Bryn Mawr College

Empowering Learners Partnerships: Staff, Students, and Faculty

Empowering Learners Partnerships (ELPs) are unique, reciprocal relationships in which faculty and staff are paired with students.  Partners take turns teaching and learning a skill or interest, encouraging all participants to experience the roles of teacher and learner.

Who can participate in an Empowering Learners Partnership?

• Staff from all campus departments are eligible for participation in the TLI.  Over the past several years, participants have come from the Treasurer’s Office, Dining Services, Housekeeping, Information Services, Athletics, Public Safety, Transportation, Facilities, and several other college departments.  For hourly staff, the College supports staff participation in the programs for up to 30 staff members per semester through two hours of paid release time per week. 

• Students from both Haverford College and Bryn Mawr College (including McBride, post-bac, and graduate students) are encouraged to apply if interested in participating.  The student application can be found on the student employment website.  A Director’s Grant from the Mellon Foundation for the 2006-7 academic year supported an hourly wage for students, now supported by the College.  Students may opt to use their program participation as fieldwork in selected Education classes instead of a paid position.

• Faculty interested in participating in learning partnerships with staff, students, or faculty are also encouraged to apply.

Click here for the web-based staff/faculty application.  Click here to download a printable version of the staff/faculty application.

What can I teach or learn in an Empowering Learners Partnership?

 Since the creation of the TLI, a wonderfully diverse list of skills and interests have been shared through many partnerships:

• Reading/writing/communication skills

• Foreign languages

• Baking

• Computer

• Piano

• Digital photography

• Facebook

• Wood carving

• Jazz appreciation

• Arts and crafts

• Continuing education

• Painting

• Citizenship test

• Board/card games

...just to name a few.

We all have something to teach.  We all have something to learn.

How often do partners meet?

For the first half of the semester, partnerships meet for 2 hours a week. Participants can choose to meet two hours once a week or one hour twice a week..  Halfway through the semester each partnership can continue with their meeting schedule, or they can opt to meet for one hour each week until the end of the semester.

Partnrships are free to meet in any public spaces on campus including the Campus Center, libraries/computer labs, dining halls, or empty classrooms. 

Please note that partnerships are not permitted to meet in student dorm rooms.

How did the program get started?

The project grew out of an Education course and was developed collaboratively with stakeholders across the community (a process discussed in Cohen, J., Lesnick, A., Himeles, D., “Temporary Anchors, Impermanent Shelter: Can the Field of Education Model a New Approach to Academic Work?” Journal of Research Practice, Vol. 2, Issue 2, 2007).

Comments from Participants

“I have written about this in practically every reflection, but it never ceases to amaze me how much this partnership has made me feel like a member of a real, multi-dimensional community... The theme of community building in these partnerships is still very important to me, for I am constantly being reminded of how insular this campus really is. I am now quite thankful that I have been given a way to overcome this kind of isolation and to experience real community life once again, something which most of my peers probably won’t experience until they graduate.” – Shelley Nash, BMC ’07

"The purpose of the program is to build a sense of community amongst the people who bump into each other every day so it’s not a bunch of comfortable strangers."   --Staff Member

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Revising a Course With Technology

We can convene a team to help a faculty member revise his or her course to integrate technology in a pedagogically meaningful way. The team would consist of a member of the library staff with expertise in the faculty member’s field of study, a member of IT, and a student. This approach builds on the model of techno-pedagogy that informed workshops offered at Bryn Mawr College in the summers of 1999, 2000, and 2001 called “Taking toward Techno-Pedagogy” and supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. If you are interested in being a part of such a collaborative effort should a faculty request this kind of support, please refer all questions and comments to the individual(s) listed below.

Contact Name: Alison Cook-Sather (acooksat@brynmawr.edu)

Website: Talking toward Techno-Pedagogy

Comments from Participants

“[What emerged in the workshop was] the recognition that emerged in the minds of different groups about what it is that the others do and what they have to offer each other.” -Librarian

“[O]ne of the things I thought I heard very clearly from both the librarians and from IT people was, ‘We’re teachers, too. And we want to be recognized as teachers, we want our teaching to be understood as teaching.” -Faculty Member

“[Our goal is] an evolved role on our campuses. . . over time, whether it's through our own actions or by changing other people's perceptions of us, that we could have more sophisticated involvement with teaching and learning issues.” -IT Person

“As a student. . . I am usually encouraged to give feedback about what’s working [in a class] and what isn’t and to develop ideas about what would work better, not to participate directly in making changes.” -Student

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Helping to Imagine, Design, or Teach a Class

We encourage staff members to take proactive roles in collaborating with the Coordinator of Staff Education in imagining, designing, or even teaching classes for staff, students, or faculty. Past and forthcoming staff education opportunities co-created and taught by staff members include classes in Excel, Contribute, Word, PeopleSoft, and Photoshop Elements. Future opportunities for staff-designed and taught classes for students and faculty include workshops on money management (from basic skills through investing and buying property) and classes on theorizing web architecture and using Contribute. To learn how to participate in current programs or to help create new ones, please contact the Coordinator of Staff Education.

Contact: Jessica Hollinger Vinson (jholling@brynmawr.edu).

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