TILTing In the Classroom and Beyond

The Transparent Institution

Developing transparent classrooms is an important goal. But, ultimately, the real goal should be creating transparent institutions - places where navigation and communication are easy. All students, from the time that they first interact with the college on our website or visiting in person to completing petitions to graduate, should be able to complete the processes and procedures if they are willing to put in the time and energy. Transparency helps assure that student success is all about effort and not a lack of understanding. 

 

Now that you know why it is important and what TILTing is, I hope you would like to apply TILT to one of your documents or processes. No matter how you work with students, I hope that this section provides you the information that you need to apply the transparency framework. 

 

Questions to Consider

TILTing requires re-examining a document or process from the perspective of the student (or anyone interacting with the document or process, like fellow department members or an advisory board). The following questions help you focus on the things that matter most - unseen, un-intended, and unhelpful barriers. As higher ed professionals, it is easy to fall victim to expertise blindness - forgetting what it is like to be a novice to a new situation, and expect people to already know how to do something and assume more information that is actually known. Consider these questions as you begin to revise your work:

TILT Reflection Questions

      • Identify one process or procedure related to the services you provide. (For example, it could be a classroom task, a student-facing communication or handout, or something else.)
      • What is its intended goal?
      • When you consider people who attempt to complete the task or access the service/process in its current iteration,  who might feel like an “outsider” or experience this process/procedure as a barrier? (Think about barriers like eligibility requirements, available hours, deadlines, use of unclear or academic language, and more.) 
      • What can you change/add to reduce or eliminate that barrier?

 

Option #1: TILT Charrettes

One of the best ways to find out how transparent your document or process is is to sit down with a colleague (or even a student) OUTSIDE YOUR DISCIPLINE or DEPARTMENT and have them narrate out loud how they would approach the task. For example, a Math instructor who reviews a Psychology assignment won't have all the "insider" information - they aren't regularly writing Psychology exams, projects, or essays. Or, a tutoring center manager who reviews a financial aid document will approach it fresh, closer to how a student would approach the same document. Choosing a disciplinary stranger is key because they will approach the document or process much more like a novice would than another expert in the field. 

If you have asked a colleague to provide feedback, here's the process I recommend:

  1. Provide a quick overview of the context for the document or process. For example, if you are sharing an assignment, tell your partner when in the term you share it with students. 
  2. Hand off your document and then sit silently and take notes. 
  3. For three to five minutes, have the reviewer narrate out loud what they see as the purpose, just talking about the "why" of the document or process.
  4. Avoid jumping in and explaining to your partner whether or not they "got it right" - the point is to listen to someone outside your discipline explain how they understand your document or process. This helps you fill in gaps, add details, and avoid miscommunication.
  5. Move on to the task and criteria of your document or process. Again, listen to the reviewer silently - you will learn quickly what the problems and tricky spots are.
  6. Use your notes to revise your document or process, making clear the why, the what, and the how. 

The TLC organizes TILT charrettes regularly - opportunities for people to provide feedback to each other about transparency. Look for those charrettes on the TLC calendar, or contact me directly (angela.rasmussen@scc.spokane.edu).

 

Option #2: Revising on Your Own

Of course, it is also possible to revise your documents and processes on your own. The best approach is simply starting from scratch on the purpose and criteria areas, and then adding in your task (the section most likely to already be in the current draft of your work).

For inspiration, there are there are great resources on the TILT Higher Ed project site Links to an external site., and the next several pages provide examples developed by SCC faculty and staff.

There are some ongoing TILT projects around the college and the state, so if you are interested in joining a group of faculty who want to dig a little deeper,  discuss approaches and share insights, please let me know!

 

Supporting Students

If you are interested in supporting students in their future academic careers, consider sharing the document, “The Unwritten Rules: Decode Your Assignments and Decipher What’s Expected of You Links to an external site..” It provides support for students to “decode” assignments.  It can help students find a way to ask the best questions for less-transparent assignments. If they receive work without much clarity, asking the right questions of their instructors can help students understand what they need to know. Students can achieve higher scores on their work, but they also learn key self-advocacy skills that transfer to other classes as well as the workplace.

Hopefully, you will adopt the TILT framework enough to be able to automatically add it to new assignments as you develop them in the future. 

 

TILT and Student Services

More and more student services professionals are adopting the TILT framework. Chantel Black, Director of Admissions and Registration, has graciously shared her perspective on using TILT for broader higher ed context. 

 

TILT Examples from Around the College

Some of your colleagues at SCC and from around the state are applying the TILT framework to non-assignment documents, processes, and communications. Take a look at the following examples!