Higher education is a beautiful place where adults of all types work together to reach academic goals. The Students Teaching Teachers Program is a multifarious program that allows students and faculty the opportunity to collaborate in the classroom environment. College/University faculty serve as experts in the field, and students can learn so much from them. Students have learning preferences and stay up to date on current trends in technology and culture; therefore, faculty can learn from them as well. Although the curriculum and course outcomes remain unchanged, HOW the content is taught can always be revised and differentiated.
Therefore, this program starts with a student panel discussion that allows a diverse group of students to share their educational experiences with faculty. The panel discussion is followed by monthly workshops where students present various ideas, tools, and learning strategies with faculty. In preparation for these workshops, students are trained by faculty program leaders in the areas of leadership, communication, lesson planning, collaboration, professionalism, and more. Faculty have the opportunity to attend these workshops and gather ideas, and they also have the option of receiving training (i.e. how to use various tools such as TikTok, etc. in the classroom). It is a win/win situation! Adult students are highly motivated and know exactly what and how they want to learn. Best practices show that student-centered instruction is highly effective. What better way to engage in best practices than to allow students to work with faculty to create new and innovative strategies for teaching content?
This program also serves as an opportunity for students to participate in research. Quantitative research is very important, but so is qualitative research. Through a phenomenological research design, student participants have the opportunity to be interviewed by researchers in order to study the phenomenon of collaboration between students and faculty in the classroom. So many studies focus on identifying issues and creating solutions. Why not go to the source and simply ask the students how this program relates to student motivation, engagement, retention, and overall student success?
Faculty play a crucial role in recruiting students for the program because they know their student’s strengths and areas of growth. Students can volunteer or faculty can nominate students for the following positions:
Student Panelist
Assistant Event Specialist
Workshop Presenter/Facilitator
Support Specialist
Zoom Specialist
Photographer
Videographer
Blogger
Social Media Specialist
Stylist
Bring us to your campus!
Schedule a meeting so we can begin preliminary discussions about your workshop, conference, or program adoption needs.