Supporting the partnership narrative: The MIIETL summer institute and international experiences of student-staff partnerships

SoTL scholars are increasingly contributing to the development and dissemination of a powerful narrative about the potential for student-staff partnerships to transform higher education. Engaging students as active collaborators in teaching and learning initiatives has been shown to have far-reaching benefits (Healey, Flint, & Harrington, 2014), though scholars have also demonstrated that such approaches are difficult to establish, maintain, and navigate (Allin, 2014). Against this backdrop, this session will present the results of a study that examined the experiences of students and staff participating in a weeklong international summer institute designed to support student-staff partnerships in teaching and learning. Drawing from data collected via focus groups and participant responses to reflective prompts, we will share international perspectives on partnership and what’s required to support it, and engage attendees in considering how they might contribute to this developing story by engaging in and facilitating partnership initiatives in their own contexts.