How Building Institutional Capacity Can Facilitate Inclusive - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

How Building Institutional Capacity Can Facilitate Inclusive Excellence in STEM

Examples from our Campus Eliane Boucher, Department of Psychology Kathleen Cornely, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Lynne Lawson, Department of Engineering-Physics-Systems

Founded in 1917, Providence College is a private, coeducational, residential Roman Catholic university run under the auspices

• f the Dominican Friars.

Diversity initiatives at Providence College

• First Strategic Plan for Diversity in

2010; first Chief Diversity Officer hired in Jan 2012.

– Mission statement includes diversity – Training of Office of Safety & Security staff – PC joins Creating Connections Consortium – Campus climate focus groups – Science & Diversity Task Force – Faculty Diversity Initiative – Friar Foundations Program (a summerbridge program) – Partnership with CCRI

Announced July 2015

Lucia Barker Former Program Officer SEA PHAGES program HHMI

• Nov 12, 2015: Students of color hold a peaceful

midnight march to protest racism on campus.

• A faculty member of color present at the march

reports that students in the dorms yelled racial epithets at the marchers.

– Complaints are filed; there is no public response. – Students present a list of demands to president Father Shanley, who promises to meet with the students.

• Feb 2, 2016: Five women students of color are

denied entrance to an off-campus party and allege that racial epithets and bottles were hurled at them as they left.

Diversity issues at Providence College

And while the faculty were reading the literature in their ivory towers….

• Students arrived at Harkins Hall

at 8:30 am.

• They were asked to leave at 4:30
• pm. They refused.
• The president promised a

“complex plan of action” by the end of the semester.

• The students refused to leave

until the president had signed a document listing their demands.

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• …which he did at 9:45 pm.

Faculty Seminar on Inclusive Excellence in the Sciences

• Goals

– To identify and implement approaches that promote student success in the sciences.

• Opening workshop in June 2016.
• Eight two-hour meetings during the

2016-2017 academic year.

• Each participant received $3000.

– $1000 after the completion of the June workshop – $2000 at the conclusion of the seminar; each participant was required to submit an inclusive excellence “product”.

PC did not advance to the next round for the HHMI Inclusive Excellence grant.

• STEM student survey
• High impact practices

– Undergraduate research – Active learning/evidence-based pedagogies – Metacognitive learning strategies – Creating a positive classroom environment

• Infrastructure

– STEM Zone staffed by post-docs in the evenings

• Alternative paths

– Gateway and off-sequence courses – STEM component to Friar Foundation Program

• Points to ponder

– Stereotype threat – OER

Products

A STEM Advisory Board will make recommendations to the Dean of the School of Arts & Sciences.

Our diversity landscape

• Despite improvements in diversifying
• ur college population, our non-white

students… – report more depressive symptoms, and identify less with the college

• verall (Cote & Boucher, 2015)

– report more cynicism toward the meaning of school, and a greater sense of inadequacy at school (Kemp &

Boucher, unpublished data)

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STEM majors & retention

• Survey of students entering college with declared

STEM major conducted Spring 2017 – 249 respondents

• 68% female, 77% white, 84% continuing-

generation

• 61 respondents (24.5%) dropped original major

– 24% white vs. 26% non-white dropped

• 50% white remained in STEM vs. 40% non-

white

– 22% continuing-gen vs. 45% first-gen dropped

• 51% continuing-gen remained in STEM vs.

44% first-gen

– 17% men vs. 27% women dropped

• 70% men remained in STEM vs. 44% women

STEM majors & retention

• Primary reasons for dropping major

– Change in career aspirations – Concerns about GPA – Lack of interest in the material – Concerns about future career – Work/Life Balance – Class requirements – Lack of confident in the material – Difficulty interacting with faculty – Difficulty adjusting to college – Relationship with faculty – Misperception of the major

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HOW DO WE IMPROVE RETENTION? …PARTICULARLY FOR WOMEN, FIRST-GENERATION, AND NON- WHITE STUDENTS?

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Institutional support has facilitated active learning approaches across campus

• Growth of number of classrooms equipped for

active learning

• Growth in use of active learning classrooms

(ALCs)

• Funding for ALCs through grants, capital

campaigns, and general fund

• Committees formed to oversee ALC

implementation, use, and outcomes (LSIT)

• Center for Teaching Excellence

– Active learning workshops – Active learning Faculty Fellow

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Why active learning?

• Interested in inclusive excellence

– Started in STEM disciplines. Now efforts to bring it campus-wide

• Active Learning is recognized as a

High Impact Practice that engages students and can lead to better learning outcomes. It is also a practice encouraged for inclusive excellence.

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• Active learning lite (ALL) – multiple

whiteboards and flexible seating

• Active learning classrooms (ALC) –

multiple whiteboards, flexible seating with group-focused work, multiple display screens with Apple TV

• Active learning suites (ALS) – ALCs

with Solstice Pods Classifications of active learning classrooms at PC

Funding is actively pursued for the creation and/or renovation of active learning spaces

• Proposal submitted to Champlain

Foundation for the renovation of space in a building on campus (Feinstein) – not successful

• Proposal to the Alden Trust for
• utfitting of an active learning space in

the new Science Complex Addition – successful - $150k awarded

• Other spaces have been funded

through general fund and capital campaigns

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2010 – first flexible classroom (flexible furniture, whiteboards, laptops) 2012 - Introduction of Apple TV to some classrooms

2013 – New humanities building with flexible classrooms and group seminar space Instructional Technology Committee (ITeC) vision for “incubator classroom”

Development of active learning spaces on campus – a summary

2015 – team participation in U of Minnesota ALC Forum LSIT (Learning Spaces and Instructional Technology) Committee formed

2016 – Added monitors and whiteboards to two classrooms to facilitate group work in class

2017 – business building opens with multiple ALCs. Introduction

• f Mersive Solstice

Modification of additional classrooms to facilitate active learning pedagogy

2018 – Science Complex addition opens with three additional ALCs

Support of active learning has led to an increase in available spaces and use

20 40 60 80 100 120 140 Fall 2013 Spring 2014 Fall 2014 Spring 2015 Fall 2015 Spring 2016 Fall 2016 Spring 2017 Fall 2017 Spring 2018 Number of Classrooms

Total # Classrooms Active Learning Classrooms

ALCs have gone from <5% of available classrooms to over 10%.

Support of active learning has led to an increase in available spaces and use

500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 Fall 2013 Spring 2014 Fall 2014 Spring 2015 Fall 2015 Spring 2016 Fall 2016 Spring 2017 Fall 2017 Spring 2018

Total Enrollment

Active Learning Lite Active Learning Classrooms Active Learning Suites

Usage has increased over 400%!

The Center for Teaching Excellence sponsors workshops that highlight active learning

• Active Learning Classroom Webinar - Mar 2015
• Designing an Active Learning Classroom – April

2015

• Teaching Tools: Why Active Learning? –

February 2016

• Course Design for Active Learning Classrooms –

December 2016

• Drive-Thru Active Learning – November 2017
• Perusall Presentation – December 2017
• Creating a Roadmap for Active Learning in the

Classroom – May 2018

• Increasing Student Engagement with Active

Learning – November 2018

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Next generation reading assignments​

​

Assign textbook sections​ Students annotate readings asynchronously​ Conversation about material develops​

Advantages of Perusall

• Similar to social media so it’s familiar to

students

• Allows for interaction and engagement

with material and classmates out of class

• Facilitates “flipping” of the classroom
• Turns a solitary activity of reading text

into an engaging collaborative experience

You can see student initials here, but for students, all comments are anonymous to minimize stereotype threat and to encourage free participation. Students can ask questions Other students can answer the questions Students can indicate if they find an answer helpful

Why Do Students Struggle? One Explanation: Mismatched Goals

• Independent Goals

– Skills: learning to express oneself, learning to be a leader – Motives: expand my understanding of the world, explore new interests

• Interdependent Goals

– Skills: learning to work together with

• thers, learning to do collaborative

research – Motives: provide a better life for my own children, help my family out after I’m done with college

Mismatch in goals

Stephens et al., 2012

Motives for college based on race

*Data are based on psychology prescreening from 2016-2018 (851 White, 143 Non-white students)

Motives for college based on generational status

*Data are based on psychology prescreening from 2016-2018 (934 continuing- generation, 121 first-generation students)

Mismatch in goals: possible solutions

• Depict college as more interdependent

(e.g., welcome packet)

Stephens et al., 2012

Mismatch in goals: possible solutions

• Provide opportunities to hear about

students’ experiences

• Explicitly linking adapting to college with

social class.

Stephens et al., 2014

Our intervention

• Planned pilot test with undeclared students

– First-generation vs. continuing generation – White vs. Non-White – Enrolled in first-year experience vs. Not

• Phase 1 (baseline measurements)

– Goals for attending college – Perceived preparation – Academic identification – Academic efficacy – Personal mastery – Contingent self-esteem – Depression – Anxiety – Stress

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Phase 2—Intervention

• Group sessions to view video testimonials from

eight students – Control group

• Trace your path for finding your major
• What has been your favorite class and least

favorite class so far and why? – Difference-education group

• People come to college for many different
• reasons. What did coming to college mean

for you?

• What experiences that you had prior to

college prepared you to excel in way you wouldn't have anticipated at the time?

Phase 3--Intervention

• Phase 3 – End of Semester Follow-Up

– Tendency to seek college resources – Perceptions of relationships with students/faculty – Baseline measures

• Challenges

– Participation & homogeneous population – Administrative buy-in, particularly for incentives – Timing

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Discussion

• Take two minutes to consider what you think

is the biggest concern/challenge for you, in your department and at your college/ university, in terms of addressing inclusive

• excellence. Share a concrete example of why

you believe this is the primary concern or challenge.

• Brainstorm about how you might address this

concern/challenge at your particular institution, either using similar methods as we presented here, or something different. What concrete steps could you start taking to implement this strategy?

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