- Eligibility
- Protocol & Procedures
- Funding
- Application & Selection Criteria
- Completing a SaPP Project & Sharing Your Work
- FAQs
- Students as Partners Literature
Partnering with students in the development of the teaching and learning environment is a meaningful opportunity to develop important academic and transferrable skills as well as fostering a student-centered learning environment. Partnership is a process of student engagement, involving faculty, students, and staff, working and learning together with the goal of enhancing teaching and learning.
Through the Students as Partners Program (SaPP), we can support the implementation of innovative teaching practices, and through partnership and collaboration with students, develop our classrooms to meet the needs of learners.
The SaPP offers Faculty, Instructors, Contract Instructors, and Learning Support Staff the opportunity to provide a paid work experience to undergraduate students interested in teaching innovation, with funding provided by Teaching and Learning Services.
Healey et al. (2014: 8-9) highlight four areas where students as partners in teaching and learning can be an experiential learning opportunity: 1) learning, teaching, and assessment design; 2) curriculum design and pedagogic consultancy; 3) subject-based research and inquiry (I-CUREUS); and 4) the scholarship of teaching and learning. As such, the partnership program seeks to engage students in different course-level projects and activities, including, but not limited to:
- Co-designing and contributing to the development of curriculum,
- Helping to research, design, and organize course materials, Brightspace sites, learning resources, multimedia tools and educational technologies
- Formatting and preparing new, innovative activities and assessments, or enhancing the use and understanding of assessment criteria.
The projects funded through SaPP must provide an opportunity for students to contribute to the academic directions of the projects; they are not meant to resemble a Teaching Assistant or to simply alleviate instructor/staff workload.
The program runs each term, with each student partnership being funded up to a maximum of 130 hours per academic term.
Get a glimpse into the world of hands-on learning – hear from past participants. You can also learn more about engaging students as partners in the literature samples below.
Eligibility
All faculty, instructors, contract instructors and staff members working on relevant teaching projects are eligible.
- Priority will be given to Faculty, Instructors, Contract Instructors, and Staff Members who have not yet completed a SaPP project.
Student applicants must:
- Be undergraduate students enrolled in a Carleton degree program (part-time or full time);
- Be in good academic standing upon application, and during the tenure of the project;
- Not be graduating during the term of their SaPP project;
- Not be completing an I-CUREUS concurrently with SaPP project as students may only be awarded one of either SaPP or I-CUREUS in a single term;
- Not be registered for a co-op work term during the term of their SaPP project
Applications from new students, who have not yet participated in SaPP will be prioritized over applications from students who have completed SaPP previously.
Projects must:
- Demonstrate how student is contributing to the academic direction of the project as a partner. Student partners are not to take on regular staff workload.
- Not have any responsibilities or tasks that could or should be assigned to a TA.
- Not take place concurrently with the course. Projects must precede implementation into a course (ie. a Fall 2024 SaPP project could be for a Winter 2025 Course, but not for a Fall 2024 course).
Funding is limited and the SaPP program has limited places available. Applications are not guaranteed to be accepted. Do not begin work on a project that has not yet been approved.
Protocol & Procedures
Faculty, Instructors, and staff members interested in this program are encouraged to identify an undergraduate student partner that they feel that they can collaborate with. This may be a student who has successfully completed a course that they have taught, a student they have worked with before, or a student who has expressed interest in collaborating with them.
If a project may require more than one student partner, please discuss with us before applying.
Teaching and Learning Services, and the Future Learning Lab will not vet or select student partners – this is the sole responsibility of the instructors/staff members. Students interested in the SaPP are encouraged to approach instructors with whom they would be interested in working.
Once an instructor/staff member has identified and selected a student partner, they should discuss expectations and project scope together. Responsibilities, goals, and communication methods should be established by both partners.
When both partners have a clear understanding of the project, the partners should collaboratively complete the online application form.
The staff partner should lead the submission of the application, and lead the discussions about the project. The student’s role is to partner with the staff member to provide specific assistance and perspective to support their teaching.
Student partners whose projects are approved must complete a FUSION skill module of their choosing, and must submit a capstone as a primary means of sharing the results of the partnership.
At the beginning of their project, student partners will be added to a SaPP and I-CUREUS Brightspace course, where they will access FUSION. Details about payment, project timing, and capstones is shared with student partners through the Brightspace course. Students are responsible for submitting their partnership’s capstone through the Brightspace Dropbox.
Funding
Teaching and Learning Services will fund up the student partner for no more than 130 hours of work per academic term at minimum wage (+ 4% vacation pay). Administration of payment to the student partner will be done through the Future Learning Lab.
At the time of application, partnerships will need to identify start date, end date, total hours, and approximate hours per week. The work must be completed within the academic term defined on the application.
Staff partners are responsible for ensuring their student partner is on track with the work assigned. Staff partners must notify the Future Learning Lab if a project is cancelled or incomplete, or if there are any changes to hours worked.
The payment timing may vary depending on the student’s work schedule. Students will receive payment as a single lump sum payment upon submission of their project capstone; a deliverable submitted by the student through Brightspace, which summarizes their SaPP experience and project outcomes. After submission of the capstone, payment may be delayed subject to the Payroll deadlines.
Students are responsible for ensuring their information is up to date in Human Resources and Payroll.
Application & Selection Criteria
Faculty members, instructors, contract instructors, and teaching support staff along with a student partner should jointly complete the online application. Applications will be made available before the beginning of each term for which funding is available. Proposals will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
- The strength of the partnership between the instructor/student:
- Is the student considered as collaborator and thought partner?
- Is the student partner involved in idea generation?
- Is there an existing rapport/relationship between the partners?
- How will staff partner foster collaboration and partnership?
- The scope and appropriateness of the project being proposed:
- Is it seeking to meaningfully develop/improve teaching and/or learning? How?
- How is student input helping to guide the direction of the project?
- Is the student partner taking on TA or Instructor workload?
- Is the proposed work plan realistic in the time allotted?
- Could the work be completed through another channel (ie. Through TLS consultations or existing supports)?
- The opportunities for learning by both the staff partner and student partner:
- Has the staff partner identified their learning/development goals and opportunities?
- Is this a meaningful learning opportunity for the student? What skills will be developed?
- How the partners intend to share their work:
- Will the partnership lead to a shareable resource/deliverable? How will this be shared with the teaching community at Carleton?
- If no, will partners work collaboratively on the capstone?
Most projects will involve one staff partner and one student partner. If a project may require more than one student partner, please discuss with the Future Learning Lab Program Coordinator before applying.
Applications are not guaranteed to be accepted. Do not begin work on a project that has not been approved.
When the number of applications submitted exceeds the number of available internships, the proposal will be evaluated based on whether the project is in the scope of I-CUREUS, whether the student has participated in I-CUREUS previously, the merits of the 4 above criteria, whether there is balance across faculties, and whether the supervisor has participated in I-CUREUS in the past.
Completing a SaPP Project & Sharing Your Work
The funded projects will not be considered completed until they have been shared with the Future Learning Lab/Teaching and Learning Services. Partners can meet this requirement by producing and submitting a capstone, a deliverable submitted by the end of the term in which the project took place.
Upon the submission of a capstone or an equivalent means of sharing the project outcome, projects will be considered completed and the Future Learning Lab will process lump-sum payment for the student partner.
Student and staff partners should work together to determine an appropriate capstone. Partnerships are welcome to suggest new or alternative ways of reporting on the partnership (ie. Podcast, summary report, handbook, etc.). Partners are encouraged to reach out to the Future Learning Lab Program Coordinator with their ideas. Most often, students submit a SaPP Conference poster.
Partners interested in presenting at the Annual SaPP & I-CUREUS Showcase are encouraged to complete a Conference Poster.
The Annual SaPP & I-CUREUS Showcase generally takes place in the beginning of April each year. Students and staff present their capstone posters at the showcase, participation in the showcase is entirely optional. Conference posters are generally printed at least 2 weeks prior to the conference. Expressions of interest to participate in the Showcase will be made available early in the Winter term.
For more information, please see our FAQ below or email SaPP@carleton.ca.
Please note: your submission may be shown publicly or used for public purposes including but not limited to, displayed on Carleton University and Future Learning Lab websites, TLS newsletters, and social media.
SaPP Applications can be accessed here.