Building bridges and lowering barriers Building bridges and lowering barriers to learning in the college classroom to learning in the college classroom

Teri BalserTeaching and Learning Symposium 2009

Our goal as educators: Student success

How? • Learning in context• Increased time on task• Group-based learning• Timely and frequent feedback• Positive classroom climate

Our goal as educators: Student success

How? • Learning in context• Increased time on task• Group-based learning• Timely and frequent feedback• Positive classroom climate

Today

Consider ways to increase student success – by looking at classroom climate

•Bridge theory and practice (a non-expert’s guide)

•Explore barriers to learning and how to turn those barriers to bridges

Barriers to Learning?(your list below) • Embarrassment of not knowing• Preconceived ideas• Exams• Distractions• Fear of failure• Physical spaces, learning environment, karma• Lack of interest• Time pressures• Teaching approach• Failure to connect new knowledge with existing• Need framework to begin• Access to resources ($, materials, etc)• Language barriers• Lack of sleep

Some barriers found in the literature

• Imposter syndrome

• First generation condition

• Acculturation anxiety

• Stereotype threat

• Stress, general

What do these have in common?• They affect all students, not

just some

• They involve “attribution errors”

• They involve FEAR

Affects all of us• However - some of us are more resilient, have

greater sense of self-efficacy, than others

Attribution – who/what do they blame for their performance?

Three aspects: Locus – internal or external factorsStability – constant or changingControl – cause is controllable?

Students with an internal locus of control and see the causes as controllable will do better

FEAR

http://thebreakthrough.org/blog/2008/04/29/hiding.jpg

http://www.dogdoright.com/images/snarlingwolf_000.jpg

greennature.com/.../giant-house-spider.jpg

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/08/20/gallery/snakes2_zoom.jpg

http://masterspeakersinstitute.com/images/public-speaking-firstpoint.jpg

http://www.osnews.com/img/1221/math.png

What do students fear?(your list below) • Failure• Punishment• Wasting time, $, opportunity• Looking stupid• Disappointing their parents• Low GPA• Losing scholarship $• Competition• Jobs (or not getting one)

What does fear do?

• Lowers performance• Creates negative association• Interferes with health• Negative feedback/downward spiral

NOTE: students from disadvantaged backgrounds have disproportionately larger psychological and physiological responses to stress!

NOTE: students from disadvantaged backgrounds have disproportionately larger psychological and physiological responses to stress!

What can we do?

1a. Recognize that fear is at the root of many behaviors• Students will manifest any number of

behaviors in class, and most are simply ways to manage their fears

• Acting out• Acting tough• Acting cool• Withdrawing• Overfocus on appearance• Others you’ve seen?

1b. Recognize that what they fear is not necessarily what we do • “Risk” or “High-stakes” for a student may not

be the same as it is for me or you.• Find out from them what creates stress

How do we find out? Ask them!

Find

out from them

what creates stress

“The transfer from high school to college, from being one out of 300, to one out of 10,000 can be very hard for some students during their freshman year. In some cases, so hard, that a student will not continue to study at a big university during their first semester and transfer to a smaller school.”

“I thought this was going to be a very scientific class so I was very nervous because of my lack of knowledge.”

1c. Recognize the importance of your OWN fear…

• Students aren’t the only ones with stress and fear.

• What do we fear? And how does it impact the class and/or learning?

2. Help them make correct/adaptive attributions

a. Demonstrate ways to behave or think that will lead to success (help them internalize the locus of control)

• Explain how best to study for your exams• Articulate the conceptual frame of your discipline/field

(they aren’t experts)• Model dialogue or discourse • Clearly articulate goals and expectations• Others you can think of?

2. Help them make correct/adaptive attributions

b. Explore ways to share power • Provide choices whenever possible – choose

two of 3 essay questions, for example• Allow them to help determine the syllabus• Others?

2. Help them make correct/adaptive attributions b. Explore ways to share power

“From the first lecture, when we were entitled to discuss what we, the students, wanted to learn for the next 15 weeks, I became very excited.”

“The most striking feature of the course is the professor's choice to let the students create and organize half the syllabus…I was opposed…to the idea of being force fed material that I didn't care about”

3. Lower the stakes• Give frequent tests/assessments so that no

single exam is worth too much

• Allow students the choice to drop a low score

• Allow opportunities to redo, revisit their work

• Provide opportunities to practice, and give feedback (low stakes work)

Opportunity to revisit work“I was very intrigued when I was given the opportunity to receive credit for revisiting the Montana Case. For the most part, I write something and once I turn it in I rarely look at it again. However, this was different. I read over my original Montana Case study and was pretty please with what I read… But now after having taken Forum on the Environment, I think that I would be more knowledgeable on most of the issues because Montana was facing many of topics we covered. “

Opportunity to revisit work“The first thing that I would change about my response to the case is the amount of detail that I explain the problems. In the original case I stated the problems one by one as if they had no relation to each other. After taking this class it is clear that toxic waste, logging, soils, water, and non native species along with climate change are all major problems, but also that they are all related.”

Note: In addition to lowering stress, the opportunity to revisit allows the student to REFLECT on their learning, thus reinforcing it.

4. Consciously manage classroom climate

• Start from Day 1– Sets up the entire semester

• Consider the messages we inadvertently send about collegiality, collaboration– Grading on a curve?

• Build community – Create a welcoming and inclusive

environment

Day 1• What role does it play? • What do you currently do on Day 1 that

impacts classroom climate?

Heard from you: - Engage them in a discussion of the rubrics/materials right away

- Ask them about themselves ahead of time – e.g. their favorite music and have that playing as they come into class

- Have them introduce themselves in some way

A welcoming climate“In my opinion, a great class is the determined by the environment in which it is being taught. The class atmosphere for this class was relaxed, yet work oriented.”

“The non-threatening nature of this class proved very conducive to my saturation in the material. I felt free to listen, ask questions, and learn without feeling as though information was being crammed down my throat.”

A welcoming climate

What do you most want students to say about your classroom environment?

A welcoming climate

How can we create a sense of welcome in our classrooms?

How can we create a sense of welcome in our classrooms?

• Reduce anonymity– Groups– Names– Background/interests surveys

How can we create a sense of welcome in our classrooms?

• Reduce anonymity

“This personalized group setting allowed me feel comfortable with myself, but more importantly, the people surrounding me.”

“Group work especially helped me comprehend the topics covered, as my group really bonded over the semester through very interesting conversations…”

How can we create a sense of welcome in our classrooms?

• Reduce anonymity – background surveys

Reduce anonymity – background surveys

Reduce anonymity – background surveysYour goals? I hope to be able to discuss these issues with colleagues and be able to tell my family about them as well

Class success? Tie everything together – readings, speakers, lectures, etc

Why an A? I am willing to challenge myself especially when discussions can be out of my ‘comfort zone’

Anything else? My dad always called me “squirrel power” when I was growing up

Reduce anonymity – background surveys

• This was just one example among many • The real benefit, for me at least: I see

my students as people… and I am fascinated by them.

How can we create a sense of welcome in our classrooms?

• Genuinely care (I like students)

• How else?

Welcoming, Inclusive?• What can you try? • What might you change? • What resistance or barriers do you sense

when you think of change? – Whose are they?

Summary: Four keys to bridge building

1. Acknowledge, recognize, and help manage fear (theirs and yours)

2. Help the students learn to create their own success (demonstrate how to be successful)

3. Lower the stakes – offer multiple options and opportunities

4. Create welcoming classroom climate

Ultimately

Remember that we are all human – and at the end of the day it is not as much about what we did or whether it worked,

but that we genuinely had an intent to make a difference.

Thank you!Thank you!tcbalser@wisc.edutcbalser@wisc.edu