Co-design for staff professional learning within universities: a case study

Abstract

Purpose

The paper discusses the use of co-design for staff professional learning within higher education. It suggests that three distinct approaches to professional learning can be characterised as help-yourself platforms/services, drive-by workshops and co-design workshops. It makes pragmatic suggestions for where co-design might be used and heuristics for its successful use, based upon the authors' collective experiences.

Design/methodology/approach

This practitioner paper presents a case-study of co-design in a university context. Staff from across disciplinary boundaries were brought together to co-design novel learning experiences for students for a non-traditional context.

Findings

Findings from a case study are used to highlight the strengths of a co-design approach, as understood through the lenses of networked learning and self-determination theory. It juxtaposes co-design for staff learning with other approaches and finds it to be valuable and underutilised.

Research limitations/implications

The research discusses a single case study involving two workshops with a sample size of 112 participants. It is included as an example of co-design for professional learning in higher education.

Originality/value

Co-design for professional learning in higher education is poorly understood and presently underutilised. This paper addresses this gap by presenting an example of co-design for professional learning in higher education and theorising its significance.

Citation

Kelly, N., Brophy, C., Scharoun, L., Finger, M. and Meth, D. (2024), "Co-design for staff professional learning within universities: a case study", Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, Vol. 16 No. 2, pp. 315-327. https://doi.org/10.1108/JARHE-12-2022-0381