Slick on collaborating with students during pandemic

Emergency preparedness expert Assoc. Prof. Jean Slick’s article about the importance of collaborating with students when teaching during the pandemic was published by The Conversation.

Here is an excerpt:

To help inform the changes we are making in our program due to coronavirus, I drew on two distinct practices respectively grounded in higher education and disaster management: working with students as partners and using impact and needs assessments to support decision-making.

Integrating these approaches led me to use focus groups, surveys and one-on-one interviews as I engaged with students to think about what changes we needed to support social distancing measures to reduce the rapid spread of the virus.

[…]

An increasing number of institutions have adopted the concept of students as partners as an approach to student engagement that shifts the power relationship between students and faculty.

While students and faculty each have distinctive roles, there is space for collaboration and co-creation in learning, teaching and assessment, as well as in designing curriculum.

The story appeared in The Conversation.