Breaking boundaries: a model of student-led knowledge exchange for higher education

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Knowledge exchange (KE) is increasingly important in higher education internationally, yet relatively little attention has been paid to it as a pedagogic opportunity for students. This paper draws on 26 interviews with stakeholders within and outside HE to develop a model of studentled knowledge exchange as a guide for learning through KE. The model includes the following elements: Preconditions, Prior Knowledge, Planning and Place, Pedagogic Context and Product, and offers an analysis of different forms of KE which occur between individuals in a learning triad consisting of student, facilitator and external participant. The research foregrounds a social view of learning where valid knowledge comes from diverse participants in the exchange, including students themselves. Students act as a catalyst for multi-directional KE -a finding which challenges the implied hierarchies evident in much of the literature on this topic. The model is offered as a starting point for developing a pedagogy of KE in higher education.