Students as Partners

Pedagogical partnerships redefine who shapes teaching excellence at UVA by engaging students as co-creators of learning-centered education. The CTE is committed to integrating trust-based student-faculty collaboration into our programs and services, events, course and curriculum development, resources, and other initiatives. Grounded in reciprocity, reflection, and shared responsibility, this work creates opportunities for students and faculty to learn from and with one another, strengthening teaching and learning across UVA.

Deep Dialogue Partners

Launched in 2026-2027, the Deep Dialogue Partners program facilitates sustained student-faculty partnerships by pairing a CTE Student Partner with an interested faculty member to undertake a mutually agreed upon collaborative teaching and learning enhancement project. The goal is to make partnership a mainstream practice by normalizing dialogue, co-creation, and imagination in teaching development work—opening space for students and faculty to collectively explore what teaching excellence can become.

Student Consultants

Trained CTE undergraduate student consultants work alongside faculty and graduate consultants to offer confidential teaching consultations during the academic year. They also support our programming as educational development partners by providing feedback to instructors during our Course Design Institute, authoring articles, hosting student-faculty lunch conversations, serving on panels, and supporting the design of workshops and resources.

Student AI Guides

Our Student AI Guides are a diverse team of undergraduate students who collaborate with educational developers, instructional designers, and faculty to co-create resources and programming that address the unique needs of students, faculty, and staff. Through workshops, learning communities, consultations, and resource development, they are helping shape how generative AI is used in classrooms and ensuring student perspectives are included in university-wide conversations.

This work is supported through a flash funding grant from the Jefferson Trust.

Student Advisory Board on Digital Accessibility

The Student Advisory Board on Accessibility in Learning (SABAL) is comprised of undergraduate students representing multiple schools. The board works to ensure that student perspectives inform institutional conversations about accessibility, online learning, instructional design, learning technologies, and generative AI. Board members contribute to CTE programs and events, advise campus partners, and help strengthen the Center’s commitment to students as partners in educational development.

Thrive Grants

Thrive Grants are available for faculty wanting to partner with students to co-design courses. If funding allows, a regular call for proposals is typically announced in early July for projects to be implemented in the upcoming academic year.

Co-create UVA

From 2015-2017, Co-create UVA was a collaboration between the CTE and the student-led initiative ReinventED Lab that offered a platform for faculty and students to reimagine teaching and learning together. With the help of a Jefferson Trust grant, the Co-create UVA team trained cohorts of undergraduate students to consult with faculty during the CTE’s Course Design Institute, offered grants to students and faculty co-designing courses, and hosted a variety of workshops and lunch conversations to harness students' perspectives on teaching and learning.