Co-Creation in Practice: Redesigning a Geoscience Bachelor Course

Abstract

Co-creation has the potential to enhance the quality of university education through its impact on course delivery and the participants’ learning experiences, but it is often not straightforward to realise. We present a case study of a student-initiated co-creation project where students, course teachers, and student administration worked together to improve an introductory geoscience course at a Norwegian university. A thematic analysis of participants’ reflections and interviews shows positive meta-cognitive, affective, and social effects similar to the results of other studies on co-creation. Students and staff brought complementary expertise to course development, and establishing a common pedagogical framework provided a shared language and basis for informed argumentation and negotiation. The process of co-creation also required an expertise of its own. For example, students initially struggled to recognise how they could contribute to the project, and while examples of other co-creation projects were helpful, students found local (culturally, geographically, subject-specific) examples of student involvement most relatable. We discuss how equity and power concerns were addressed in the working group, and how course representatives and discussion-based midterm evaluations partly addressed diversity and inclusivity challenges. The alignment of student initiative, access to funding for student salaries, and teachers primed to try a co-creation approach all contributed to this co-creation project. This suggests that even in an educational system known for its flat hierarchy and promotion of democracy and equality, catalysts and explicit support are important to promote co-creation.