What happens when we invite students into genuine dialogue and collaboration about teaching and learning by design? When students share power and responsibility with faculty and staff for the shape of their education? While students' opportunities to make choices in the classroom, to affect the course of their educational experiences through providing feedback, and even to engage in teaching other students are not new, there is currently a groundswell of exploration internationally in "students as partners in teaching and learning" (Pauli, Raymond-Barker, & Worrell, 2016; Cook-Sather, Bovill, & Felten, 2014; Healy, Fling, & Harrington, 2014; Werder & Otis, 2010). Practitioners and scholars have documented a wide array of practices, from small scale classroom interventions to course or curriculum redesign, that involve significant partnerships with students and yield benefits for faculty, staff, and students.
Dr. Ortquist-Ahrens is a scholar of Teaching and Learning, and Comparative Literature and the President (2014-2015) of the Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education (POD).
