Date of Award

6-2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Publisher

Santa Clara : Santa Clara University, 2026

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Abstract

Higher education institutions face a persistent challenge: efforts to promote social justice, while meaningful, often lack a shared language and intentional connections to student formation. Compounding this fragmentation, students and community partners are frequently absent from the decision-making processes that shape their own learning and development. This mixed-methods study, grounded in Design-Based Research (DBR), sought to collaboratively design a student formation model that connects fragmented efforts, positions students and community partners as co-creators, and strengthens students' capacity to contribute meaningfully to their communities.

Data were collected through questionnaires completed by 45 students and semi-structured interviews with 13 participants, including administrators, practitioners, a community leader, and students. Four key findings emerged: definitional divergence across institutional actors, the centrality of reciprocity in transformative learning, fragmentation as a structural constraint to social change, and the widespread presence of unarticulated skills development.

These findings informed the development of co●lab, an iterative student formation model organized around six interdependent components: Meaning, Knowing, Conditions, Tensions, Design, and Formation. Co●lab is innovative not because it introduces new elements, but because it intentionally connects existing efforts across institutional silos through shared governance, enabling students to recognize, articulate, and take ownership of their growth.

At a time of profound transformation in higher education, institutions have a unique opportunity to complement technical preparation with intentional student formation. This study demonstrates that when formation is designed through collaboration and shared governance, it can prepare graduates to contribute meaningfully to their communities while remaining connected to their own humanity and intentional about the lives they lead.

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