Our recent experiences force us to redefine our pedagogical approach so that they reflect our commitment to creating a more equitable and just society. While the specifics of translating this commitment to equity into classroom approaches might vary across disciplines and even individual instructors, core principles of equity-focused teaching and learning must inform our approaches.
Rather than defining a specific pedagogical approach, we have focused on principles that we argue should shape how we teach within the context of our disciplines.
Connectedness/Community:
Effective student learning requires connecting to material, to other students, and to faculty. We must actively seek to connect students into a community of learning. Connectedness is particularly important for equity goals: students from marginalized groups must feel a sense of belonging, respect and inclusion in our campus community. That starts in our classes. This should inform our course design, our curriculum, our teaching, and the policy structures of our institution.
Compassion:
Compassion relates to connectedness and community, but goes beyond that. It’s an approach that reflects the immediate context of the pandemic, but also serves to address problems of equity and inclusion. A compassionate approach should not be reserved for emergencies and crises. We should build compassion into the structures of our classes to allow students opportunities to learn. Student success still must mean achieving learning outcomes, but compassion means that we look for ways to assist students in doing so, and that we provide opportunities for them to achieve. Compassion does not mean a lack of rigor. It is a reorientation of our approach to demonstrating the rigorousness of our learning. Compassion is about trusting our students.
Communication:
Communication is essential for connecting to students, but also to help them see how each class relates to their broader goals. This principle is not just about keeping them informed; good communication means being transparent about expectations and outcomes/goals. An equity focus in communication requires engaging students in a variety of proactive ways. Listening is an essential aspect of communication. We need to listen to our students when they speak to us directly; we also need to listen for what they tell us indirectly, and to recognize that silences can be a form of communication. A student not completing an assignment may be sending a loud message that we have to be prepared and willing to hear. Communication can be uncomfortable. We have to embrace that discomfort in order to facilitate genuine connectedness and community.
Agency:
Students must be active in their own learning. While we often think of this as a student responsibility, designing courses that allow and encourage student agency is a faculty responsibility. Agency requires faculty to be vulnerable, to be uncomfortable, and to surrender some power in the classroom. We must reject pedagogies of mistrust. A pedagogy that enables student agency must be grounded in trust for our students.
Flexibility/Variation:
Every student is unique. Our pedagogies must engage not only our assumed audience, but also the varied student audiences that we serve. Flexibility in course design, approach, and delivery allows instructors to demonstrate their own diverse backgrounds, training, ability, and creativity therefore allowing us to focus on learning outcomes, not just the methods we use to achieve them. Flexibility also allows us to meet the diverse learning needs of our students. They may have different expectations of learning based on their educational experiences during this time of crisis, and due to the disruption of the pandemic in general. They may have different expectations of equity as well. Responding to these evolving expectations will take flexibility.
Creativity:
Acting as if everyone has the same needs or needs the same resources is not equity. We must focus on supporting faculty to be the best teachers (and learners!) they can be by encouraging and supporting their curiosity and creativity. Similarly, a focus on supporting our students to be the best learner they can be means encouraging and supporting their curiosity and creativity in the classroom. Meet the needs of students now. The spontaneity and ability to do so requires a culture of supporting creativity and innovation. Solving wicked problems requires creativity.
Interdisciplinarity:
We must find ways to communicate various themes across disciplines, especially in relation to equity. Interdisciplinary learning builds community, encourages connectedness (and connected thinking), and promotes a broader understanding of education as impacting the whole person. It serves to integrate learning into a skill set that students can translate into successful navigation of the complex career landscape they will likely face–as well as the changing social landscape facing our nation.
Collaboration:
Building a culture of teaching and learning requires collaboration not only among faculty, but also across disciplines, divisions, and the current faculty/staff/administration/student divides. Cooperation and partnership based on these core principles of teaching and learning serves the learning needs of our students and our community. Our college community must focus on working together to solve problems and overcome barriers, rather than dwelling on the reasons we can’t do things. Imagine what we can do, especially if we work together. Collaboration of this nature requires that we trust one another which makes it possible to learn from each other.
