A Swot (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) Evaluation of University Student-Staff Partnerships in Co-creating Educational Resources, Peer Support and Research Within STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) Subjects

Abstract

The aim of this research was to compare perceived opportunities and challenges of co-creating educational resources, peer learning support and research within Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM) subjects. Two questions were addressed: 1) What types of STEM co-creation outputs are perceived possible within the categories of education resources, research and peer learning support? 2) What was the perceived Strengths Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis for co-creation of education resources, research and peer learning support? Study Design: These questions were explored in a descriptive survey with 30 academic staff delegates from across STEM disciplines and UK universities who attended a Higher Education Academy workshop “Students as partners in co-creating STEM outputs.” Place and Duration of Study: The one day long workshop was hosted by Bournemouth University on Jan 16th 2014. Methodology: For question 1 the delegates gave examples from their experience for each of the following categories for co-creation: i) educational resources ii) peer learning support iii) research. For question 2 they worked as a team to consider one of these categories and, using nominal group technique, identified and themed as many strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats as possible to partnerships with students. Results: 29 different co-creation outputs were identified (7 for co-created educational resources, 10 for co-created research and 12 for co-created peer support). Delegates reported proportionally most strengths for co-created research and most challenges for co-created educational resources. Strengths centered on energizing student engagement through co-creating new products/understanding. Challenges highlighted the need to ensure more widespread student engagement to maintain momentum and data quality. Conclusion: Findings suggest that two keys ways to enhance co-creation of STEM outputs are to better understand the range of factors that motivate different students and to better enable students and staff to perceive the specific benefits to them of engaging in co-creation.