Student engagement in shaping their learning environments: Boundary conditions and opportunities

Abstract

Learning environments in higher education have received considerable political attention and have been approached through various perspectives in educational research. Yet, students are often positioned as participants or beneficiaries of learning environments rather than active creators. Building on a growing field of student engagement through active participation and co-creation of higher education, we aim to explore how students engage in shaping their learning environments, as well as navigate and alter the boundary conditions. We draw on and empirically explore two different cases of learning environments in which students play a crucial role: 1) student-initiated, teacher-supported elective courses and 2) an extracurricular student innovation centre. Data were gathered using focus group and individual interviews with university teachers and students. The thematic analysis provides insights into student engagement at three levels: 1) though participation in the activities happening in learning environments; 2) in shaping the material elements of the learning environments and 3) in shaping the immaterial elements of the learning environments. Grounded in the empirical findings, we discuss the boundary conditions of these learning environments and how they are negotiated. Through these processes, we see that the opportunity space for how higher education learning environments can look like is expanded.