Initiative for Students as Partners in Research and Education (InSPiRE)

Photo by Jason Goodman on Unsplash

The Initiative for Students as Partners in Research and Education (InSPiRE) research group was developed out of The University of Texas Center for Teaching and Learning. As the name suggests, the research group is intentionally based on a Students as Partners model in which undergraduate and graduate students are involved in creating and completing IRB-approved research projects that have the potential to improve teaching and learning experiences of students at UT.

Vision

InSPiRE curates and generates research on teaching and learning that fundamentally alters what it means to be a learner, an inquirer, and an agent of change within and outside of the university context.
To enact our vision, we draw on:
•    facilitation and community-building resources,
•    students-as-partners scholarship, and
•    scholarship identifying best practices for asset-based, holistic student participation in teaching, learning and research that involves them.

Mission

We prioritize graduate and undergraduate students as co-researchers and consultants for research projects from conceptualization through communicating results.

Within collaborative teaching and learning research, we engage in methodological play, learning by leading, and support of individual and collective skill in conducting teaching and learning research and assessment projects.

Our Research Approach

Students as Consultants and Researchers

InSPiRE students are both consultants and–upon completing CITI Human Subjects certification–researchers within collaborative InSPiRE projects. The title of consultant provides disciplinary diversity and breadth, as well as space to honor students’ existing areas of expertise, given previous work experience and lived experiences relevant to teaching and learning research.

Community before Pedagogy

Research exploring students’ engagement in undergraduate research specifically, and in their academic and social success in general has identified the establishment of a sense of belongingness to community and mattering as supportive elements in students’ learning and growth. Consequently, attention is first given establishing a sense of trust and community when new students join InSPiRE.

Process as Product

Doing research and becoming a researcher (i.e., owning one’s researcher identity) is a process central to InSPiRE. Though we anchor our practices in identifiable, tangible, and impactful products such as publications, presentations, co-created resources, etc.), we prioritize the process and practices associated with research.

Methodological Pluralism

Drawing from data feminist research practices that assert that “the most complete knowledge comes from synthesizing multiple perspectives,” InSPiRE takes a methodologically pluralist approach that honors knowledge from relevant sources associated with “traditional” research, as well as knowledge that “comes from people as living, feeling, bodies in the world.”

Visibility of Labor

Drawing from data feminist approaches, InSPiRE is committed to making our labor visible “so that it can be recognized and valued.” This includes, for example, providing financial support for co-researchers, and tracking time involved in work that rigorously considers context and examines and confronts power structures.

Values/Learning Outcomes

These values/focus areas are borrowed, with permission, from College Unbound.

Accountability We have the ability to meet or exceed agreed upon expectations, taking ownership of all that happens as a result of personal choices and actions, and looking for solutions when there is a problem.	Advocacy We negotiate positive change for ourselves and/or others, clearly seeing both sides of the issue and proposing new processes or parameters that more effectively meet the needs of all stakeholders.
Collaboration We deliberately partner with others, negotiating, challenging, and being challenged on issues of partnership, in order to produce something together.	Communication We construct sustained, coherent arguments or presentations in more than one medium for general and specific audiences, adapting behaviors and goals to meet the needs of interaction and achieve shared meaning.
Critical Thinking We engage in evidence-based practice, identify the issue/dilemma/problem, frame it as a specific question, explore and evaluate relevant information relevant, and draw conclusions, applying conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence.	Creativity We consistently bring into being products, processes, or thoughts that did not previously exist, merging ideas and making connections between seemingly unrelated phenomena to generate solutions.
Intercultural Engagement We continuously improve our capacity to identify our own cultural patterns, compare and contrast them with others, engage in respectful dialogue, and adapt empathically and flexibly to unfamiliar ways of being.	Problem Solving We Identify and analyze problems and use our prior knowledge, logic, and imagination, weighing the relevance and accuracy of information to develop, recommend, and implement alternative solutions.
Reflection We engage in an intentional process of continuous learning, analyzing personal decision-making and actions and the reactions they prompt in themselves and others, drawing on theory and experience, and modifying actions as for the benefit of ourselves and the communities we serve.	Resilience We are able to maintain effectiveness, remain focused, composed, and optimistic when faced with time pressures, adversity, disappointment, or opposition, and recover quickly from setbacks and failures.

InSPiRE Co-Founders

Heather Mikkelsen Wright, Assistant Director, UT Center for Teaching and Learning

Dulce Alonso, UT International Relations and Government Graduate, ‘24

Ibrahim Bawa, UT International Relations and Government Graduate, ‘26

Taharka Anderson, UT African and African Diaspora Students Doctoral Candidate, ‘26

Alice Kurima Newberry, UT Cultural Anthropology Doctoral Student, ‘26

Monica Obregon, UT Educational Policy and Planning M.Ed., 24; University of Colorado Educational Foundations Policy and Practice Doctoral student,28

Jasmine Wright, UT Plan II Honors Graduate, ’24, UT Journalism Masters Student, ‘26