Partnership Mindset - 2026-2027 Working Definition

We describe a partnership mindset as a set of attitudes, intentions, and ways of being and knowing that 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 collaboration and reciprocal learning among students, instructors, and educational developers across our programs and services, events, course and curriculum development, resources, and other initiatives. We see this work as grounded in principles of reciprocity, respect, and shared responsibility among all participants who bring their different lived experiences, standpoints and expertise into a shared process of inquiry and growth. We aspire to make partnership a mainstream practice by normalizing dialogue, co-creation, and imagination in teaching development.

Building from existing literature on pedagogical partnership, we espouse these key principles (Cook-Sather, Bovill & Felten 2014):

• Respect as an attitude
• Reciprocity as a mode of interacting
  • mutually enriching give-and-take that is bidirectional and balanced
  • “Ethic of reciprocity”: a “process of balanced give-and-take not of commodities but rather of contributions: perspectives, insights, forms of participation” (Cook-Sather & Felten, 2017, p. 181)
• Shared responsibility as both a process and as an outcome: any effective outcome accomplished in partnership involves engaging in a process where everyone feels responsible; and, that sense of shared responsibility is also an outcome in and of itself 

Our related shared values anchoring this project are:

• Respect: Empathy, Humility, Trust, Encouraging growth, Caring, Celebrating strengths and differences, Accountability, Appreciating diverse experiences & perspectives
• Reciprocity: Mutual Understanding, Responsibility, Active listening, Curiosity, Work being seen & appreciated, Acknowledging limits and capacity, Mutual Encouragement
• Shared responsibility: Growth of everyone involved → being open to change, Individuality, Acknowledging that the process may be hard, Accountability, Integrity, Grace for self and others

We embody and enact these principles and values in practice in these ways: 

• Respect
  • In the classroom/among teachers & learners: Engagement, Understanding/empathy (both ways), Active listening
  • In CTE/among students & developers: Empathy, Open-mindedness, Patience, A willingness to be wrong, An appreciation of different viewpoints
• Reciprocity
  • In the classroom/among teachers & learners: Instructors and students both asking and answering questions, Students and instructors both coming prepared to class, Allowing different perspectives
  • In CTE/among students & developers: Developers being willing to listen & learn, Valuing (not just listening) to students and integrating their work, Breaking hierarchical barriers, Enabling contributions from both students and instructors so they may hear about and learn from each others’ perspectives
• Shared responsibility
  • In the classroom/among teachers & learners: Learning goals, Investment, Feedback loops - accountability, Building knowledge for both learners and teachers, Learning as a two-way street, Both parties have to show up
  • In CTE/among students & developers: Collaborative learning, Open communication, Shared goals and accountability, Everyone brings different skills to the group, Responsibilities may look different among individuals, Picking up slack (people have bad days), Trusting others and their abilities (not micromanaging), Recognizing if/when someone needs an encouraging push and not being afraid to step in and help them contribute