91ĹÝÜ˝

What does centring the student experience look like when it comes to curriculum change?

This story is part of a two-part series about curriculum renewal at the School of Interactive Arts and Technology (SIAT). It focuses on how the school engaged student input in the process. The second story will share the changes SIAT has made to its curriculum to make it more student-centred—a process led with support from the Centre for Educational Excellence.

For the last three years, the School of Interactive Arts and Technology (SIAT) has been figuring out the answer to that question by changing how they develop and communicate curriculum revisions.

“We are in the process of undergoing curriculum changes to improve student access and success in our programs, as well as more closely align it with industry trends. And one thing we learned during our external review thanks to one very successful student survey is that our students want more transparency when it comes to curriculum changes. Honoring that request has forced us to do things a little differently, but the results have been worth the investment,” says SIAT senior lecturer and undergraduate program chair Andrew Hawryshkewich.

The student survey, which had a response rate of 41.8%, was developed and delivered with support from SFU’s Learning Experiences Assessment and Planning team (LEAP).

Hawryshkewich says the two main vehicles his school has implemented to ensure the process is both more visible and responsive to students’ perspectives is including undergraduate representatives in curricular retreats and holding regular undergraduate town halls. 

“Faculty are the experts in the subject matter and how to approach teaching, but students are experts in knowing what works and what doesn't work for them. Having students participate in the process of curriculum development was incredibly helpful because it meant we could make better, more informed decisions about how to design program pathways that truly serve our learners.”

According to Hawryshkewich, creating a vehicle to ensure students are made aware of those changes has also been instrumental.

“Students get bombarded with emails. The townhalls allow us to cut through that noise and actually get in front of students in a much more authentic and impactful way. By actually engaging in discussion with students about how we are changing the curriculum and hearing their responses to those changes, we were able to reduce their anxiety and confusion. We see this reported out by our advising team who says that since we started offering the town halls there’s been much less disinformation circulating amongst students.”

Though Hawryshkewich notes a time and resource investment is required, he encourages other academic units to consider finding ways to integrate student input into their curriculum processes.

“What I learned through the process is that we faculty need to stop making assumptions about what students want. At the end of the day, students are the people we're working for and so I think it just makes sense to involve them in whatever ways are possible.”

LEAP program assessment consultant Alice Campbell, who helped develop the student survey for SIAT, encourages other units interested in this type of inquiry to reach out to her team.

“What’s exciting about what’s happened in SIAT is that they have leveraged a key insight from the survey to develop a really comprehensive model for engaging students in curriculum change. Of course, every unit is going to be different when it comes to the barriers or challenges their students face in navigating their programs—and that is where our team can help. We can help units gather the information and student perspectives that they need—and at arm’s length. This is important work, but can be daunting. We want to help make the process easier for people.”