When Distance Deepens Connections: How Intercollegiate Partnership Programs Support Empathetic, Engaged, and Equitable Teaching Approaches
Abstract
“Distance has the potential to move us closer. The evidence is right here: these intercollegiate connections wouldn’t have happened without this crisis. What does this rupture do to teaching and how do we move forward?” - Parker Matias, student partner, Reed College, 17 April 2020
In mid-April of 2020, after colleges and universities across the United States pivoted to remote teaching and learning, Nandeeta Bala (student co-author) and Alison Cook-Sather (faculty co-author) invited undergraduate student partners from nine institutions with pedagogical partnership programs to join discussions about how to navigate—and support faculty partners in navigating—this unprecedented shift. These student partners generated recommendations that were shared across 15 institutions, and student and faculty partners published essays about their work (Cook-Sather & Bala, 2020). To expand these connections, Bala and Cook-Sather launched several intercollegiate projects. These included weekly conversations for small groups of faculty, staff, and students about Trauma-informed, Anti-racist Teaching and Learning in Hybrid and Remote Contexts in Fall 2020 and Equity in Assessment in Spring 2021, with all sessions led by pairs of intercollegitate, undergraduate student partners. Bala and Cook-Sather also created Pairing Student Partners: An Intercollegiate Collaboration. In Fall 2020, 26 student partners from nine universities in three countries were paired with the goal of developing new relationships and supporting pedagogical partnership during this uncertain time; in Spring 2021, there are 28 student partners and counting. In this article, Bala and Cook-Sather address the questions below to explore how the co-creation of these multiple intercollegiate programs builds global community to support and deepen engagement during a period of isolation induced by the pandemic.
- How did the advent of the pandemic affect institutional pedagogical partnership programs? How did (a) student partners, (b) faculty partners, (c) program directors react/respond?
- How did our programs sustain themselves and their participants through the pandemic? How did partnership itself support our programs? Which principles, structures, and practices could remain in place and what new principles, structures, and practices needed to be created to sustain partnership work?
- What role did the intercollegiate discussions play in connecting partners from different institutions and how did student partners experience these connections?
- In what ways, if any, have these programs and connections fostered empathy, deeper understanding, and engagement during this time?
- How might we further develop or sustain these programs? What insights and approaches developed as a result of the pandemic do we want to carry forward post-pandemic and why?
Downloads
References
Ameyaa, R. A., Cook-Sather, A., Ramo, K., & Tohfa, H. (2021). Undergraduate students partnering with faculty to develop trauma-informed, anti-racist pedagogical approaches: intersecting experiences of three student partners. Journal of Innovation, Partnership and Change, 7(1). https://journals.studentengagement.org.uk/index.php/studentchangeagents/article/view/1020
Bala. (2021). A STEPP Into Uncertainty: Pursuing Passions to Embrace Pedagogical Risks. Teaching and Learning Together in Higher Education, 33. https://repository.brynmawr.edu/tlthe/vol1/iss33/4
Blankstein, M., Frederick, J. K., & Wolff-Eisenberg, C. (2020, June 25). Student experiences during the pandemic pivot. https://doi.org/10.18665/sr.313461
Cahalan, M., Perna, L. W., Yamashita, M., Wright, J. & Santillan, S. (2018). 2018 indicators of higher education equity in the United States: Historical trend report. Washington, DC: The Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education, Council for Opportunity in Education (COE), and Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy of the University of Pennsylvania (PennAHEAD)
Casey, N. (2020, May 5). College made them feel equal. The virus exposed how unequal their lives are. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/04/us/politics/coronavirus-zoom-college-classes.html
Clark, C. (1997). Misery and company: Sympathy in everyday life. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Clayton, T. B. (2021). Refocusing on diversity, equity, and inclusion during the pandemic and beyond: Lessons from a community of practice. Higher Education Today. https://www.higheredtoday.org/2021/01/13/refocusing-diversity-equity-inclusion-pandemic-beyond-lessons-community-practice/
Cooley, C. H. ([1922]. 1992). Human nature and the social order. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
Cook-Sather, A., Bovill, C., & Felten, P. (2014). Engaging students as partners in learning & teaching: A guide for faculty. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Cook-Sather, A. (2018b). Developing “Students as Learners and Teachers”: Lessons from ten years of pedagogical partnership that strives to foster inclusive and responsive practice. Journal of Educational Innovation, Partnership and Change, 4, 1. https://journals.studentengagement.org.uk/index.php/studentchangeagents/article/view/746/pdf
Cook-Sather, A. (2019). Increasing inclusivity through pedagogical partnerships between students and faculty. Diversity & Democracy. https://www.aacu.org/diversitydemocracy/2019/winter/cook-sather
Cook-Sather & Bala. (2020). Naming and Navigating Troubling Transitions: Pedagogical Partnership during the Pandemic. Teaching and Learning Together in Higher Education, 30. https://repository.brynmawr.edu/tlthe/vol1/iss30/1
de Bie, A., Marquis, E., Cook-Sather, A., & Luqueño, L. P. (2021). Promoting equity and justice through pedagogical partnership. Sterling, Virginia: Stylus Publishers.
Dumford, A.D., & Miller, A.L. (2018). Online learning in higher education: exploring advantages and disadvantages for engagement. J Comput High Educ 30, 452–465. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12528-018-9179-z
Fain, P. (2020, June 17). Higher education and work amid crisis. Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/06/17/pandemic-has-worsened-equity-gaps-higher-education-and-work
Hancock, D.R., & Algozzine, B. (2017). Doing case study research: A practical guide for beginning researchers. Teachers College Press.
Hankivsky, O., & A. Kapilashrami. (2020). Beyond sex and gender analysis: An intersectional view of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak and response. Gender and Women’s Health Unit, Centre for Health Equity, Melbourne School of Population and Health Equity. https://mspgh.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/3334889/Policy-brief_v3.pdf
Labridy-Stofle, C. (2020). Uprooted rhizomes: Collaborating in times of troubling transitions. Teaching and Learning Together in Higher Education, 30. https://repository.brynmawr.edu/tlthe/vol1/iss30/4
Larios, L., & Paterson, S. (2021) Fear of the other: Vulnerabilization, social empathy, and the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. Critical Policy Studies, 15:2, 137-145, DOI: 10.1080/19460171.2021.1927777
Lewe, M-T. (2021). Breaking out of rigid structures and ways of being. In A. Cook-Sather & S. Slates (Eds.), Diversifying students-as-partners participants and practices. (pp. 146-159). International Journal for Students as Partners, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v5i1.4627
Ntem, A., Nguyen, E., Rafferty, C., Kwan, C., & Benlahcene, A. (2020). Students as partners in crisis? Student co-editors’ perspectives on COVID-19, values, and the shift to virtual spaces. International Journal for Students as Partners, 4(2), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v4i2.4432
paperson, la. (2017). A third university is possible. University of Minnesota Press.
Ratliff, K. (2019). Building rapport and creating a sense of community: Are relationships important in the online classroom?. Journal of Online Learning Research and Practice, 7(1), 26958.
Ruiz-Junco, N. (2017). Advancing the Sociology of Empathy: A Proposal. Symbolc Interaction, 40(3), 414-435 https://doi-org.proxy.brynmawr.edu/10.1002/symb.306
Schutt, R. K. (2016). Understanding the social world: Research methods for the 21st century. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
Tate, S. A., & Bagguley, P. (2017). Building the anti-racist university: Next steps. Race Ethnicity and Education, 20, 289-299, DOI: 10.1080/13613324.2016.1260227
Vlachopoulos, D., & Makri, A. (2019). Online communication and interaction in distance higher education: A framework study of good practice. Int Rev Educ 65, 605–632. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-019-09792-3
Yin, R.K. (2017). Case study research and applications: Design and methods. Sage publications.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:a. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
b. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
c. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
