Co-designed with all Stakeholders

Through enactment of this principle, academic experts facilitate the co-design of the curriculum with all stakeholders including:

• students;
• communities;
• USW researchers;
• USW professional services;
• employers;
• alumni;
• Professional, Statutory and Regulatory Bodies (PSRBs); and
• internal and external specialists. 

This establishes a curriculum and authentic assessment structure that is contemporary, future-fit, relevant to and respected by, current and future students, the community, and employers.

The curriculum will provide scaffolded opportunities for interdisciplinary learning and enable learners to develop skills in risk-taking, by challenging dominant ways of thinking and work to make a positive impact in employment and communities.

In embedding this principle, USW course teams reflect on questions such as:

• How does the course enable students to actively input into the curriculum?
• What mechanisms are in place to draw on the expertise of a wide range of appropriate stakeholders to ensure that the curriculum is contemporary and future-fit?

Where this principle is fully embedded, these reflections will evidence a curriculum:

• Which has been co-designed with a variety of stakeholders (existing and new) including experts in the field, industry/employment partners, students, appropriate communities and alumni.
• Where stakeholder involvement ensures that the educational experiences are contemporary, future-fit, authentic, contribute to the discipline and develop interdisciplinary understanding.
• Where academics are confident that students feel part of the academic community at USW.

Watch this video to find out more (6m 8s) NB: The videos below were recorded in 2021. Since when, the participants have since moved into different roles at USW.

For further reading, literature informing our thinking around challenge-based learning includes, but is not limited to:

Bovill, C. (2013) Students and Staff Co-creating Curricula: an Example of Good Practice in Higher Education? In: Dunne, E. and Owen, D. (eds.) The Student Engagement Handbook: Practice in Higher Education. pp. 461-476. Bingley: Emerald

Boyle, F.A., Buchanan, F.M., Ritchie, D. and Gamage, K.A., 2024. Exploring Staff–student Partnership in Curriculum Design. Education Sciences, 14(1), p.61.

Bravenboer, D., 2016. Why Co-design and Delivery is “a no brainer” for Higher and Degree Apprenticeship Policy. Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning, 6(4), pp.384-400.

Hayton, K., Cole, J. 2016 Once Upon a Course Design… An Evaluation of Course Design Using Students as