Curriculum Co-creation in a Postdigital World: Advancing Networked Learning and Engagement

Abstract

Literature on curriculum co-creation tends to focus on in-person experiences of teaching and learning. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has spurred on learners and teachers to co-create curricula in new and creative ways. This article examines curriculum co-creation in a postdigital world focusing on the connections between curriculum co-creation and networked learning. Drawing on Hodgson and McConnell’s conceptualisation of six key practices of networked learning, the authors explore how these practices connect to curriculum co-creation in theory and in a specific example from a fully online module that ran effectively during the Covid-19 pandemic. The authors conclude that networked learning and curriculum co-creation foster postdigital thinking and dialogue, which advance many elements of excellent learning and teaching to benefit both students and staff as we continue to navigate the ‘new normal’.

Participatory curriculum development: The case of EUTOPIA, a European university alliance

“…This exploration was leveraged to develop agentic initiatives and brokery strategies. Based on these findings, we tend to agree with Lubicz‐Nawrocka and Owen (2022) that curriculum co‐creation is a forward‐thinking approach that will benefit post‐digital education.…”

Participatory Pedagogical Approaches in Higher Education: Understanding from the Practices in Bangladesh, the UK and the USA

“…In co-creation, the purposes, resources, methods, assessments and outcomes of learning and teaching are jointly negotiated, and there is a shared vision, a shared responsibility for learning that implies greater student agency and empowerment than just active learning. Co-creation involves fostering deeper relationships between students and their teachers and among students themselves [76]. These, in combination, increase active participation for the whole class engagement and quality learning in higher education.…”

School Leadership Development for Sustainability in the Post-Digital Era

“…Through dynamic interaction between staff and students, curriculum content, structure, and processes are developed. Students' learning experiences inform and influence this interaction (Lubicz-Nawrocka & Owen, 2022;Bovill, 2020;Lubicz-Nawrocka, 2019). For instance, Lubicz-Nawrocka and Owen (2022), alluding to the need for and benefit of curriculum and co-creation, state that "Curriculum co-creation and student-staff partnerships promote high levels of student and staff engagement, which often occur through staff inviting students to take more active roles in shared decision-making" (p. 794).…”