5 Part A: Humanizing the Course and Class Ecosystem
5 Part A: Humanizing the Course and Class Ecosystem
“Some courses feel very different from other courses. I can think of one course where I felt like the whole class cared about each other – and learned together.” – Anonymous student
In practice, this can look like:
- Dedicate one or more units of the course to development by students. Ask students what they want to learn or read, and use those materials to meet your learning outcomes.
- Collaboratively identify the core values of the course with students (e.g., what are we doing and why are we doing it?). Note that iterative development within a course can require real buy-in from students and the intentional use of alternate channels of communication.
- Share some personal thoughts or experiences as we move through difficult news cycles. For example, one team of instructors posted a Friday afternoon message to students with a bit of a summary of what they did in class that week, where the class was going next week, and some comments about what they were planning for the weekend or had struggled with over the past week. Students expressed their appreciation for getting to know their instructors “as people.”
- Encourage small group discussions and larger class discussions to allow all students to share their ideas without forcing anyone to speak in front of a huge audience. This strategy also removes the fear of being called on by a professor to speak in front of the class.
- Remove the dichotomy of the professor / TA at the front with all students facing them to create a more conversational atmosphere that allows students to chat informally with their instructor.
- Demonstrate trust in conversations with students who are requesting extensions or flexibility.
- Emphasize relationships rather than achieving outcomes. This can mean modelling and acknowledging the uncertainty of the outcome but trusting the process, particularly in project-based courses. At the beginning of a semester, we often have no clue what will come at the end. But, together, as a class, we build the research and discovery process, we take time to enjoy each other’s company, to be silly, to be serious, to experience each other and, kinda like magic, it all works out.
- Foster space that is open for chatting and encouragement so that students can feel more comfortable with each other and know that their instructor encourages free thought. One TA, for example, makes an effort to show students that their peers are helping them, that the ideas of 5 students can sometimes be more valuable than the ideas of just one. In practice, this TA asks students to create presentations in groups of 4-5. Following the presentation, other groups are encouraged to ask the presenting group questions about their findings and their research. The TA then takes time to show the groups that new ideas are presented within the questions and that the students can use these ideas to strengthen their own analysis.
- Explaining what (not just when) “office h