Flipping the Script: Education as Partnership

By: Jeffrey L. Bernstein

As I write this, the Faculty Development Center is recovering from the second annual Flipping the Script student-led teaching conference, which we hosted on Friday, November 22, 2024. 

While I am obviously biased, I believe the conference was an overwhelming success. It featured fifteen high-quality presentations or workshops as well as an opening plenary session, all led by students. Over one hundred people attended throughout the day, and the presentations and conversations were at a consistently high level. We have received much positive feedback, which pleases me to no end.

Reflecting upon Flipping the Script, I am struck by its impact on two levels. On one level, those who participated gained new and provocative insights into what today’s student experience looks like. For example, many presenters, such as Treasure Affia and Islam Ramadan, addressed the mental health struggles students face and offered practical guidance, informed by the student experience, that faculty can take with them into the classroom. Faculty commented often about how useful this was.

Some of the presentations focused on practical matters, such as Skyler Holcomb and Zoe Sponseller’s work on how faculty can give more effective feedback to students on assignments, or Liv Dameron’s presentation on effective ways for faculty to use icebreakers. Some of these presentations were at a more macro level, such as Ben Kelly and Matt Eby's work on how classrooms can be more inclusive, or Sydney Kamm's presentation on how faculty can foster self efficacy and purpose in their students. 

I particularly enjoyed a student panel discussion on the use of generative AI in our classrooms. Many of us have engaged in conversation about Gen AI, but I suspect few of us have really talked to students. Our panel discussion produced valuable insights from a thoughtful group of students, aided by timely audience questions.  

I have often noted that students and faculty possess different types of expertise around teaching and learning. Clearly, I am the subject matter expert in my classroom. You no doubt enjoy that same advantage. But when addressing student learning, my students have expertise that I lack. They, more than I, can tell you if the material is being conveyed effectively, if the assignments make sense, and if the class is conducted in an engaging and inclusive manner. Flipping the Script highlights the critical insights our students have regarding their half of the teaching and learning equation. We would do well to keep these perspectives in mind.

Beyond a simple transfer of knowledge from student to faculty, a second impact of Flipping the Script concerns attitudes and approaches within higher education. I have been involved in many conversations in which students suggest they feel unseen in their education and as if they don't matter to their faculty.  Without a doubt, students share some blame for this - reaching out and building connections is a two-way street. Most students realize this.

Still, as we consider the power imbalance between faculty and students, the intimidation some students feel about reaching out to us, and the confusing array of norms facing students (e.g., what exactly ARE office hours?), we can understand a certain sense on the part of students that they are the subjects of their education, rather than partners in it. We can understand how they might feel they have little impact on their educational endeavors.

Flipping the Script aims to upend this narrative. When students sit in the room and see faculty listening to them, taking notes about what they say, and engaging with them in open dialogue about how to teach effective classes, and about how to create an atmosphere that supports inclusiveness and wellness, it matters. They begin to view their professors as allies in creating a meaningful education rather than as barriers to doing so. Trust me - I see this happen all the time. Students will take this leap across the gulf - they just want to know someone is waiting on the other side.

Flipping the Script began with narratives from six students about the moment when the script “flipped” for them - when an educator at Eastern took the time to get to know them, encourage them, and make them believe that a successful experience at Eastern Michigan University was within their grasp. I was deeply moved by many of these stories, as I know the audience was; these stories reinforce my belief in the extraordinary power of higher education.

After the panels and workshops, we ended Flipping the Script with a panel of three faculty members discussing what they had seen and learned during the day. The affection and warmth shared by the students toward their faculty at breakfast was reciprocated from the faculty at lunch. It was, as FDC student worker and conference co-organizer Elena Parshall suggested to me, as if we began with students thanking faculty, and ended with faculty thanking students! 

I’ve thought a lot about Elena's apt summary since the conference, and I believe she got it exactly right. Flipping the Script was all about acknowledging and appreciating how important both students and faculty are to successful educational outcomes. I am grateful to all of the students who took the time to be part of this conference, to the faculty who worked with them to support their presentations, and to everyone who showed up to listen and to learn. Please be on the lookout for more materials we will share from this conference in the weeks and months to come!

This is our final blog for the fall semester. On behalf of Sarah, Liv, Trinity, Elena, and TaMeka, we wish you all a restful and restorative break! We hope you will find time to spend with loved ones and to do things that bring you joy.

Thanks, as always, for listening and for supporting our work at the Faculty Development Center.