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A Best Practice Guide for implementing Liberal Arts and Sciences at European Higher Education Institutions, offered to you by EPICUR European University Alliance

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Toolkits for Co-Creative Learning and LAS Teacher Training

How to Create Responsive, Engaging, and Tailored Education with Students in Liberal Arts and Sciences
Learning and Teaching in the Liberal Arts: A Teacher Training Kit
CREATES Toolkit for Co-Creative Learning
Based upon the general teaching and learning theory of constructivism, the Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership CREATES (Creating Responsive, Engaging and Tailored Education with Students) has, since 2017, developed and rolled out toolkits and publications on student agency and self-directed learning, among them a toolkit on Co-Creative Learning.
The following information is cited from https://europe-creates.eu/toolkits-overview/.
The six partner institutions of CREATES are 
  • Leuphana University Lüneburg (coordinating institution)
  • University of Freiburg (UCF)
  • King’s College London
  • Sciences Po Paris
  • Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Pisa.
  • Maastricht University
About Co-creative Learning
"Co-creative learning means learning that is created with input and participation from both students and teachers. Traditional approaches to university education required students to be only passive recipients of knowledge. When students are engaged and share responsibility for their learning, they build key competencies such as analytical, collaborative, and reflective skills (Matthews, 2016).

Learning that is co-creative and student-centered requires innovative classroom approaches. This toolkit describes seven specific course-level techniques that support active, engaged learning. Each section defines the technique, specifices the learning objectives it supports, and offers tips and examples. 

Certainly these are not the only co-creative approaches to teaching and learning, and we realize that many teachers are already employing these techniques or some form of them. Thus the toolkit focuses on showing examples and identifying useful principles for facilitating the most engaging, responsive learning experiences and environments. This toolkit was developed by university teachers hoping to inform and inspire other teachers across Europe."
"A number of terms have been used to describe a practice of teaching that encourages students to actively engage with research. Amongst them are ‘inquiry-based learning’, ‘research-oriented learning’, and ‘research-as-learning’. They are often used synonymously for ‘research-based learning’ (RBL)" (cf. https://europe-creates.eu/toolkit-for-co-creative-learning/research-based-learning/)
Explore this section of the CREATES toolkit to learn more about why and how do RBL.
"PBL is traditionally understood as a learning method that organises the “curricular content around problem scenarios rather than subjects or disciplines” (Savin-Baden, 2001), yet no global definition of PBL exists (Frambach, Talaat, Wasenitz, Martimianakis, 2019). Nevertheless, many PBL approaches have a student-centred approach to education, in which the students direct their learning in a way that it allows to solve or understand a problem (from academia or the professional world for example) that they were confronted with" (cf. https://europe-creates.eu/toolkit-for-co-creative-learning/problem-based-learning/).
Explore this section of the CREATES toolkit to learn more about which learning objectives or competences PBL supports and how to set up PBLL.
"In short, e-portfolios and portfolios can be defined as dynamic and open platforms which enable a wide variety of student assessment, learning, and reflective activities (for an overview, please see Lorenzo and Ittelson 2005).
E-portfolios, in particular, have gained popularity in recent years. An e-portfolio is a learning platform which allows users and groups to integrate a variety of information and media into a multimedia page or a digital workbook" (cf. https://europe-creates.eu/toolkit-for-co-creative-learning/e-portfolios/).
Explore this section of the CREATES toolkit to learn more about which learning objectives or comopetencies (e)portfolios support and what to take into account when implementing them.
"Metacognitive self-reflection is a kind of critical reflection in which students describe their own learning process, monitor their own learning strategies and attitudes, and manage or even adjust those strategies and attitudes. [...] Teachers can encourage development of metacognitive skills to help train more self-directed, self-aware learners who are better able to transfer their learning to new topics and endeavors" (cf. https://europe-creates.eu/toolkit-for-co-creative-learning/e-portfolios/).
Explore this section of the CREATES toolkit to learn more about which learning objectives or competences it supports and how to implement this technique in your classroom.
"Reading Diaries are:
  • a form of written assignment
  • especially used in reading-based seminars
  • an alternative option where normally a more classical academic paper or essay is required, or other forms of combined types of assessment (e.g. portfolios) including a written part.
In a Reading Diary (following: RD), the students:
  • combine writing about a given text with describing their own learning process (i.e. metacognitive self reflection)
  • monitor their own understanding of the text in combination with monitoring their own reading and learning strategies and attitudes
  • manage or even adjust their reading and learning strategies and attitudes" (cf.
Explore this section of the CREATES toolkit to learn more about why and how to implement Reading Diaries successfully.
"Simulations & role plays are effective ways to enhance the quality of learning, by connecting classroom knowledge to real-world situations. In both learning strategies, students are encouraged to act out real-life situations in the first-person. However, while role plays assume that participants take on different characters (roles), in simulations students generally act as themselves in a fictionalized context.
Through dramaturgy and symbolic interactionism, students develop problem-solving competences, as well as verbal and non-verbal communication skills. The combination of ‘tailor-made’ scenarios and students’ proactive role in the activities produce new and varied learning outcomes, making this methodology of teaching a source for knowledge production and inter-personal skills development" (cf. https://europe-creates.eu/toolkit-for-co-creative-learning/simulation-and-role-play/).
Explore this section of the CREATES toolkit to learn more about which learning objectives it supports and how to implement this technique in your classroom.
"Learning communities (LCs) are considered a high impact practice for teaching and learning in higher education (Kuh et al., 2010). [...] Classroom LCs involve creating smaller groups within larger classes and facilitating exchange and/or group work or other forms of collaboration."
Explore this section of the CREATES toolkit to learn more about why and how to implement Learning Communities successfully.
Fostering an LAS Philosophy
Related Wiki pages
These Wiki pages might also be interesting for you:
Further resources
To delve deeper into the topic, take a look at these resources:
Back to > DESIGN> How to Design Co-Construction and Collaboration in Learning & Teaching

Last edited: 21. Oct 2022, 10:09, Hutz-Nierhoff, Dorthe [dh1076@rz.uni-freiburg.de]