Student success in “gateway” courses, the foundational courses typically taken in the first year of college, paves the way to student retention, progress in a desired major, and timely graduation. To develop courses that support the success of students with varied academic preparation, levels of self-confidence, economic resources, and cultural backgrounds, we ground our efforts in the experiences and perceptions of students and center course improvements on their needs.
We will share systems developed for fostering gateway course improvement at scale with faculty teams and lessons learned through the Gateway Project at Florida International University. These systems for learning, sharing, supporting, and improving can help build student success in foundational courses, but can also be used in efforts to design for equity and inclusion at any course level. Our original Gateway Project work began with identifying courses that had the biggest impact on student retention. Course redesign teams of faculty and administrators facilitated by the FIU Center for the Advancement of Teaching began the shift toward evidence-based, student-centered practices. As the work progressed, we developed and implemented gateway surveys to provide faculty with student feedback about their experiences, perceptions of the class, and study behaviors.
Finally, we added our
Inquiry Institutes, workshops in which faculty explored their data, discussed concerns and ideas with colleagues, and developed action plans for modest course improvements. Today, these activities function as a system of iterative course improvement, grounded in student feedback. This workshop will introduce our gateway surveys and Inquiry Institute workshop materials.
The workshop will encourage participants to consider:- How do faculty get student feedback on course experiences?
- How could student perceptions and experiences help inform their gateway course improvement efforts?
- How might they envision opportunities for faculty to share course improvement successes and challenges?
- What obstacles might discourage faculty engagement in this work at their institutions?
Takeaways:Participants will learn about the value of student perceptions in designing for equity and inclusion, including associations between student perceptions/experiences and behaviors that affect learning. They will leave with ideas for collecting this data. Participants will learn about strategies for engaging faculty and faculty teams in iterative course improvement and creating supportive community among faculty engaged in these efforts.
