As the Co-Create team celebrated our 50-project milestone at the end of 2023, we took the opportunity to look back on where we’ve been and what we can learn from that. (If you’re wondering, our updated project count through June 2024 is now 62!) This looking back has included a project review and summarization, a survey of past Co-Create student team members, and a past Co-Create client survey. In this blog post, we highlight what we’ve learned about the student experience in Co-Create.
Since our first projects in 2017 and 2018, undergraduate and graduate student engagement has been a defining feature of our Co-Create work. This is for a number of reasons. First, we believe that teams always bring more value to a project than what one individual can bring, regardless of one’s knowledge or skill set, and students bring needed capacity to our Co-Create teams. Second, student team members bring curiosity, questions, insights, and skills that staff may sometimes lack (especially in recent technology and communication strategies!).
Additionally, our student team members bring a wealth of other assets that we can match to the specific needs of a project, such as multilingual and multicultural capacities. And, without a doubt, our student team members make the work more interesting and fun! We are committed to paying our student team members competitive, livable wages that value their labor and learning. Student participation in Co-Create also helps meet the educational mission of the School of Human Ecology (SoHE).
To date, we’ve had 47 undergraduate and graduate students join us on Co-Create teams. More than three-fourths of these students have been students from within SoHE, including 17 students from Civil Society and Community Research undergraduate or PhD programs, 7 from Human Development and Family Studies programs, 3 from Consumer Science programs, and 9 graduate students from the Master of Science in Human Ecology program.
Earlier this year, we prepared a survey for our Co-Create student alumni to learn more about their experiences working with us, where they are now, and their recommendations for our continued work with student team members. We received 18 responses from past Co-Create student team members. All responding students reported positive (47%) or extremely positive (53%) experiences working with Co-Create.
“I’ve appreciated how student-friendly Co-Create is! …I was often asked, “Is there anything you’d like to learn more about/work on?” … I will forever be grateful for my experience at Co-Create!” -Student
During their time with Co-Create, students worked on evaluation and applied research projects on topics related to community-led health and mental health, early childhood, civic engagement, restorative justice, and grantee feedback for funders. Student team members prepared literature reviews, scanned websites and other information sources, developed and administered surveys, conducted interviews and focus groups, analyzed quantitative and qualitative data, contributed to various partner and community engagement meetings, and presented findings in multiple formats for multiple audiences.
Through these experiences, student team members reported that they…
- gained skills related to their career (93%),
- increased their self-efficacy and confidence (93%),
- made connections with community partners (79%),
- experienced a greater sense of community and belonging at the university or in SoHE (71%),
- and better understood concepts from their courses through applied learning (71%).
Students said they gained skills in…
- teamwork (100%),
- data collection (93%),
- designing research and evaluation projects (79%),
- qualitative data analysis (79%),
- project management (79%),
- community-based and partnership research (71%), among other skills.
We also learned of the impressive next steps of our Co-Create alumni. Some stepped into professional roles in nonprofit organizations, including program specialist, development assistant, and executive director roles. Several undergraduate Co-Create alumni have gone on to continue their education in PhD programs, nursing school, and medical school. 75% of students reported that their time with Co-Create influenced their current work or studies.
“I had a fantastic time working with Co-Create. Having that research experience as an undergrad was great.” -Student
To support our own continuous improvement, we also asked our past Co-Create student members to provide feedback on how we can better work with students in the future. Recommendations included:
- Ensuring that students have clarity on tasks and timelines
- Offering virtual and in-person opportunities for team check-ins
- Providing opportunities for more formal training and professional development
Several students encouraged us to continue to offer these opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students and WE WILL! Going forward, we are also developing a model for students to take on project leadership roles with more opportunity for designing projects, managing a team, and engaging with partnering organizations.
Coming next: What difference has Co-Create made for our nonprofits, funders, agencies, and other partners?