Tightrope Walking: Balancing Leadership Roles and Partnerships with Undergraduate Student Assistants in SoTL Research

Carolyn Bjartveit; Simran Kandola

doi:10.29173/isotl876

Authors

Carolyn Bjartveit Mount Royal University https://orcid.org/0009-0006-1753-1862
Simran Kandola Mount Royal University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29173/isotl876

Keywords:

faculty-student partners, rights-based research practice, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, student leadership, undergraduate student research assistants

Abstract

In this reflective essay, a researcher relates her experience of supporting partnerships with undergraduate student research assistants (RAs) during a SoTL study. Unexpected changes to the ethics requirements after the study had received approval and commenced resulted in changing the leadership roles of the research team members and adjusting procedures for facilitating interviews with the study participants. Although unsettling at the time, these modifications opened valuable opportunities for the RAs to co-facilitate focus group interviews and hone their leadership and research skills. Reflections on the researcher’s and a student RA’s experiences exemplify the SoTL principles of “respect, reciprocity, and shared responsibility” in supporting student partnerships (Cook-Sather et al., 2014, p. 27). Expanding further by recognizing rights as a principle promotes equal faculty-student research partnerships and acknowledges the knowledge, professional experience, and leadership skills that undergraduate student RAs contribute to SoTL studies and project work.

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Author Biographies

Carolyn Bjartveit, Mount Royal University

Carolyn Bjartveit, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor and the coordinator of the Bachelor of Child Studies/Early Learning and Child Care degree program at Mount Royal University. She has experience teaching pre-K to post-secondary graduate levels in early childhood education. Her research areas include curriculum studies, cultural studies, history and philosophy of early childhood education, and teacher education. Her current research focuses on social justice, human rights, and how immigrant and international students' cultural identities intersect with the curriculum in Canadian post-secondary education settings.

Simran Kandola, Mount Royal University

Simran Kandola, BCST, is a recent graduate of the Bachelor of Child Studies degree program, Child and Youth Care Counselling, at Mount Royal University. Her interest in research increased after collaborating with her peers on a research project related to human rights and social justice in multicultural post-secondary classrooms. Simran’s has work experience in both Early Learning and Child and Youth Care community settings.

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