Learning Partnership Model

A new year is starting and with that, new and returning graduate assistants, student-workers, staff members, and a new chance to change up your supervisory style! For those that we supervise, part of our goal is to prepare them for their next step, yet so many times we confine our team members to their job descriptions. If we truly want to prepare those we supervise for their next step, we need to stop treating them by their title or role and start treating them as what they want to be. This semester I welcome on a new graduate assistant; in the interview process she explained to me she wanted to learn as much as she possibly could so that she could be in my position one day. I believe this sentiment is true for almost all learners, they want to learn from educators in order to one day be in that position.

Over the past two years, I have changed my advisory style to align more with the Learning Partnership Model (LPM). The LPM helps frame the relationship between a supervisor (educator) and supervisee (learner) to promote continuous learning and self-authorship (Magolda & King, 2004). Through the LPM, the learner shares authority and knowledge with the supervisor as the two work together as a pair rather than a superior and a subordinate (Magolda & King, 2004). This allows the graduate assistants and student workers to start thinking and acting as a full-time professional. There are three main principles to the LPM: 1) validate students as knowers. 2) situate learning in student experiences. 3) define learning as a mutually constructed meaning (Magolda & King, 2004). The Learning Partnership Model aims to help the learner gain a better sense of self-authorship. Instead of telling the learner what to do or what is expected, flip the script on them and ask what the learner would do in a given situation. Allow the learner to discover their own voice and path instead of adopting the voice of the educator. Instead of telling the learner what they should do, start having the learner assume the role of the educator. Ask the learner “what would you do in this situation?” or “take the lead on this and let’s see what you come up with.” The intent of the LPM is not for educators to pass-off tasks or projects, but rather the educator should allow the learner freedom to make their own decisions while providing guidance, knowledge, and experience when needed.

The LPM assumes that each learner is different and has a different path. The educators should treat each learner as an individual that has their own path and voice. What has worked for me and how I view a situation is different than the graduate assistant I had last year and is different from the graduate assistant I will be working with this year. This year’s graduate assistant’s goal is to be in a job similar to mine after she graduates, so it’s only fair to her that I start treating her like the professional she aims to become. There will be bumps and stumbles (for both of us) along the way, but gaining a sense of self-authorship is never a straight path anyway.

Works Cited

Magolda, M. B., & King, P. M. (2004). Learning partnerships: Theory and models of practice to educate for self-authorship. Stylus Publishing.

Stephen Hopson is the Coordinator of Student Involvement at Fort Hays State University, working specifically with fraternities and sororities. Stephen received his B.A in history and secondary education rom Rider University in 2016 and his M.S in Higher Education Administration from New England College in 2017.