Embracing co-creation through experiential learning

Early in my engineering education career, I ran a study-abroad programme to explore the Panama Canal. In two short weeks, I saw co-creation in action: students raised questions I hadn’t anticipated, brought perspectives that enriched the discussion, and committed to learning in this immersive environment.

To be clear, some discussions were emotional, even controversial, given that we contextualised engineering work within the development of the canal and the decades-long American presence in the Canal Zone. Yet this invited in-depth conversations, and seeing students engage so deeply with real-world problems, both historical and contemporary – and contribute their own perspectives – was a vivid demonstration of how inviting students to shape the direction, content and focus of the learning experience can transform understanding and engagement.

This dynamic of co-creation – where faculty and students collaboratively shape the learning process, goals and outcomes – allows what emerges in real time to inform every session, sitting alongside educators’ plans. In this sense, co-creation extends beyond designing assessments or course materials; it includes allowing students to determine what questions matter, which contexts need unpacking, and how the group should pursue lines of enquiry. Students’ questions, challenges to assumptions and ideas enrich the experience.

• Co-creation: how to find the ‘super’ in supervision
• How can Jenga build course co-creation?
• Reflections on impact and co-creation in academic podcasting

Closer to home, our interdisciplinary programmes offer another compelling example of the value of co-creation. In Interdisciplinary Projects (ID Pro) and Interdisciplinary Capstone (IDC), students from multiple disciplines, including from outside engineering, collaborate on client-sponsored design projects that span semesters and have real-world deliverables. Unlike assignments confined to paper or the classroom, these projects have considerable stakes: the students’ solutions address ongoing problems that matter to clients.

In design-project contexts, faculty serve as facilitators, mentors, mediators and often project managers who help design teams move forward with their project. This is especially true for capstone courses, and other design experiences such as Virginia Tech’s ID Pro programme. Faculty mentors help students critically evaluate their ideas to avoid design fixation and explore alternatives. What makes this co-creation, rather than simple supervision, is that students jointly shape not just the solutions but the project trajectory itself – defining problem boundaries, selecting methods, negotiating priorities with clients, and determining what counts as “success”. That dynamic – pushing students while trusting them to explore – creates learning moments that are among the richest I have experienced.

Co-creation cultivates skills and mindsets that traditional classrooms cannot easily provide. Students learn to communicate across disciplines, adapt to evolving requirements and new information, and respond to feedback that has real consequences. They explicitly situate their work as engineers in a societal context: what problem am I solving? Who am I helping? What are the consequences of my design? They see immediately how knowledge from lectures translates into solving problems. This immediacy makes learning tangible, memorable and often transformative.

The challenges of co-creation – and why it’s worth the effort

Of course, co-creation comes with challenges. Because students help shape pathways and outcomes rather than following a predetermined sequence, co-creation introduces uncertainty; faculty must be ready to adjust plans when students’ interests, client needs or contextual factors shift. Unforeseen events – technical hiccups in a lab, cultural challenges overseas or students facing personal issues – mandate flexibility and emotional intelligence. The challenge specific to co-creation is that instructors cannot rely solely on a fixed syllabus; they must support students’ emerging choices while ensuring rigour, safety and achievement of learning goals. Faculty must balance creative freedom with safety and institutional responsibility, whether supervising a lab, coordinating a field trip or managing interdisciplinary projects.

As a faculty member, co-creation is invigorating. Teaching becomes a collaborative journey where students and instructors grow together.

Advice to get started with bringing co-creation into experiential learning

For faculty considering co-creation, my advice is to start with structured experiential programmes or capstone projects, embrace flexibility and cultivate a mindset that values students’ input as much as your own. In practical terms, this means identifying elements of your course that students can meaningfully influence – such as shaping project questions, choosing which examples to investigate or participating in the design of assessment criteria. It also means explicitly inviting student feedback early and often – and acting on it.

Teaching in an off-campus location is great, but if that’s not feasible, you can think locally and still succeed. Co-creation thrives when students leave the classroom, so consider labs, maker spaces (our Frith First-Year Makerspace in the College of Engineering is an example of this) and design studios. In these places, students encounter unpredictable circumstances that require creative thinking and adaptive problem-solving. Here, co-creation may involve students selecting which problems to tackle, determining the tools or spaces they need, or choosing the format of their final outputs. These co-created experiences teach resilience, collaboration and practical judgement – qualities that are often difficult to cultivate in a traditional classroom.

Preparation is key; understand the learning context and logistical needs (actual and potential), and create a culture where students feel empowered yet safe. You might need to prepare scaffolds that allow students to make choices without becoming overwhelmed, plan for possible directions a project might take; and take actions to ensure students feel comfortable offering ideas. Even small investments in professional development – perhaps through an on-campus resource such as a centre for teaching and learning – can pay enormous dividends when students are fully engaged in co-creating their learning experiences. Study-abroad offices, experienced colleagues, and students with previous co-created experiences are also valuable sources of lessons learned and inspiration.

Co-creation is more than a teaching strategy; it is an opportunity to make education engaging, authentic and transformative. When approached with care, curiosity and a willingness to learn alongside students, it can fundamentally change the way we teach and the way students learn. By encouraging these collaborative experiences, higher education can equip students not only with knowledge but also with the confidence and skills to apply it meaningfully in the real world.

Ed Berger is a professor of engineering education and head of the department of engineering education at Virginia Tech.