assessment design which seeks to be inclusive can and should therefore routinely involve students.

Questions such as ‘what is value in the student experience?’ and ‘how do we measure or assess value in higher education?’ remain an under-researched area. However, in the context of marketisation and competitive forces in higher education, there is a need to unpack what is value in the student experience. In this article, a conceptualisation of value that can be applied in higher education (known as value-in-use) is introduced and applied to a specific and increasingly important aspect of the student experience – student–staff partnerships. Qualitative survey data (n = 97) and interviews (n = 35) from ten cases of various manifestations of student–staff partnerships in the Australasian context is presented and assessed in relation to value. The findings highlight that student–staff partnerships may enhance value in the student experience and that value-in-use may be an appropriate lens through which to continue to explore how value is created and measured in the student experience.

Increased marketisation and competition has renewed interest in how universities can partner, or co-create, with students. To address this, and further conceptualise a model of co-creation across inputs, processes, and outcomes, this article summarises the findings from 10 different case studies of student-staff co-creation (e.g., co-producers of learning resources, peer mentors, co-creators of the curriculum) in the Australasian higher education context. Our data include qualitative survey responses (n= 97) and interviews (n= 35) with students and staff. Based on these data, we present an evidence-informed model of co-creation that elucidates the key considerations in the co-creation process. The model highlights and distinguishes two dual-value creation dimensions that underlie co-creation, co-production, and value-in-use. The result is a model of co-creation in higher education that can help guide administrators, researchers, and higher education stakeholders to better conceptualise, design, implement, and assess co-creation activities.

Students have begun to show interest in adopting active and participatory roles that allow them to interact and work collaboratively with educators. One important aspect of students as partners is a process known as value co-creation. Value co-creation is the process of students’ feedback, opinions, and other resources such as their intellectual capabilities and personalities, integrated alongside institutional resources, which can offer mutual value to both students and institutions. This paper presents the first conceptual model of value co-creation in higher education using a lens of co-creation cultivated through business and marketing literature. The model includes key components of value co-creation, co-production, and value-in-use as well as links to the anticipated benefits of value co-creation. The model can be used to inform and guide practice for the faculty and administration within higher education as well as to broaden the foundation of value co-creation literature.

Students with disabilities are the fastest-growing equity cohort in Australia, and yet they continue to face barriers to their success and completion at university. In this paper, we present a scalable model for one-to-one staff and student dialogue that positions students with disabilities as mentors to university staff. By doing so, we emphasise how students mentoring staff programs can be harnessed to support academic development for inclusive education. The program presented further provides a relationship-rich alternative to accessing and leveraging student voice compared to traditional methods, such as student experience surveys. We conclude by reiterating the importance of generating whole-of-community programs to support diverse learners, which foster genuine conversations between students and staff.

“Students as Partners” (SaP) in higher education re-envisions students and staff as active collaborators in teaching and learning. Understanding what research on partnership communicates across the literature is timely and relevant as more staff and students come to embrace SaP. Through a systematic literature review of empirical research, we explored the question: How are SaP practices in higher education presented in the academic literature? Trends across results provide insights into four themes: the importance of reciprocity in partnership; the need to make space in the literature for sharing the (equal) realities of partnership; a focus on partnership activities that are small scale, at the undergraduate level, extracurricular, and focused on teaching and learning enhancement; and the need to move toward inclusive, partnered learning communities in higher education. We highlight nine implications for future research and practice.

This article reflects on a conceptual model for mapping the work which fits under the broad heading of students as partners in learning and teaching in higher education (Healey, Flint & Harrington, 2014). We examine the nature and purpose of the model with reference to specific examples and reflect on the potential and actual uses of the model in the development of practice and policy, focussing particularly on students as co-inquirers in SoTL. The article also provides a framework for the other articles in this special issue.