Do we see our students as real people?
Description
When using online resources instructors need to consider how their students will receive and interact with the material for the class. Recent debates about content warnings and trigger warnings are an important part of the larger discussion about care of students. This highlights the need for an understanding of both terms. This website run by the LSA Inclusive Teaching Initiativen at the University of Michigan provides an overview on the use of content warnings and trigger warnings in the classroom. It also provides links to other sources about the topic.
List of Resources about the Care of Students
- Guidelines on trigger warnings from the University of Waterloo’s Centre for Teaching Excellence includes links to further resources.
- This article from the online scholarly journal Hybrid Pedagogythat addresses issues connected with safe spaces.
- An article from the online scholarly journal Hybrid Pedagogy that addresses safety in higher education.
- Black Minds Matter is a public course which seeks to raise consciousness about issues facing Black boys and men in education.
- Decolonization and Online education: Online Writing as a Tool for Decolonization and Unleashing the Learner Massive Open Online Courses and the Decolonization of Education.
- OERs and Textbook Affordability Video
- Table detailing what Oregon community college instructors are using to reduce textbook costs in their courses. If you see a name and email address, feel free to contact that person about their class.
- Facilitating accessibility through Universal Design and a free, open educational resource designed by Math Instructors and Disability Services at Portland Community College
Assessment should be evaluative offering ample feedback to the student regarding their recognition of criteria or dimensions.
- Learn and reflect on the experience: Did you have that epiphany of about how knowledge is created? Help students build metacognition and transfer skills. Build syllabi and assignments that encourage personal reflection to help students recognize and value their own strategies for learning and resilience.Peer reviews
- Peer-to-peer learning and assessment links
- PR Guidelines: Planning and Guiding in Class Peer Review
- PR Sample feedback forms from the Manoa Writing Program at University of Hawai‘i at Manoa.
- Contract Grading
- Disrupt traditional grading practices that were designed to emphasize hierarchy and screen out students.
- Consider completion marker so students focus on their learning, see Asao Inoue and Peter Elbow
Questions to Consider about the Care of Students
- What institutional and discipline-specific oppressive expectations have we inherited both explicitly and implicitly that directly harm our students in our ways we might not even recognize?
- What do our instructors need to know and do to offer all students equitable opportunities for success? For more discussion, see “Equity in the Classroom: Opportunities for Faculty Reflection” by Laura Sanders. She encourages you to heavily borrow and revise this presentation to meet the needs of your institutions and the students you serve.
- Consider white language privilege. How can we address Standard Edited American English in our classes in a way that does not oppress students from other linguistic communities?
- Consider syllabi and teaching personas. How can we demonstrate our authentic care for our students and their learning, so they know we are on their side?
- Select non-dominant course texts and materials. How can we avoid dominant culture course content and explore resources that challenge oppressive practices, including student-created materials?
- Consider community-based learning options. How can we develop experiential assignments that allow students to see their own value in their communities and to see their classroom learning as relevant and useful?