Flagship Program: Students as Learners and Teachers (SaLT)
The Students as Learners and Teachers (SaLT) Program is the signature program of the Teaching and Learning Institute (TLI). Student partners in the program are often referred to as student consultants, a name they chose for themselves. They partner with individual faculty and departments to create more inclusive, equitable, and anti-racist approaches to teaching and spaces of learning.
History of SaLT
Conceptualized in 2006 and piloted in 2007, SaLT took as it first focus the support of faculty members at 蜜桃影像传媒 and Haverford College working with students consultants of color to support the development of more culturally sustaining practices. Since its advent, SaLT has supported more than 300 Bi-Co faculty and 200 Bi-Co students (many of them also multiple times) in partnerships focused on pedagogical and curricular development and revision.
The one-on-one, semester-long collaborations developed during the pilot phase of the program became the basic model for all partnerships through SaLT, which is now one of the longest-standing pedagogical partnership programs in the world. Most partnerships are between students and faculty, but other members of the community, such as librarians, have also partnered with students to explore and refine approaches to teaching and learning.
Since SaLT was launched in 2007, more than 70 institutions around the world, 40 located in the U.S., have adopted and designed partnership programs to fit their needs.
Participant Perspectives
鈥淲hat I found most useful was talking to [the student consultant] about the class 鈥 just formulating what I was thinking and what I was worried about. What I got was the opportunity to first articulate to myself and to interested people what I want to happen in the classroom, why do I teach to begin with. And then a useful conversation about enacting those goals. And then a better sense of the people I am trying to help, meaning students.鈥 -Faculty Partner
鈥淚 got the chance to get to know a faculty person in a unique way. You really get to hear anotherside of the story, and I think it increases your empathetic imagination about the 鈥榯wo-sidedness鈥 of teaching. I think it can help make you a more conscientious student when you spend a good deal of your time observing other students and their interactions with teachers. How could I be engaging better with what this teacher is asking of me? How should I communicate to my professor how I experience his class? I think these are questions that the program helps you to ask of yourself, often without even realizing you are doing it.鈥 - Student Partner
Beyond the semester-long pedagogical partnerships, SaLT student consultants support faculty as facilitators in other TLI-related initiatives like Pedagogy Circles as well as ad-hoc consultations for faculty to discuss their syllabi, an assignment, or any other class element to develop more inclusive pedagogical strategies.
Are you a Bi-Co Student or Faculty Member Interested in Participating in SaLT?
Learn more about the role of student consultants and how to get involved.
Learn more about the New Faculty Seminar, the role of faculty partners, and how to get involved.
Are you interested in starting a pedagogical partnership program at your institution?
The resources below, linked to the TLI external website, offer guidance on how to start a SaLT-like program at your institution.