What is it like to organize a large-scale educational event for fellow students? A qualitative exploration of student participation in curriculum design

BACKGROUND: Although students are increasingly involved in curriculum design, empirical research on practices of actual student participation is sparse. The purpose of this study is to explore the experiences of students who collaborated in the organizing committee of a large-scale educational event, the Radboud Student Conference (RSC), for fellow students. METHODS: We conducted three focus group interviews, in which 17 (bio) medical students of three different organizing teams shared their experiences regarding the organization of the large-scale teaching event. The analysis was conducted using thematic content analysis, in which the codes and codebook were constructed on the basis of the data. RESULTS: The following four themes were derived from the data. 1) Collaboration, which concentrated on fellow students, teachers who were involved as supervisors, and persons outside the organizing team such as caterers, educational support office members, lecturers, physicians and researchers. 2) Planning and division of labor, with students experiencing a mutual dependence and noticing a gradual improvement of their skills. 3) Freedom implies responsibility, which indicted that students experienced a significant freedom to develop the RSC week, but at the same time felt the responsibility to deliver a successful final week of the academic year. 4) Personal development, where students mentioned the opportunity to practice skills that differed from standard (bio) medical electives. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that (bio) medical students are capable of bearing the responsibility to organize a large-scale educational event. Organizing the RSC was an educational experience in the form of cooperative and experiential learning which contributed to students’ personal development. Organizing the event gave students both a sense of freedom and the responsibility to succeed. Supervision of faculty members seemed a prerequisite, and tended to be supportive rather than guiding. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12909-022-03166-4.