The Faculty-Student Partner (FSP) Program is a semester-long collaborative partnership between a professor and an undergraduate student, who is paid for their work. Informed by a supportive and formative framework for teaching development, the partnership is built on regular classroom observations and ongoing dialogue about the methods, practices, values and challenges of teaching. Both partners learn and grow as they exchange perspectives stemming from their mutual experience of the class.
About the program
TEP’s Faculty-Student Partnership is modeled after the student consultant program developed by Dr. Alison Cook-Sather (Director of the Teaching and Learning Institute at Bryn Mawr and Haverford Colleges) and is one of a number of such programs currently underway at campuses in the United States and Europe, including at Reed and Oberlin. Thanks to a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, TEP successfully piloted the Faculty-Student Partner program in the Fall of 2017 at Lewis & Clark. As of 2023, TEP continues to offer the Faculty-Student Partnership thanks to the Office of the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.
How it works
Faculty partners choose one course that they would like their student partner to observe once a week. Student partners take notes about their observations. Faculty and student partners meet once a week for dialogue about the student partner’s class observations, the faculty partner’s goals, and potential areas for growth. See the infographic for more information.
*See our Faculty-Student Partnership Infographic by clicking here.*
Faculty Partners
Attend a half-day training workshop with your student partner the semester before your partnership begins.
Choose one recurring class period per week, for the upcoming semester, that you would like your student partner to sit in, observe, and take notes about student engagement in your class.
Meet with your student partner weekly to discuss observations.
Meet with your cohort of faculty partners and the TEP Director monthly. These meetings are for faculty partners to debrief the student partner’s observations and brainstorm/exchange ideas about how to improve their pedagogy.
Attend a joint meeting between students and faculty at the end of the semester to conclude the partnership.
Student Partners
Attend a half-day training workshop with your faculty partner the semester before your partnership begins.
Attend the class period your faculty partner would like you to observe every week for one whole semester. Fill out the note taking template that we provide you about student engagement in the classroom.
Meet with your faculty partner weekly to discuss observations.
Meet with your cohort of student partners and the TEP Director weekly. These meetings are for students to debrief about their observations and receive mentoring and support.
Attend a joint meeting between students and faculty at the end of the semester to conclude the partnership.
Note: Student partners cannot be enrolled in any of the professor’s courses that semester and the student’s academic schedule must be able to accommodate the date and time of the class the faculty partner would like observed.
For faculty partners: Volunteer.
For student partners: This is a paid position! Students may log up to 6 hours per week and are paid $15.45/hour.
For faculty partners:
~ 1-2 hours/week
Up to 1 hour weekly to meet with your student partner one-on-one.
1 hour meeting every 3-4 weeks with your faculty partner cohort and TEP Director.
Other time as needed.
For student partners:
~ 6 hours/week
Up to 1 hour weekly to meet with your faculty partner one-on-one.
1 hour weekly to meet with your student partner cohort and TEP Director.
1-2 hours weekly to observe your faculty partner’s class and take notes.
Up to 1 hour to organize notes.
Other time as needed.
“This program has rekindled my love of teaching and fostered my improvement during the oh-so-difficult “mid-career” years. I absolutely loved it. Your student partner becomes a mirror for you to see yourself the way your students might see you.”
- Former Faculty Partner
“I really appreciated every part of this program. I loved being able to sit in the classroom and pick up on the nuances of active learning and the dynamic between peers and between them and the professor. It gave me a wider perspective of how a class can be organized as well as how, often times, a lot relies on the students themselves.”
- Former Student Partner
Interested in participating? Fill out the Faculty-Student Partner Interest Form and we will be in touch with you!
