Using Equity-Minded & Culturally Affirming Teaching Practices

Supporting students and building healthy relationships are essential for student learning. And, while many of the approaches - like the 4 Connections - benefit the majority of students, other approaches are more focused on supporting specific groups of students. Some student groups consistently experience marginalization in higher education; this contributes to lower retention and completion rates. The focused attention on these groups is the very definition of equity: "heightened focus on groups experiencing disproportionate impact in order to remediate disparities in their experiences and outcomes" (Wood and Harris). Faculty across the country are working hard to develop approaches that address these disparities. 

 

Supporting Marginalized Students

Two of those faculty are Dr. Luke Wood and Dr. Frank Harris III from San Diego State University. The approaches listed below come from their research and work described in their presentation "Employing Equity-Minded & Culturally-Affirming Teaching Practices in Virtual Learning Communities" - part of a webinar series from CORA Learning Links to an external site.. The discussion centers on online learning, but their strategies are applicable to any learning modality. 

Video Links to an external site.

This webinar recording presents their research on teaching and learning strategies specifically designed to support learners from historically minoritized populations. I highly recommend watching the entire webinar, but I have included their main points and strategies here for review:

  • Be Intrusive
    • Conduct an informal assessment of students' experiences in online learning.
    • Prepare and email to students a brief orientation video that introduces them to the LMS and other technology they will need for the course.
    • Provide asynchronous alternatives.
    • Record all class sections (if possible) and make them available to all students.
    • Make success in the course transparent.  
    • Use assessment strategies that focus on continuous improvement and progress toward demonstrating proficiency by the end of the course. 
    • Performance monitoring: Intervening, Help-Seeking, and Referrals 
  • Be Relational
    • Demonstrate "authentic investment."
    • Humanize yourself.
    • Facilitate engagement on academic AND non-academic matters.
    • Learn at least one thing about each student that has nothing to do with them being a student. 
    • Convey unconditional positive regard.
    • Reject deficit perspectives.
    • Validate and positively message to students, "you belong," "you can do the work."
    • Hold high expectations. 
  • Be Culturally-Relevant and Affirming
    • Connect course content to students' lived experiences and cultural contexts.
    • Center diverse students in every aspect of the teaching and learning experience.
    • Acknowledge and leverage cultural strengths and assets to facilitate learning for all students.
    • "Mirror" diverse students in course content, perspectives, and materials. 
  • Be Community Focused
    • Be present in all aspects of the course and model the engagement you expect of students. 
    • Establish community norms.
    • Encourage students to share their camera during synchronous class sessions while being mindful to challenges/limitations with access to technology. 
    • Provide opportunities for students to engage outside of class. 
    • Share perspectives.
    • Develop collaborative learning. 
  • Be Race Conscious 
    • Be intentional about providing opportunities to engage racial and equity issues within the context of the course. 
    • Gives students the tools they will need to productively engage in racial dialogue in the course.
    • Make sure that you have the tools you will need to facilitate the dialogues. 
    • Stay present in the dialogue, monitor it regularly, and intervene when necessary. 
    • Embrace racial discourse.
    • Address microaggressions. 

As you can see, many of these approaches benefit all students - not just those experiencing marginalization. But, as their research suggests, many underserved student groups have unique challenges and experience multiple barriers that impact success. Because of structural racism in K12 and higher education, changes have to be made to the classroom and teaching practices. Keeping the status quo perpetuates inequities. 

 

Additional Resources

There is an entire module focused on equity-minded instruction, and you can access it here. 

For more information, please review the following sources: