I’m attending a conference this week about teaching and learning in college and unseen barriers to college success for different student groups.  It’s a great conference and I truly enjoy the opportunity to connect with educators who share my passion for active learning and inclusive pedagogy.  It always amazes me that in this day and age we still have college faculty in the classroom who have no educational methods training.  There is a considerable amount of research that seeks to address faculty effectiveness in the classroom and learning outcomes.  I’ve put together a few recent articles looking at various aspects of this issue here.

The vast majority of faculty I know are very well intentioned and passionate about their disciplines.  However, the only pedagogical frameworks they are familiar with are the one’s they experienced when they were in the classroom years ago as students.  We know that today’s students are very different than those who attended college 10 or 20 years ago.  One of the biggest differences is that traditional age students are all digital natives.  They don’t know a world without smart phones or the internet.  They are also very diverse.  College is not longer only an option for wealthier students.  We are seeing more and more students attending college from lower socio-economic backgrounds than ever before.  We are also seeing more students pursuing post-secondary degrees whose parents did not attend college.  What this means is that when students land on campus to begin classes, they come with drastically different levels of support and varying levels of exposure to technology, academic rigor, and learning opportunities.

 

The challenge for educators is developing strategies to promote active learning and equity in the classroom.  Two strategies I employed this year that really seemed to get everyone in the classroom engaged were journaling and think-pair-share.  Beginning each class with one of these activities helped get students thinking about what we were covering in class that day – getting those neural connections to fire. Something else I have worked to employ in both of the classes I am teaching is transparency.  I want to make sure that my students understand my expectations and understand what they can expect of me.  In addition, I want to make sure that they can articulate the relevance of any homework or project I assign as part of the course.  If they cannot do this, they will probably not be motivated to produce their best work and may in fact view assigned activities as pointless busy work.

At our institution, we have found that many of our students have successfully completed high school in the top half of their high school class without ever facing any real academic challenges.  They are very confident of their ability to be successful in their college classes.  They believe that they can study for their Wednesday Biology exam on Tuesday night, or they believe they can employ the strategies and techniques that worked for them in high school as college students with good results.  Unfortunately, it takes some students a while to understand that flashcards and review guides aren’t going to work in college.  Helping them figure this out quickly can be very beneficial to their overall success.  Faculty who really grasp this strategically administer a low-stakes test or quiz early in the semester so that students know where they stand early on and understand that they need to adapt their strategies for the class if they are going to be successful.  When the test or quiz includes questions about how the student prepared for the test, how much time he or she spent preparing, and what grade he or she anticipates, it provides insights into what might need to be adjusted strategically to better prepare for the next test.

Both of the classes I teach are very discussion based, so I have lots of opportunity to connect with students – which I believe is the most impactful strategy we can employ as educators.  When I was much younger, my mentor always told me “No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care”.  This is so true in higher education – and is a key to practicing inclusive pedagogy.  If you are new to this concept, I’ve pulled together some great resources for learning about inclusive pedagogy here.  If we really want to help our students be successful, we need to know where they are coming from and what barriers to success they face so that we can structure our course content accordingly.  For example, if I know that half of my students are working full time I must recognize that all of them might not have time to do alot of reading and therefore, I might want to consider which parts of the readings are most relevant and whether or not there are other resources I can utilize that would be a better fit for my working students.

Being an exceptional educator takes alot of time and effort.  Especially with the need to adapt course content to accommodate the diversity of our student populations.  Teaching is truly a calling.  People who teach must answer that call.  As I wrap up my second day at this conference, I’m taking time to reflect on my practice as an instructor and to think about things I can do to engage all of my students in meaningful ways.  One of the presenters today shared this quote which, in closing, I share with you.

“Education is a process.  Education is growth.  Education is not a preparation for life, it is life itself.” – John Dewey