As Dr. Mary discussed in Module 2, e-Learning Ecologies; in today’s digital classrooms, students aren’t just absorbing information—they’re shaping it. Two roles capture this shift: prosumers and co-creators. Prosumers personalize and adapt existing content to suit their learning needs, while co-creators collaborate with educators to design and build learning materials from scratch.

A clear example of prosuming comes from the Digital Futures for Learning course at the University of Edinburgh. As part of the MSc in Digital Education, students create Open Educational Resources (OERs) instead of traditional essays. They draft an OER that contributes to the course content, receive peer feedback, and then submit a polished final version. These resources are intended for a real audience—other students and education professionals—requiring careful attention to accessibility, structure, and relevance. This hands-on engagement deepens students’ understanding of openness, its benefits and limitations. Beyond improving critical thinking and learning, OER creation fosters a sense of professional impact, as students’ work can be shared, adapted, and used by others (Ross, 2019).

Co-creation takes participation further. At the University of Queensland (UQ), students act as partners to co-create teaching, learning, and assessment. This occurs both in real time during classes and outside the classroom, where students collaborate with staff to co-design curricula or assessments. UQ identifies four approaches: Partnership Classroom, Pedagogical Consultation, Curriculum Co-Design, and Knowledge Co-Creation. These initiatives yield strong benefits, including improved learning relationships, deeper engagement, increased confidence, shared responsibility, and enhanced curriculum quality (Co-creating curriculum with students, n.d.).

Both prosuming and co-creating empower students—but in different ways. Prosuming enhances personal learning, while co-creation transforms the experience for the broader community (Table 1). Together, these approaches make digital education more interactive, collaborative, and meaningful, turning students into genuine knowledge makers.

Table 1 - Prosumers vs. Co-Creators in Digital Education

References

Illinois, U. o. (n.d.). Active Knowledge Making, Part 2A: What Does It Mean to Be an Engaged Learner? Champaign and Urbana, Illinois, United States.

Ross, J. (2019). Digital Futures for Learning: An OER assignment. Retrieved from The University of Edinburgh Open Educational Resources: https://open.ed.ac.uk/digital-futures-for-learning-an-oer-assignment/

Co-creating curriculum with students. (n.d.). Retrieved from Institute for Teaching and Learning Innovation: https://itali.uq.edu.au/teaching-guidance/curriculum-design-and-review/transforming-curriculum/co-creating-curriculum-students?utm_source=chatgpt.com