Student-staff co-creation for accessibility and inclusion

HIDIM Workshop, Manchester

Tom Coleman

2026-09-07

About me

  • Lecturer (Education Focused) at the University of St Andrews

  • first in my family to go to university (MMath and PhD at UEA)

  • Kurt Gödel fan

  • enjoys cricket, coffee, and crosswords

  • contact me at tdhc@st-andrews.ac.uk

Context

Problem

need for both accessible and inclusive maths/stats resources

  • traditional textbooks and learning resources: can be difficult to parse for non-specialists, inaccessible, expensive, intimidating, Western-centric, ‘easy/trivial/obvious’…

  • diverse backgrounds: every country/region has their own curriculum, language, culture, mathematical stories; every human has their own experience with mathematics and statistics.

  • increased need for competency in maths/stats

Perspectives

  • everyone’s journey in studying mathematics/statistics is different

  • everyone’s perspective of what is hard and what is easy is different

  • everyone’s engagement with learning resources is different

want everyone to be able to access and understand the resources, and want everyone to feel included in their study of mathematics and statistics.

Perspectives

  • communication is audience dependent, and an educator’s audience could be anybody.

  • everyone is a product of their perspectives and experiences and these influence the creation of their learning resources

  • these perspectives naturally limit the scope, content, format, and dissemination of any created resources

Solution

ask the audience

An image from Who Wants To Be A Millionaire saying 'I'll ask the audience'

On your buzzers please

Co-creation - the nuts and bolts

Students as co-creators (1/2)

  • students can give diverse perspectives needed to create truly inclusive resources
    • different cultural backgrounds
    • different educational backgrounds
    • different experiences in learning
    • different mathematical idols
  • from these, students provide and implement creative and impactful ideas in the production and curation of learning resources

Students as co-creators (2/2)

not only this, but

  • students gain agency in their resource creation (what would have helped them in a similar situation?)

  • development of transferable skills not often found in maths and stats degrees (long form writing, project management, teamwork)

  • develop empathy for learners / social responsibility / appreciation of other lived experiences, particularly if the focus is on creating accessible and inclusive learning resources

Staff as co-creators with students

  • project concept and design
  • technical and disciplinary expertise
  • advice on project management
  • facilitator of student learning (guide rather than boss)
  • ultimately, quality control and editing

Student involvement

  • traditionally, the co-creation of resources for learning is generally not a core concern for students studying for a degree; it’s very much an extra-curricular activity

    • (but nowadays, the lines can be blurred!)

  • in any case, the time, energy, patience, and effort that a student gives to this endeavour should be properly compensated - not only in ‘experience’.

  • incentivisation can take many different forms!

An ideal relationship

  1. students and staff as equal partners in resource creation

  2. where students are incentivised and properly compensated

  3. to produce high quality work which is ready for dissemination

  4. and in doing so, learn from each other about best practice and new perspectives

Opportunities at St Andrews - the methods

Student-staff co-creation opportunities

I’m involved in student-staff co-creation of accessible and inclusive learning resources on two projects that use three different methods:

  • Inclusive Activities For Mathematics: creating inclusive subhonours mathematics resources using history
    • Paid student internships (2025-present)
  • STARMAST (starmast.org) - St Andrews Resources in Mathematics and Statistics
    • Summer Teams Enterprise Project (2023)
    • Vertically Integrated Project (2024-present)

Inclusive Activities For Mathematics

Project aims

to provide teaching resources for subhonours mathematics and statistics module with embedded historical perspectives, promoting a diverse, inclusive, and decolonised curriculum

  • funded by £1500 from the University of St Andrews internal EDI Project Fund, plus matched funding from an INI Network Grant

  • extra examples class questions for first-year modules MT1003 (Pure and Applied Mathematics) and MT1007 (Statistics in Practice)

  • evaluation included: module evaluation, reflective question, bespoke survey

Student involvement

  • money for three students working for 70 hours apiece

  • selection process run by supervisors

    • students from a wide range of disciplines selected

  • each student then:

    • investigated their own set of potential questions
    • discussed suitability / module alignment with supervisors
    • developed questions by themselves
    • sought feedback from supervisors
    • took part in the evaluation process

Student outputs

  • (MT1003) questions on square root finding (Bakhshāli method, Nine Chapters method) and Sunzi’s theorem.

  • (MT1007) statistics questions involving data sets collected internally from traditionally underrepresented countries

 

Bakhshāli method

Nine Chapters

Sunzi’s theorem

Kenya database

Senegal database

Evaluation of project (MT1003)

+ “It definitely raised my awareness about underrepresented groups, but I will be able to appreciate it more once I have completed these problems”

+ “I think learning about the history of maths made it more exciting, and made me engage more in the course as maths will be evolving whilst we are completing the course”

+ “Ancient Chinese root finding method very interesting, broadened my understanding”

- “Personally no change [in inclusion], but I welcome the effort”

Evaluation of project (MT1007)

+ “Before the [reflective question], I wasn’t aware of this issue and how this module is trying to raise awareness around it. I didn’t know that statistics was used to “prove” racist ideologies in the past and that these scientists’ names are still used.”

+ “My awareness was raised by coming into contact with these”

+ “Statistics that tell us information about groups we’re not as familiar with are interesting because it helps us learn things about them”

- “Personally no change [in inclusion], but I welcome the effort”

Impact of resources

  • activities will continue to run in future years

  • activities are part of the HIDIM repository

  • obtained further funding from the EDI Project Fund to continue the project in Maths and Stats, and one of the student contributors has obtained funding for a similar project in Physics and Astronomy

An ideal relationship?

  • an ideal relationship?
    • equal partners ✅
    • students incentivised and properly compensated ✅
    • produce high quality work which is ready for dissemination ✅
    • learn from each other about best practice and new perspectives ✅

but

  • obtaining internal funding to do this can be difficult, particularly for more ambitious / long-standing projects

STARMAST

Project aims

  • create a free-to-use, high-quality bank of inclusive and technically accessible learning resources in mathematics and statistics, suitable for everyone
    • want materials to be inclusive of all learners
    • cater for wide range of learning styles, while retaining technical accessibility
    • an open educational resource
    • to be easy to search for required specific topics

STEP project outline

Summer Teams Enterprise Programme

  • online programme over 7 weeks, 4-6 hours work each week
  • reward is certificate on transcript
  • teams of 6-7 students, with one paid graduate student acting as ‘coach’
  • students applied for programme overall, putting projects as first/second choice, no supervisory involvement in selection process

STARMAST STEP project

  • ran summer of 2023, aiming for release September 2023
  • enough interest for two teams of 7 students each producing 12 guides between them, working in smaller teams or individually
    • topics included rearranging equations, sigma notation, indices and logarithms, trigonometry, vectors
  • one graduate coach
  • set up via github containing initial style guide, example guide, questions, answers

Result

partial success

yes!

  • all requested resources created
  • students satisfied with impactful work
  • framework for expansion in place

 

but

  • inconsistent quality, including plenty of house style violations
  • some parts missing
  • some over-complications

What went right?

for me

  • something to work with!
  • plenty of questions and answers
  • basis for expansion
  • lots of student interest

 

for students

  • important and impactful project
  • good opportunity for transferable skills
  • won something(?) at STEP awards

What went wrong?

for me

  • no control over student selection
  • disconnected from project
  • dissatisfied with outputs, took time to put things right

 

for students

  • little time to communicate with me
  • long time to see publication (website published and made public May 2024)
  • teamwork aspect diluted by online programme

An ideal relationship?

  • an ideal relationship?
    • equal partners ❌
    • students incentivised and properly compensated ✅
    • produce high quality work which is ready for dissemination ❌
    • learn from each other about best practice and new perspectives ✅

but

  • setting this up is quick, easy, and a large amount of work was completed quickly - could be used as a ‘proof of concept’ for other student-staff co-creation activities

VIP outline

Vertically Integrated Project:

  • multi-year, multi-semester ongoing research project (with some leeway)

  • students in any year can apply to single projects, and supervisors have full control over selection

  • awards module credits, and students get a grade for their work

  • allows students to participate in the same project across multiple years

Our VIP

  • small group, weekly meetings, hands-on supervisor involvement

  • attracting wide range of students

    • mathematicians, statisticians, economists, cell biologists, computer scientists, art historians…
    • from first-years to final years

  • assessment: 20% fortnightly reflective logs, 30% posters and group presentation, 50% final portfolio and reflective report

Why VIP improved on STEP

for me

  • full control over student selection
  • collaboration with students, rather than sponsorship of students
  • get to teach something out of my comfort zone :)

 

for students

  • time to communicate with supervisor to float new ideas and understand minor project concerns
  • module credits (as opposed to a certificate)
  • chance to be part of a tight-knit team

What could be better?

  • quality of written outputs can be inconsistent (but generally better than STEP project)

    • increased staff time for quality control

  • potential duplication of assessment modes for returning students

  • some student group friction at times

What’s gone well?

  • time for project to breathe and for a team to form

  • nature of VIP allows for development of big ideas across semesters and years

  • excellent student buy-in to an impactful and meaningful project

  • high student satisfaction, both with those who create the resources and those who use the resources

  • good integration of interdisciplinary skills

  • outstanding range of outputs

VIP outputs from students

  • interactive figures: using Desmos API, R Shiny, and (soon) html - leveraging generative AI to help

Desmos figure from Guide: Introduction to partial differentiation, written by a fourth-year student

R Shiny figure from Factsheet: Normal distribution, written by a first-year student

R Shiny interactive figure from Guide: Introduction to hypothesis testing, written by a fourth-year student

html interactive figure from draft of Guide: Introduction to matrices, written by a fourth-year student

VIP outputs from students

  • content: guides on algebra, geometry, calculus, stats…

  • accessibility work: discussions with disability charities, investigating multiple Quarto themes, mp3 narration of guides

Top of Guide: Arithmetic on complex numbers

VIP outputs from students

Initial STARMAST brandkit

Insta post for 1000 users

Inaugural LinkedIn post

Digital impact poster

Annotated guide poster

Ad

VIP outputs from students

  • website backend: domain name, security, search engine optimisation, hosting, custom website style, cookies, analytics, feedback boxes, emails, mailing list, progress trackers…

Feedback box written by a second-year and final year student

An ideal relationship?

  • an ideal relationship?
    • equal partners ✅ in the main, but ❌ ‘lecturer / student’ relationship perpetuated by formal assessment process
    • students incentivised and properly compensated ✅
    • produce high quality work which is ready for dissemination ✅ more than the STEP project but ❌ still some editing work required
    • learn from each other about best practice and new perspectives ✅
  • by far the best scheme for long-term projects and sustained impact

Impact of STARMAST project

  • now the University’s central hub for maths and stats support

  • 1200 users in the past calendar year, with over 8000 website hits

  • resources used in three Schools in the University, with more to follow

  • expertise obtained in developing accessible materials used in several University Schools

  • case study published in MSOR Connections

The end times

Some thoughts

  • explore all possible mechanisms for student-staff co-creation; honestly one of the most rewarding experiences in my job

  • think about student selection carefully: grades may not be the best indicator - look for passion and excitement about the project

  • explore options for a mutually beneficial experience: you will learn from each other and maximising these unique opportunities is key to success

  • think about dissemination and impact of your resources: students are likely to be more invested if the material is going to be made public

  • put accessibility and inclusion at the heart of your project design!

Thanks!

 

thank you for listening!

 

get in touch with me at tdhc@st-andrews.ac.uk if you’d like