Student-Faculty Partnership Program

Introduction

The Student-Faculty Partnership Program is an initiative that the Center for the Advancement of Teaching will pilot at Wake Forest University during the 2026-2027 academic year. This pedagogical partnership program invites faculty and students to engage in sustained, structured dialogue around the teaching and learning transpiring in classrooms at Wake Forest.

Following a class-observation model, the program pairs two student partners with a faculty member for a semester to engage in shared analysis of and reflection on classroom teaching. Student partners are not enrolled in the class they observe and ideally not minoring or majoring in the discipline, allowing them to focus on learning dynamics, rather than content. Through ongoing dialogue, faculty and students develop a deeper understanding of each other’s perspectives and thus of the complexities of teaching and learning in the college classroom.

By bringing students to the table as they plan and deliver class sessions, faculty benefit from having consistent access to a trusted student perspective. In turn, students enrich their own learning experience by actively co-constructing education at Wake Forest.

Pedagogical partnership programs have flourished at Brown, Columbia, Tufts, UT Austin, Amherst, Bryn Mawr and Haverford, among many other campuses in the United States and abroad. We are excited to pilot a program at Wake Forest in 2026-2027.