Enhancing Learning and Teaching Quality through Collaborative Observation

Improving the student learning experience starts by improving the teacher learning experience.

Shaped and informed by cutting-edge observation research and practice, the project team implemented and evaluated an innovative and collaborative observation model, which involved groups of students and teaching staff from varied disciplines, co-observing and co-reflecting on the quality of their learning and teaching.

This approach reconceptualises and reconfigures the way in which students and staff engage with observation as a method for inquiring into and enhancing learning and teaching. This work enables students to become genuine partners in co-inquiring and co-constructing their learning experiences with staff.


The project has:


- developed a reconceptualised approach to the use of observation as a tool to enhance the quality of teaching and learning
- implemented two cycles of collaborative observation with students and staff across three universities and evaluated its impact at the course/module level
- provided students and staff with conceptual, practical tools to promote authentic collaboration and inquiry into the quality of their learning and teaching
- increased student engagement in shaping their learning experiences by empowering them to become directly involved in informing and improving the quality of learning and teaching on their course/module.

Our project findings reinforce the belief that students and academic staff learn about teaching and learning by interacting with their peers and with each other, by sharing their insights and experiences in collaborative, cooperative forums. It therefore makes sense that any attempt to enhance understanding of and improve these practices is best served by allowing its key participants to be part of a collective community in which they are encouraged to engage in reflexive dialogue and collective sense making. The case studies included in this report reveal that creating the conditions in which students and staff have the opportunity to examine their understanding and experiences of teaching and learning and open them up to dialogic exchange is fundamental to developing greater awareness of the strengths and areas for development in their practices. Participation in CoCO helped to create these shared spaces in which teaching
staff were able to come together with their peers, and equally with their students, to engage in reflexive pedagogical dialogue on their classroom teaching and learning, with the ultimate aim of improving the learning experiences for all.