Incorporating Students as Partners in Educational Innovation: Development of an Elective Course

Despite the growing involvement of pharmacy students as co-creators or Students as Partners (SaP), some faculty members remain hesitant to form these partnerships due to students’ limited pedagogical knowledge. To address this, we co-created a course that equips and enthuses students to engage meaningfully in educational innovation, using the principles of scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). In the course, student groups were paired with faculty members (assigners) seeking to enhance their teaching. Following the first five steps of the Utrecht Roadmap for SoTL (UR-SoTL) as a framework, students developed a theoretical understanding of educational innovation and its impact on learning. Supplementary workshops and lectures provided additional pedagogical knowledge and skills. This case study outlines the course design, the resulting project proposals, and the perception of participating students and faculty members. Qualitative feedback shows that students and faculty members found the course inspiring. Although many students had not previously considered contributing to educational projects, they reported feeling capable of making meaningful contributions after taking this course. Their proposals were evidence-informed and demonstrated alignment between proposed learning activities, underlying learning processes, and desired learning outcomes. Faculty participants expressed enthusiasm for the projects and planned to implement the proposed interventions. The course motivated both students and faculty members to participate in future collaborations. However, time constraints limited further student engagement in their projects after the course had ended. This case study highlights the benefits of using an elective course to facilitate student involvement in educational innovation and the challenges that may arise.