Organizational framework for integrating experiential knowledge in higher education

Administrative factors

Political and strategic factors can play important roles when it comes to integrating experiential learning and experiential knowledge. Visions and ideals to reach out for may show us the way. The administrative factors can be more hands on and show us how to reach the ideals.

Many of the partner-universities involve service-users (expert by experience) in their teaching, and most of them have autonomy to decide who, when, and how they will be involved. They are involved as equal students, as supervisors and as lecturers both alone, together with other experts by experience and with teaching staff. In the UK teachers have given a clear commitment to listen to service users at a planning stage, and to develop teaching partnerships. When teachers start to plan the teaching each year, they are expected to uphold the practice of contacting the service users and carer groups.

When experts by experiences are involved in education it requires that the organisation has a structure and formal procedures for this.

Important factors are concerned with how the University recruits service users / experts by experience. Decide who are to be responsible for the recruitment, and how do you recruit?

For instance:

  • A pool of service users or experts by experience who can be asked to teach.
  • Service user organizations whom you cooperate with
  • People who have joined mobilization courses or similar education based upon experiential knowledge
  • Expert by experiences who become employees at the University, like at University of Agder, where an expert by experience is employed in a 20 % position at the Bachelor program in social work.

The education organization must acknowledge that preparing and executing teaching activities together with experts by experience requires time for preparation and support.  There must be time for meetings to prepare teaching activities together with experts of experience and follow-up-meetings after activity. It is important to talk through what’s going to happen, the purpose of the activities, and other practicalities.

After the activity: reflection on what happened, anything that worked well/or anything that did not work so well. Make an evaluation. Plan for further activities (see also WP 1 document 7, part two, and monitoring instrument WP 7)

Make sure you have contracts/agreements in which roles, tasks, support, facilities and payment are included must be submitted when the expert by experience is hired. Information about salary and covering of costs e.g. travel costs, parking, food etc. should be included. Pay appropriately!

Opportunities for training and coaching must be available for the expert by experience. Prepare a welcome kit with information about the university to expert by experiences who are supposed to participate in education. See tips on what to consider in Support kit for expert by experiences here: https://powerus.eu/partnership-experiental-knowledge/a-support-kit-for-experts-by-experience/

Outward engagement

  • Engage politically, i.e. by taking part in official hearings
  • Network with other institutions and service user organizations
  • Research on experiential knowledge and with experts by experience

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Organisation of the education

  • Integrate experiential knowledge in the curriculum
  • Work with learning outcomes on experiential knowledge in teaching
  • Include literature on experiential knowledge in syllabus

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Internal culture

  • Develop vision in which experiential knowledge is anchored
  • Have meetings with the management to anchoring the ideas of this way of working
  • Take part in the University board, or the faculty or department board

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Administrative factors

  • Make formal agreement between the University and service user organizations
  • Offer salary/fee, and contract to expert by experience who conduct teaching
  • Set up time for preparation for teaching, representation and recruiting

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Articles:
Framework for integrating experiential knowledge

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