“The most common response I hear when I introduce the idea of student-faculty pedagogical partnership is, ‘Of course. Why didn’t I think of that?’” says Cook-Sather. “The reason is that the structures and practices of higher education clearly delineate the roles and responsibilities of teachers and learners, but this separation prevents informed dialogue about and approaches to teaching and learning.”
Since coming to Bryn Mawr, Cook-Sather has become an international leader in this rapidly expanding approach, supporting exploration of pedagogical partnership approaches at 72 U.S. institutions and 23 institutions around the world, including in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Israel, Pakistan, Ireland, Singapore, Italy, Japan, Sweden, and the Netherlands. U.S. colleges and universities inspired by SaLT include Yale’s Pedagogical Partner Program, Smith College’s Student-Faculty Pedagogical Partnership Program, and the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley’s SaLT program.
“Alison and SaLT are quite literally changing higher education around the world, to the great benefit of students, faculty, institutions, and communities,” says Peter Felten, executive director of the Center for Engaged Learning at Elon University and co-author of Relationship-Rich Education: How Human Connections Drive Success in College.
International examples of programs influenced by the SaLT program include the University of Queensland’s Institute for Teaching and Learning’s Students as Partners program, as well as programs at McMaster University in Canada and Edinburgh Napier University in the U.K.
“Alison’s work has shaped the higher education landscape across Australian universities for the better,” says Kelly Matthews, an honorary professor in the University of Queensland School of Education and Pro Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning) at the University of Wollongong. “Her capability to translate ideas and possibilities into practice and then inspire action is unmatched.”
Matt Farmer, associate professor and chair of Haverford’s Classics Department, is among the faculty who have participated in the TLI and SaLT programs, and he says the experience had a profound impact on his teaching.
Farmer partnered with SaLT consultant Sophie Jackson early in his career, focusing on his course “Sex and Power in the Ancient World.”
“My conversations with Sophie throughout that semester really helped me see my teaching from the students' perspective,” he says. “In those days, still relatively early in my teaching career, I was overplanning every session of class, and this created a real mismatch between my intentions — to foster student-led conversation — and the reality of the classroom. My work with Sophie helped me gain the confidence I needed to yield up control of the classroom to my students and to create space for them to drive their own learning.”
The TLI experience has been equally transformative for many of the students who have taken part.
Sophia Abbot ‘15 has gone on from the program to become a faculty development specialist at the University of Rhode Island, Anita Ntem Thomas ‘18 is chief of staff at Democracy Prep Public Schools, and Van Nguyen ’24 is a college access and success educator at TGR Foundation.
At Bryn Mawr, Abbot crafted an independent major focused on her TLI work before going on to get her master’s and Ph.D. in higher education, with a focus on examining how to further engage in partnership and co-creation in teaching practice and research. Prior to her current position, Abbot was a fellow in the Collaborative for Learning and Teaching at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, where she launched a program modeled on the SaLT program.
“It's been really amazing to craft my life's work around something that started as a unique student job,” says Abbot. “I’m so grateful to the program, and to Alison Cook-Sather for seeing something in me worth nurturing.”
