阀杆源于DEI

赌博娱乐平台网址大全 has received a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) designed to make its first- and second-year 阀杆 (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) courses more inclusive to all students. 主持 生物学 教授 米歇尔·约翰逊博士.D.，并由 化学 教授 Laura Hunsicker-Wang博士.D., the grant connects leaders from 100 schools via six learning community clusters. 赌博娱乐平台网址大全’s cluster is composed of 15 schools—including large state schools, 小型私人机构, community colleges—focused on the specific challenge of transforming introductory 阀杆 courses to be inclusive.

But what does it mean for a 阀杆 course to be inclusive? 约翰逊很高兴我们问了这个问题. She notes that the first phase of the grant encouraged 24 faculty and eight students to understand how 赌博娱乐平台网址大全 defines inclusive teaching and learning, what barriers may exist to achieving inclusivity and accessibility. “阀杆 has a reputation that is non-inclusive, a sense that it’s very hard to do well in 阀杆 classes, a misconception that if you don’t naturally have amazing 阀杆 abilities, 你不会成功的,约翰逊说. “We are working to change that impression.”

This is where the learning communities come in—not just on campus, but across the nation.

“We’re sharing ideas and resources among institutions that have very different kinds of ideas and resources,约翰逊说. “在HHMI的支持下, we are trying to change undergraduate 阀杆 education in this country, we’re looking for ways to overcome challenges that are, 在某些方面, 相当普遍. Elements of this process have made us realize that 赌博娱乐平台网址大全 has resources that position us to really jump into this work.约翰逊以赌博娱乐平台网址大全为例 Collaborative for Learning and Teaching, Student Diversity and Inclusion Office, Office of Institutional 研究 and Effectiveness as infrastructure that puts the University on the path to facing these challenges head-on.

对许多阀杆教师来说, this could mean facing fundamentals of their discipline’s canon, 通用课程设计, or even the way they were taught to teach. “We faculty have very few models of [inclusive] teaching because we weren’t taught this way ourselves,约翰逊说. “We’re unlearning teaching strategies that are not supporting all of our students. We’re reconsidering ways for our disciplines to satisfy student curiosity. And we’re learning new and effective strategies to facilitate group work and form student communities.”

教师 and students involved in the HHMI Inclusive Excellence Program gathered for an outdoor breakfast social at the conclusion of the Fall 2021 semester.

To receive authentic and critical feedback from these student communities, the faculty have partnered with a paid student leadership council dubbed AXIS (Ambassadors for eXcellence In 阀杆). Through a series of formal and informal assessments of themselves and their peers, AXIS has developed a set of project ideas to address barriers to students feeling a sense of welcome and belonging in 阀杆 courses. From active engagement and events to making connections in 赌博娱乐平台网址大全’s liberal arts curriculum, student projects focus on opportunities for transformation within the classroom and the community as a whole.

不管, the process of transformation is just as much a personal journey as it is an institutional one, 约翰逊说. “It’s clear that one of the biggest challenges in every institution, regardless of size or resources, is faculty time: It takes real time to reflect. It is real work to consider how your own personal identity might impact what you teach, how your students’ identities might impact the way that they’re able to learn in your class.”