The Trends Hub — An ecosystem of co-creation and networked assessment through contributing student pedagogy

How can final-year students be supported in developing their own voice and a professional and scholarly identity when their involvement in professional networks is still limited and lecture-based teaching remains the dominant model?

In a course unit dedicated to trends, knowledge needs to keep pace with emerging topics and the diversity of specialisations within Business Communication. The Trends Hub addresses this challenge through Contributing Student Pedagogy: students contribute to one another's learning and learn to recognise the value of the contributions they receive.

This course unit has no syllabus content delivered in a traditional format. Its body of knowledge emerges from the research, writing, reviewing and interactions undertaken by students themselves, with teaching support, and develops as a result of these educational interactions.

“The idea is precisely to move students from their comfort zone into a zone of challenge, proximal development and cognitive disequilibrium, because genuine intellectual, professional and personal growth occurs when they overcome challenges with appropriate support.”

By the end of the learning experience, students are expected to be able to:

1. Investigate and critically analyse emerging trends in business communication, drawing on knowledge and evidence to interpret phenomena, assess implications, anticipate developments and make well-founded recommendations.
2. Produce and communicate specialist knowledge, developing their own voice in areas of personal interest through research, critical reflection and the authorship of academic and professional content, with autonomy, creativity and responsibility.
3. Critically assess and contribute to their peers' learning by applying quality criteria, providing constructive feedback, incorporating external assessments and developing self-regulation and continuous improvement skills.
4. Design and facilitate collaborative learning experiences with experts and external organisations, drawing on planning, negotiation, collaborative leadership, communication and project management skills.
5. Establish and develop relationships within academic and professional networks, promoting the circulation and public discussion of their contributions, collaborating with a range of people and progressively consolidating their professional and scholarly identity.

The Trends Hub draws on Contributing Student Pedagogy (Hamer et al., 2008, 2012), an approach that values learning through the contributions students make to one another. Knowledge is developed and refined collectively, and students take responsibility for both their own learning and that of their peers.

Assessment is part of this process. By reviewing their peers' work, students learn to apply quality criteria, identify weaknesses and make constructive recommendations. When receiving feedback, they consider different perspectives, reflect on their choices and improve their own work. This process is grounded in the social construction of knowledge and constructive assessment, with learning and assessment understood as interconnected activities.

The model also combines challenge with progressive support (scaffolding). Writing an article, assessing peers or working directly with experts are demanding experiences, particularly for students undertaking them for the first time. Teaching guidance, support tools and feedback help students address these challenges and develop autonomy over the course of the experience.

“Designing challenging, meaningful and impactful experiences that preserve individual creativity and expression is central to the contemporary role of the teacher as moderator. We therefore balance support and challenge to maximise the development of students' skills.”

Finally, learning extends beyond the class into academic and professional networks, drawing on principles of connectivism. Experts participate in developing and assessing knowledge, while students find real audiences with whom to discuss their contributions. Freedom of choice, skills development and external recognition also support motivation and the development of a professional and scholarly identity.

Articles (50% of the course unit grade)

• 20%: Peer assessment of the article.
• 20%: The student's performance as a reviewer.
• 40%: Assessment by external experts.
• 20%: The article's performance on LinkedIn.

Assessment recognises both the quality of the knowledge produced and students' contributions to improving their peers' work. The lecturer monitors and guides the process without directly awarding grades for this component.

Seminars (50% of the course unit grade)

• 32%: Assessment of the seminars by others (hetero-assessment).
• 48%: Assessment by the lecturer.
• 20%: Attendance.

Seminar assessment uses 14 criteria, combining quantitative ratings with qualitative feedback. The lecturer provides a summary report of the results and feedback received.

Evaluation of the experience combines indicators of academic performance, participation in networks, review quality and academic authorship, alongside feedback from students and experts. The results presented relate to the 2024 iteration and the journal's first four editions, published between 2021 and 2024.

Learning and participation

• 77 students enrolled in assessment during the teaching period, with a 100% pass rate in the reported group.
• Average grades of 16.92/20 for articles, 16.76/20 for seminars and 17.17/20 overall.
• Institutional evaluation ratings of 3.7/4 for the course unit and 3.8/4 for the lecturer.
• Positive ratings for the quality of and trust in peer review (3.70/5), self-confidence and perceived quality as a reviewer (4.35/5), and confidence, attitudes and integrity in academic authorship (3.77/5).

Students value authorship, the opportunity to improve their peers' work, external feedback and visibility beyond the classroom. They also identify demands on their time and cognitive effort, the complexity of the criteria, anxiety about grading peers and doubts about the authority or authenticity of some reviews.

Academic and professional networks

• 311 articles published on PARC and LinkedIn across the first four editions, with 4,592 visits to the journal, including more than 1,200 associated with the 2024 edition.
• 491 experts involved across those editions; in 2024, 175 experts carried out 344 assessments.
• An Advisory Board comprising 29 lecturers and researchers.
• 10,115 interactions on LinkedIn in 2024: 5,025 reactions, 4,920 comments and 170 shares.
• 135 citations of the articles identified in Google Scholar.

Feedback from experts highlights students' preparation, the public discussion of relevant topics and the value of bringing academia and professional practice closer together.

Lessons for future iterations

Autonomy requires close support and explicit criteria. Peer review needs preparation, practice and mediation when disagreements arise. The experience also demonstrates the importance of preparing students for public visibility and for the responsibility of producing and assessing knowledge intended for others.

“It is wonderful to see them blossom! And it is immensely rewarding to see them grow through the mark they leave on the school and the network.”

The practice can be adapted to different curricular units and fields of study by incorporating its principles into existing learning activities. Adaptation can begin with an assignment, a project, or a presentation, adjusting its complexity to the learning objectives, students' profiles, and available resources. The guiding principle is to create opportunities for each student to contribute to others' learning through the production, discussion, and evaluation of work that provides value to the wider learning community.

The following approaches can support this adaptation:

• Identify audiences beyond the teacher. Design assignments that may be useful to classmates, other student groups, or the academic and professional community, giving students a meaningful purpose for producing and sharing knowledge.
• Transform presentations into discussion spaces. Organise structured forums where students present ideas, ask questions, and discuss their peers' contributions, engaging the entire class in the learning process.
• Introduce intermediate opportunities for sharing and revision. Schedule presentations of preliminary work, accompanied by structured feedback, to help identify difficulties and improve outcomes before final submission.
• Integrate peer assessment. Provide clear criteria and guiding assessment forms to support informed and constructive feedback. Where appropriate and feasible, involve external experts, adapting the participation of different stakeholders to the characteristics of the curricular unit.
• Increase the visibility of student work. Encourage its dissemination in public or semi-public settings, such as exhibitions, events, digital platforms, or opportunities for sharing between classes, selecting the most appropriate level of exposure for each context.

The teacher takes on the role of a guide and facilitator, providing stages, procedures, and supporting resources while gradually reducing this support as students develop greater autonomy. This adaptation aims to foster class engagement, a clearer understanding of quality criteria, self-regulation, and responsibility for both individual and collective learning.

The journal and The Trends Hub network provide access to public outputs from students' authorship and collaboration.