https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9 Think about these before you arrive. We look forward to seeing you! Responses are anonymous en-us 2023-07-26 15:07:31 UTC 2023-08-03 19:31:50 UTC hello@padlet.com ariswinger https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2651583636 Your advisee, Jamyll, is an African American biostatistics major with a 3.6 GPA. He is at risk of failing one of his required courses and tells you, “I’m having a really hard time with this professor. He never calls on me. When I go to office hours for help, he answers everyone else's questions except mine, as if I’m not even there.”  This professor is a well respected member of your department. What would you do?]]> 2023-07-26 15:16:14 UTC https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2651583636 ariswinger https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2651584440 In response to data demonstrating high DFW rates in calculus and differences in grades and course completion by race, the dean has signaled that the Math department has to address this disparity. You are the calculus course coordinator and have been charged with developing a strategy to improve student outcomes and address disparities.

What would you do?

]]> 2023-07-26 15:17:59 UTC https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2651584440 https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2654990429 I would engage with the student and validate their experience and feelings, while asking follow up questions such as: 1) can you tell me what a normal class structure looks like? 2) does he call on other students in class? 3) what is the structure of office hours? 4) have you spoken with the professor directly about your concerns? 

I feel like I don't quite have enough information to choose a path of advice for the student, but would want to know more in order to be able to help and/or point out resources of support.]]> 2023-08-02 20:01:23 UTC https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2654990429 https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2654990662 Status and departmental hierarchy can make it difficult to approach a faculty member directly about such a situation, especially if this professor is well-respected in the department.]]> 2023-08-02 20:02:18 UTC https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2654990662 https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655000605 The research says this gap closes with the use of active learning. But, it is good to create a mission across the calculus instructors that helps to use active learning techniques within the coordinated classes and make sure everyone is on the same page related to goals and expectations.]]> 2023-08-02 20:32:25 UTC https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655000605 https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655000859 Not all faculty might be willing to participate in new teaching methods such as active learning and there could be push back from the students. So, in general, buy-in from a variety of community members.]]> 2023-08-02 20:33:21 UTC https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655000859 https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655054205 Encourage Jamyll to make an individual appointment with the professor right away to discuss his performance and to collaboratively discuss ways to improve. Connect him with either dept or college-level academic support services since this is an emergent situation.

If possible, I might look at historical grade distributions for this professor along different identities: AA, indigenous, gender etc and see if there are problematic patterns and move from there.


]]> 2023-08-02 23:29:51 UTC https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655054205 https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655056646 Bring together important constituencies in the dept or program to discuss the numbers that the Dean cites. If the numbers are compelling, that should help motivate change.

There are dozens of possible strategies, elevate a few that you think are relevant and try to get buy in on implementing a few approaches. ]]> 2023-08-02 23:37:01 UTC https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655056646 https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655058565 Change is hard. Folks that have been teaching the same curriculum for (at times) decades may not see a reason for change or feel like they've seen it all before and nothing they do will matter. Finding a few willing partners is imperative.]]> 2023-08-02 23:39:35 UTC https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655058565 https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655079247 This might be less feasible depending on the size of the school but... I think I would talk to that professor about each of my advisees in that class and how they are doing. That gives me a chance to get their perspective without indicating which student I'm really curious about. Hopefully that would provide some additional perspective to guide next steps.]]> 2023-08-03 00:24:58 UTC https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655079247 https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655080365 I would attend sessions, and perhaps even a minicourse, at MathFest to learn best practices for approaching unfamiliar territory such as this.]]> 2023-08-03 00:26:24 UTC https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655080365 kaitlynserbin https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655142661 I would first validate this experiences and thank him for telling me. I would ask Jamyll what he would like me to do about the situation, so I can advocate for him in the way that he wants. If he wants me to talk to the instructor or talk to the department chair about this instructor, I would do that. If he wants me to do nothing, I would probably still report it anonymously to the office that handles discrimination complaints. ]]> 2023-08-03 02:12:03 UTC https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655142661 https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655190522 2023-08-03 03:33:59 UTC https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655190522 https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655191014 Have a quick zoom meeting with both parties. Don’t see any harm with that! ]]> 2023-08-03 03:34:58 UTC https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655191014 https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655192062 2023-08-03 03:36:45 UTC https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655192062 https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655483210 I suggest Jamyll to make one to one appointment with professor and share his feeling. If he think same about his professor after the meeting then I suggest him to seek for additional help from department such as talk to his academic advisor or department chair ]]> 2023-08-03 13:12:48 UTC https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655483210 https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655488717
I will try to improvise course curriculum and teaching method by adding active learning techniques. Try to add additional support services and resources for the students.]]> 2023-08-03 13:22:36 UTC https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655488717 https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655588606 Feeling ignored is terrible. I find that often people aren't doing the ignoring on purpose, so I would likely advise Jamyll to email the professor directly to set up an individual meeting. Whether or not Jamyll wants to confront the professor about his feelings is completely up to him, but I think that even if he doesn't want to address this directly, simply meeting with the professor one-on-one about the coursework will likely make him more seen in the future. It's almost certain that this won't solve the underlying problem with the professor, and what to do about that seems difficult to know without more information.]]> 2023-08-03 16:30:47 UTC https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655588606 https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655590875 It is difficult to navigate problems between two people when you haven't seen these problems yourself and you are only hearing one side of the story. It is easy to believe everything Jamyll is saying here, but it is hard to not make additional assumptions and cause these to affect your response in ways that aren't necessarily appropriate. ]]> 2023-08-03 16:34:31 UTC https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655590875 https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655597958 All DFW's matter to me, and anyone struggling is a point of concern, regardless of what they look like. I wouldn't be happy if there was no racial disparity but many students were failing, and my answer would apply to this scenario as well.

I'm not a fan of grading in the first place; I would prefer giving students feedback and letting them self-reflect, and this is likely what I would try to push as coordinator. That being said, it doesn't necessarily mean that students will learn more and succeed at the material (although I think reducing the impact of grading will do that for some), which is the real concern here. My general strategy for this would be to encourage professors to diversify their approaches to instruction (some active learning, some lecture, some presentations, some homework, some quizzes, some technology, some computational problems, some free response problems, etc.) so that you can reach the largest number of people possible and everyone with different learning styles has a chance to shine. Going all-in on any one teaching strategy is a nearly guaranteed way to miss a large number of students.]]> 2023-08-03 16:50:07 UTC https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655597958 https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655598584 It is difficult to get people to change how they teach, so these goals are likely going to take a while to reach. Encouraging incremental change is a good way to go, but there is still a massive problem with how long that takes.]]> 2023-08-03 16:51:57 UTC https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655598584 https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655607409 I would first try to validate his feelings, thank him for telling me, and affirm him as a biostatistician. I have a good relationship with my chair, who has a track record of advocating for historically excluded students, so I would likely relay the situation to him, and ask for advice about how best to communicate concerns with the professor (e.g. if it's best coming from Jamyll, me as the academic advisor, or the chair). ]]> 2023-08-03 17:13:47 UTC https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655607409 https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655608509 If Jamyll is the only Black student, or one of the only URM student in general, communicating even "anonymous" concerns with the professor may single Jamyll out in ways he doesn't want. ]]> 2023-08-03 17:16:08 UTC https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655608509 https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655610507 I would try to gather feedback from students who have received a DFW in recent semesters (would have to be thoughtful about data collection / power dynamics - either anonymous surveys or interviews conducted by someone not directly in a supervisory or evaluative role over interviewees). Goal would be to understand their experience, barriers they encountered, supports they would find useful, etc. Then would try to combine their feedback with best practices from culturally responsive pedagogy / STEM ed literature about appropriate course changes and potential support structures to put in place.  ]]> 2023-08-03 17:20:21 UTC https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655610507 https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655656360 I would thank him for trusting me with this information. I think that I probably first ask to sit on the profs class. I can give advice to him about the class and ask him about various students (I also want to see he does this to other groups of individuals in this class) "Jamyll seems like he has his hands up... I would like to hear more from him". If there's push back, I would probably bring it up during the dept. meeting.. idk what would say specifically, but I would say something.]]> 2023-08-03 19:05:35 UTC https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655656360 https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655664124 If I had the student's permission, I would probably check with colleagues to see if this is a known problem with that professor. I would then speak with the chair so they could get that professor's peer evaluator to sit in on the affected class. If no one took the concern seriously, I would take it to the Diversity coordinator or Provost. I would not reveal the student's identity unless they wanted me to do so. I would also help the student with their concerns.]]> 2023-08-03 19:27:17 UTC https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655664124 https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655666146 I have no idea. Probably ask to see the other related statistics. I would want to know whether there were other factors. A lot of out students are 1st generation, rural, and come from economically disadvantaged schools and communities. I am not sure we would have the disparity in grades along racial lines rather than opportunity lines.]]> 2023-08-03 19:31:39 UTC https://padlet.com/ariswinger/eg3f6t8faarjo8q9/wish/2655666146