(1) What teaching choices might help to make all students feel welcome, intellectually acknowledged, and able to succeed in a class?
The Teaching Engagement Program (TEP) recommends practices such as:
- Addressing students by their chosen names and pronouns, including finding ways to use names in large-classes and online fora.
- Knowing students’ goals for their learning and finding ways to connect the concerns of the course to students’ own concerns.
- Clearly conveying the purpose, process for completion, and criteria for evaluation of class assignments before students begin work (transparency).
- Use course materials that represent the racial, ethnic, gender, ability, intellectual, and socioeconomic diversity of the field and the contested and evolving status of knowledge.
Learn more on the Teaching Excellence page and at Teaching Toward Inclusion and Belonging events.
(2) How do I know how my students are experiencing my course and how they perceive the inclusiveness of the learning environment?
UO’s new Midway and End-of-Course Student Experience Surveys ask about students’ perceptions of the inclusiveness of the class. But you don’t need to wait for these survey opportunities—check in with students any time with informal “Minute Papers” or index card gots/needs quick takes, “fishbowl discussions,” or other ways to prompt recalibration or talking about the class with the class.
(3) What common gaps in expectations separate faculty and students? How might they be overcome?
In a recent project called “Dear X,” UO faculty and students wrote letters to each other—to a particular professor or a particular student, or to the professoriate or students at large—to convey something they wished their audience understood. Analysis of hundreds of letters showed great care and appreciation between faculty and students, but also uncovered several “gaps” in expectations:
Communication Gap – letters from both faculty and students highlight the frustration in getting the other side to hear and understand their viewpoint. This problem is central to understanding and resolving the subsequent gaps described below.
“I wish you could remember what it was like to be a college student. I wish you wouldn’t belittle your students with your elitist language.”
Expectations Gap – students and faculty have very different ideas about what they expect from each other and from the experience of teaching and learning. In some ways, this is not a surprise but the extent of the gap and its serious impacts on learning cannot be ignored.
“I don’t understand why you think your class is the only one that I’m taking. No, I can’t read 3 chapters of 50-70 pages each by the next class. You don’t know this, but I barely have enough time to breath, let alone sleep.”
Value Gap – students increasingly question the value of everything they are asked to do, from taking particular courses (such as core education courses), to buying expensive textbooks, to how much they are asked to do outside of class. Again, this may not seem surprising but as the cost of attending our university rises, we are under increasing pressure to address this gap in intentional and explicit ways.
“I wish you did not require expensive books over $100 that we barely used.”
Belonging Gap – students expressed deep frustration at how they connect with the institution and their peers. There was a sense of isolation and feelings of exclusion from many students.
“I wish you would have cared about me as an individual. Too often I feel lost in the sea of people you see as mediocre.”
— NWCCU Demonstration Project Final Report, 15 March 2017
The gaps above suggest serious, ongoing work UO must do. For an individual member of the faculty, a commitment to transparency and to inclusive teaching practices; to collecting feedback about the course, then checking back with students about the “whys” of their teaching choices (for example, after the Midway Student Experience Survey); and an awareness of the total cost of course materials and exploration of free or lower-cost alternatives (UO’s eLearning and Open Educational Resource Librarian would be very interested to discuss this) are all positive steps.