Everyone’s a winner: developing mutually beneficial partnerships
Everyone’s a winner: developing mutually beneficial partnerships
Wendy Johnston
What is the idea?
The curriculum and the experiences of the students within it can be brought to life through developing collaborative partnerships and embedding live industry briefs within the curriculum. Successful collaboration between Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), external partners and students provide authentic learning experiences, which develop students’ capabilities and entrepreneurial skills, helping to prepare them for their transition out of university and into graduate employment. Collaboration with industry and engagement in real-world problem-solving projects, such as live product development briefs, stimulates active learning and encourages students to be critical, creative entrepreneurs producing work that is not just for assessment purposes but can also be used externally to the university thus helping to develop graduate skills.
Why this idea?
I wanted to bring the curriculum to life by embedding live collaborative briefs into the curriculum, creating authentic, active learning experiences and to ensure that live projects gained a prominence in students’ lives, which was more than simply completing assignments and assessments. Working collaboratively can positively influence student learning, helping them to understand that their work is valued which in turn makes them feel valued.
Chickering and Gamson (1987) propose that students do not learn much just sitting in class listening to teachers, they must be actively engaged in learning, whilst Thomas and Busby (2003) suggest that engaging in real-world problem solving helps develop creativity, critical thinking and the development of graduate skills. However, to genuinely engage students in the creative process, the classroom environment has limitations.
Tailoring in real-life opportunities and highlighting real-world applications of knowledge and skills, helps harness student motivation and ensures students apply what they learn to real-world contexts enabling them to work within authentic settings. Collaborations and live briefs engage students, and enrich and enhance the student experience, academically and materially. Furthermore, they strengthen the links between HEI providers and industry, bridging the theory–practice gap, helping facilitate the delivery of a more effective curriculum. Live briefs provide opportunities for students to learn from and with an external partner whilst experiencing working to an industry-led brief with realistic constraints. They help facilitate deep learning, enrich teaching and learning, inspire students to produce outstanding work and can increase employability. Working collaboratively with major food and equipment manufacturers students have developed and written recipes for company websites, developed innovative desserts for a high-end dessert manufacturer, developed and presented recipes for trade/food shows and developed chocolates which were included