Walking the Walk: Student Expectations of Faculty in the Classroom (original) (raw)
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Learning Inquiry, 2008
This study examined student perceptions of their learning environments at 130 American colleges and universities. Results indicate that students of color, women students, and gay/lesbian students are the most likely to observe and experience prejudice and discrimination within and outside of their classrooms. Fortunately, the development of strong student-faculty relationships significantly mitigate negative campus climate and support the formation of inclusive learning communities. Institutional implications are discussed. Keywords Campus climate Á Student-faculty relationships Á Higher education Á Students of color Á Women students Á Gay/lesbian students Á Students with disabilities Over the last decade, higher education affirmative action programs have continued to come under question. Despite legal battles to curb diversity initiatives, most Americans support efforts to bring different perspectives to campus in creating inclusive learning communities. Two-thirds of survey respondents (of which 75% identified themselves as white) said that it is very important for colleges and universities to prepare students to function in a diverse society and 55% said these students should be required to study different cultures as a graduation requirement. Another 71% said that diversity education on college campuses is bringing Americans together (Estrin 1998). Moreover, multiple U.S. Fortune 500 companies filed Amicus Briefs in support of the University of Michigan's Law School policy (and subsequent court case) to include the consideration of race/ethnicity as a part of applicants' admissions materials. Despite a U.S. Supreme Court opinion affirming the importance of a diverse student body in achieving educational gains, higher education students report that women and students of color still face stereotypes (Bresciani 2003), incidents of racial harassment persist (Kotori and Malaney 2003) causing increased stress for students of color (Johnson
Creating and Maintaining Inclusive Classrooms
Forum on Public Policy Online, 2019
Student populations at institutions of higher education are increasingly diverse. To maximize students' feelings of inclusivity and belongingness within heterogeneous communitiesboth of which have been linked with greater educational outcomesit is imperative for faculty to create and maintain inclusive classroom spaces. The aim of this qualitative study is to analyze student feedback regarding what creates a sense of inclusiveness and belonging inside undergraduate classrooms. The researcher conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with students at a diverse, highly selective, private research university in the American South. Interview transcripts were coded using inductive analysis methods. Findings indicate students' self-reported sense of inclusivity and belongingness are predominately within a professor's control. For example, students' senses of belonging increase when faculty members use diverse examples in class, relate course content to the real world, enable small-group discussions during class, model open and inclusive language in the classroom, and eliminate (or mitigate) tokenism. Student feedback was consistent across demographic diversity of respondents.
Student perceptions of the climate for diversity: The role of student-faculty interactions
This study uses data from the 2014 wave of the Student Experience in the Research University (SERU) survey to examine the association between students' interactions with and perceptions of faculty in college and their perceptions of the climate for diversity at research universities. Results revealed that frequently communicating with a faculty member by e-mail or in person, experiencing equitable and fair treatment by faculty members, and being satisfied with access to faculty members outside of class were positively associated with positive perceptions of the climate for diversity; while engaging in creative work with a faculty member, engaging in research activities with a faculty member, working with faculty members on activities other than coursework, talking with a faculty member outside of class about issues and concepts derived from a course, and knowing a professor well enough to ask for a recommendation letter were negatively associated with positive perceptions of the climate for diversity. Additionally, findings from this study suggest that these relationships may be moderated by students' sex, race/ ethnicity, and social class.
2003
This study examined the factors that predict whether college faculty incorporate diversity-related content into their course material and whether the decision to include this type of content is affected by personal beliefs and experiences with diversity. The sample consisted of 336 faculty members at a large midwestern, predominantly white, public university (40.3% response rate). The survey instrument was adapted from one used by the Higher Education Research Institute. By accounting for personal demographics, professional characteristics, beliefs about and experiences with diversity, and perceptions of institutional and department commitment to diversity, the proposed model has an 85% success rate in predicting which faculty members choose to incorporate diversity-related material and which do not. In terms of its ability to predict whether faculty will incorporate diversity-related content into course materials, race is a much stronger predictor for males than for females. Study findings indicate that, after controlling for all other variables, participation in activities designed to promote diversity on campus is one of the main predictors of the incorporation of diversityrelated materials in the classroom. (Contains 5 tables and 20 references.) (SLD) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.
Journal committed to social change on race and ethnicity, 2015
This study reexamines notions of student integration given continuing experiences of discrimination and bias on college campuses. Building on the scholarship on inclusion, the authors test the mediating effect of student experiences with faculty and staff validation on the relationship of discrimination and bias to students' sense of belonging. The Diverse Learning Environments Survey was used to assess the model among 20,460 students attending broad access and selective institutions. Results show direct effects of validating experiences with faculty and staff on students' sense of belonging, and that such experiences mitigate the effects of discrimination and bias. Creating inclusive environments for student development remains a responsibility of faculty and staff, which we rarely assess even as research begins to uncover principles for transformative practice. A prevailing myth is that student engagement is the same as integration in college life, and students are deficient when campus reports show lower levels of engagement among low-income, first generation, or underrepresented groups compared to peers. Harper and Quaye (2009; 2014) contend that it is entirely possible to be involved (Astin, 1984) but not engaged in optimally beneficial ways. We add that it is possible to be behaviorally engaged in college without truly being integratedaccepted as equals, recognized, respected and empowered as learners in a diverse community. That is, student engagement behaviors provide only a partial picture of what it means to be integrated in college life. To resist deficit assumptions, we must shift the
Heliyon, 2021
Background: Training in attention to diversity is a key aspect for achieving the inclusion of students with special educational needs in higher education for these students to have access to the same rights as any other student. Aims: To determine, through the perceptions of university professors, if the existence of barriers that arise in the teaching-learning process is determined by various factors of interest such as gender, training in attention to diversity, and, even, the attitudes that the professors present before the inclusion of these students. Methods and procedures: The research was carried out in eight universities in Andalusia (Spain), using as the main method of data collection a validated survey, the APTD Scale (Accessibility, Processes, Training, Demand), with the participating sample of 580 university professors. Outcomes and results: The university professors generally agree to perform inclusive actions in their teaching-learning process, although a significant association between variables. Conclusions and implications: The study includes a series of perceptions that may help other university professors to make their practice more inclusive. What does this paper add? This research's main novelty is to show, through the perceptions of university professors, what factors generate exclusion and how this situation can be reversed. This article analyses the association between the attitudes that professors have regarding the inclusion of students with special educational needs in the university and the inclusive educational processes they use in their teaching-learning process. The continuous training of university professors in inclusive responses and strategies is necessary to not be an obstacle in the development of students with special educational needs as well as the establishment of positive relationship between professors and students. Professors are essential to create and support inclusive processes in the university classroom since they have to respond to the students' needs by making the necessary adjustments in their teaching-learning process, taking into account their abilities, needs, and interests.
Increasing Diversity Benefits: How Campus Climate and Teaching Methods Affect Student Outcomes
2001
This study explored the relationship between student diversity, campus climate, faculty composition, and research and teaching content. Data came from three primary sources: a 1992-93 survey of college and university faculty, which provided information on full-time faculty from 344 institutions; the Higher Education Governance Institutional Survey database, which provided data on student body racial composition at 244 institutions; and the Carnegie Foundation, which provided data from their classification system for colleges and universities. Four outcomes related to maximizing the benefits of racial diversity in teaching and learning were considered: (1) teaching practices associated with active learning; (2) curricular inclusion of readings on diverse racial and ethnic groups; (3) faculty participation in research on race, ethnicity, or gender; and (4) faculty attendance at workshops on racial awareness or curriculum inclusion. Minority faculty were dramatically under-represented at all levels of higher education. Research and doctoral institutions were the most diverse. However, their faculty were the least likely to use active learning techniques or curriculum inclusion or to have attended racial awareness workshops. Simply admitting more minority students did not produce substantial changes in teaching approaches or content. Women and minority faculty were most likely to participate in teaching and learning activities supporting diversity. (Contains 28 references.) (SM) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.
Faculty Development for Inclusive Curriculum: Principles and Processes
Bloomfield College (New Jersey) has encouraged faculty development in inclusive curricula through a faculty development program that guaranteed academic freedom, was begun with faculty members' own reflective practice, and was interdisciplinary and community-wide. This program was a central facet of a larger, institution-wide diversity effort. Each semester for five consecutive semesters a new group of about eight faculty volunteers shared their year-long program. Each group worked in a semester-long interdisciplinary seminar and concurrently began a year of individual study in their own disciplines. Seminars and individual study were guided by a preceptor-in-residence. Faculty also focused on curriculum revision in a week-long summer workshop. Follow-up peer evaluation offered confidential feedback. Faculty found inclusive material and methods intellectual, sound, and renewing. Over half the full-time faculty, plus 20 adjunct faculty and administrators who teach restudied their disciplines for the content and perspectives of race, ethnicity, class, and gender and revised their courses. Revisions affected all levels, disciplines, and many student services. In an institutional self-study students reported being very aware of the changes. Current efforts are aimed at institutionalizing and continuing the work begun in the faculty development project.
A Brief Taxonomy of Inclusive Pedagogies: What Faculty Can Do Differently to Teach More Inclusively
Headwaters: The Faculty Journal of CSB/SJU, 2017
We provide an overview of our evolving understanding of “inclusivity” in light of faculty development opportunities funded through the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. “Inclusivity” means different things to different people, and a given classroom environment may be inclusive in some of the ways described in this article, but not in others. By providing a taxonomy of different ways courses can be inclusive, we encourage departments to think more deeply about curriculum design, learning goals, and assessment; for individual faculty, we encourage you to think about your own course planning and your in-class pedagogical practices.