#ISAPI19 in Adelaide

Between semesters, the Western Student Curriculum Partners had an awesome experience at the International Students as Partners Institute 2019 in Adelaide. Usually held at McMaster University in Canada, this was the first time #ISAPI was held in Australia. We set off to progress a project to develop a 21C Curiosity Pod for Western staff to learn about student-staff partnership. Over 3 days of dedicated listening, learning and talking we came away with richer ideas and clarity about how to proceed, thanks in part to our Uni Qld mentors, Associate Professor Kelly Matthews and Caelan Rafferty.

The cohort in our room represented 8 institutions from America to The Netherlands and all across Australia.

To me, the greatest insight we picked up from them was how important ‘the feeling’ of SAP is when reflecting on practices. Evaluations tend to be numerical in nature but for the kind of meaningful research we want want to create about our work, we’re going to continue taking a holistic view on partnership.

Moving forward, we will adopt some new project management strategies and cement research as an integral part of our suite of projects.

We look forward to sharing more about the program we are working on as it progresses.