Co-creation in teaching

How would the assessment methods look if the students could decide? Anja Amundrud has designed assessment forms in a pedagogy course together with the students. The result was varied assignments and satisfied students.

Briefly explained

The aim of the project was to:

  • Try out a co-creation activity with the whole group
  • Let the students help design assessment methods that matched the course descriptions
Three students in conversation

Background for the project

Co-creation can have a positive impact on students’ learning and active participation in their education. Research shows, among other things, that co-creation can contribute to increased inclusion, stronger relationships between students and teachers, as well as higher motivation and the development of collaboration skills and communication skills.

There is already a great deal of research on co-creation and partnerships between teachers and students, where smaller groups are invited into the planning of teaching activities or the design of learning outcomes. In this project, the aim was to try co-creation in a whole group; instead of the course coordinator designing the assessment formats alone, the students were to create the assignments themselves.

The teaching design was developed by Anja Amundrud (IPED/NMBU) in a pedagogy course for teacher students, but the method can be implemented in different subjects and study programmes.

Selected literature on co-creation

Start-up: workshop on assessment

In the autumn semester a workshop was held where the students familiarised themselves with the learning outcome descriptions for the course that would run the following semester.

In groups, they discussed what they were supposed to learn in the course and which forms of assessment might be suitable for the different topics. Each group focused on one or more learning outcome descriptions.

The groups were to:

  • Choose relevant learning outcomes
  • Propose forms of assessment that matched these
  • Justify why the chosen forms of assessment were appropriate

The condition was that the form of assessment had to fit the topic.

Do you teach student teachers?

The setup is suitable for all subject areas, but is particularly relevant for student teachers:

  • Students learn different ways of assessing pupils
  • Shows how students themselves can help create coherence between content, objectives and assessment in a subject

Selection of assignments

The course coordinator refined the proposals, and in the next teaching session the students voted for the three assignments they wanted to work on.

The assignments that were selected:

  1. Group assignment (podcast) on bullying
  2. Individual mini-review on children in difficult life situations
  3. Poster presentation on pupil collaboration and/or professional communities

Adjusting the course

After the forms of assessment had been selected, the teaching was planned to fit the topics and the assessment formats. The order of the teaching sessions was therefore adapted so that they could work on the assignments during class.

The assignments were refined, and concrete assessment criteria were developed in collaboration with the students. The assessment criteria were based on the format of the assignment and on the course aims, learning outcome descriptions and syllabus literature.

For example, the aim of the poster presentation was for the students to create a poster that presents ideas on how teachers can facilitate and strengthen pupil collaboration within and across subjects. It was expected that they would use the course literature as a starting point.

Implementation and assessment

The students worked on the assignments throughout the semester.

Mid term assessment

For the podcast and mini-review, peer assessment was used, where the students gave feedback on each other’s work.

The poster presentation was organised as a mini-conference at an upper secondary school, where they received feedback from teachers. Among other things, the students were assessed on academic content, whether they managed to show understanding of key challenges and use relevant research, whether they had developed a clear research question, proposed concrete and feasible measures, and whether they participated actively in dialogue with teachers.

Examination

The course has an oral exam format, which began with the student giving a ten-minute presentation on two of the three assignments they had completed. The focus was on what they gained from the work format, and the learning related to working on the assignments. The second part of the exam was linked to cases from the fictional, but realistic, class they had worked with throughout the year.

Evaluation and experiences

The students have given positive feedback on the teaching design, and have particularly highlighted that it feels meaningful to work on assignments they have chosen themselves. They also emphasised that the assignments felt relevant and engaging for their future role as school teachers.

For adjustments next time, scaling down the number of assignments may be appropriate. Since the course ended with an oral exam, where two examiners are required, it could be a lot for the second examiner to familiarise themselves with.

Reflections on AI

The teaching design also illustrates new ways of thinking about assessment and AI. There was no general ban on using AI, but the nature of the assignments meant that the students to a lesser extent could rely on AI. For example, there were specific requirements for the use of the course literature in the podcast and review assignments, and oral presentations and self-reflections require independent work in both format and content.