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Student-faculty partnerships are a growing practice in scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) projects. They can foster greater student engagement in higher education and help advance teaching and learning experiences. For graduate students, in particular those pursuing academic careers, such partnerships can offer opportunities for development of their professional identities as emerging SoTL scholars. In this article, we expand upon previous theorizations of partnerships to include the unique attributes of graduate student partnerships, such as in terms of longer timeframes, increased complexity, and long-term goals. Drawing on a two-year SoTL study, we present a three-layer framework characterizing key attributes for a successful graduate student-faculty partnership: 1) individual attributesin a partnership, 2) collective attributes for a partnership, and 3) outcomes of a partnership. The framework is grounded in literature and illustrative examples from our experiences as graduate students and faculty members working together in partnership with a SoTL project. This framework offers a structured mechanism to inform, create, and enhance the capacity of student-faculty partnerships in SoTL research.

From a design perspective, the intentionality of students to engage in surface or deep learning is often experienced through prescribed activities and learning tasks. Educators understand that meaningful learning can be furthered through the structural and organizational design of the online environment that motivates the student towards task completion. However, learning engagement is unique for each student. It is dependent on both how students learn and their intentions for learning. Based on this challenge, the design of online discussions becomes a pedagogical means in developing students' intentionality for the adoption of strategies leading to deep learning. Through a Design-Based Research (DBR) approach, iterative design of online learning components for undergraduate field experience courses were studied. For this paper, the focus of the research is on examining factors that influenced deep and surface levels of learning in online discussion forums. The results indicate that design factors (i.e., student engagement, group structures, and organization) influence the nature and degree of deep learning. From the findings, two implications for practice are shared to inform the design and scaffolding of online discussion forums to foster deep approaches to student learning.

Makerspaces are a rapidly growing trend in education. Schools are incorporating makerspaces to provide students with experiential learning opportunities to be designers, innovators and makers. Attention must be given not only to the creation of such spaces but also, and more important, how to incorporate such activities in an environment that fosters deep learning. In this article, a team of researchers share their lived experience of implementing makerspace activities with students in a school of education. From reflecting on our experience designing and facilitating learning through making, we have identified three lessons learned: designing challenging learning tasks is not easy; facilitating learning through making is a delicate dance; and changing our dispositions through making changes our practice. Learning in makerspace environments is as challenging for teachers as it is for their students because it connects the development of iterative design provocations and a mindset that embraces failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]