Transformative Horizons: SPACE workshop at Living Knowledge conference

The 10th Living Knowledge Conference held in Girona from June 24th to June 26th, 2024, featured a multitude of sessions aiming to inspire further development of community engaged practices and offerings in higher education.

Among these, the team of the Erasmus+ project SPACE (Steering Professionals and Academics for Community Engagement) organised a problem-solving workshop focused on the topic of co-created curricula. It was prepared as a moment of perspective-sharing around the key ingredients necessary for successful collaborative curriculum development. It included an introduction to diverse forms of curriculum co-creation, reflections on the potential benefits, and a hands-on activity asking participants to review and enhance draft versions of supportive tools aimed at guiding the process of collaborative curriculum(re)design. The workshop commenced with an introduction to the SPACE project and the concept of curriculum cocreation. Then, participants were divided into four groups, each working on a different tool. Participants engaged in a structured process of individual work, triad/duo discussions and group work, ensuring a comprehensive exploration of the presented materials. They were asked to identify elements they liked, missed, needed reformulation, or could be omitted.

By the end of the session, each group was asked to share key findings and recommendations for improvement. What participants brought forward as strengths is that the SPACE tools provide a structured approach to managing expectations and encourage mutual learning, building on the diverse contributions from the parties involved in the process of curriculum(re)design. The emphasis on involving students and societal partners at every stage of the curriculum(re)design process was seen as a significant strength. Participants also offered constructive feedback to further refine the presented tools, including (i) the need to define, clarify or contextualise used concepts, (ii) ensure transparency about the values or guiding principles underscoring the cocreation processes, and (iii) give a clearer indication of the time required from all parties involved in the diverse phases of cocreation/redesign. The importance of organising moments of reflection (both individual and shared) and being mindful of power relationships inherent to cocreative processes was emphasised. The participants in the workshop advised the SPACE facilitators to think about ways to allow for renegotiation of formulated goals, expectations, roles and responsibilities throughout the process.

It turned out to be an inspiring conversation. The session participants were very enthused about the presented materials and eager to receive copies, even in this draft format. This proves the need and value of these tools as an output of SPACE and sparks the Living Knowledge network’s interest in disseminating the project results at a later stage. As we move forward, the lessons learnt from this session will undoubtedly contribute to shaping the SPACE trajectories and help us tailor them to the needs of the various stakeholders involved. 

The SPACE project (Supporting Professionals and Academics for Community Engagement in Higher Education) is funded through the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union. More information on the project is available here.