Layered learning: Student consultants deepening classroom and life lessons

Abstract

The action research project reported on here took as its central problem of practice the absence of students from forums for faculty development in higher education. Findings suggest that, when undergraduate students are positioned as pedagogical consultants to college faculty members, multiple layers of learning unfold. After a brief overview of The Andrew W. Mellon Teaching and Learning Institute that serves as the context for this study, I present student reflections on the ways that student consultants gain a more informed critical perspective within and beyond classrooms and build greater confidence, capacity, and agency as learners and as people. The final portion of the discussion focuses on how the lessons student consultants learn inform my own learning and practice. © 2011 Educational Action Research.