scholarly journals Creating an Inclusive Learning Community to Better Serve Minority Students

2022 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Phoebe S. Lin ◽  
Lynne N. Kennette
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Academic Performance ◽  
Learning Environment ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Minority Students ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Poor Mental Health ◽  
Racial Groups ◽  
Online Classroom ◽  
Inclusive Learning

As campuses become increasingly diverse, it is important that faculties maintain inclusive classrooms. Students of underrepresented ethnic/racial groups are more likely to experience disengagement in an academic setting (Nagasawa & Wong, 1999), which can lead to underperformance (Major et al., 1998). Students with LGBTQA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or asexual) identities are at higher risk of poor mental health and lower academic performance compared to cisgender and heterosexual students (Aragon et al., 2014). These detrimental experiences can lead to even more harm in a remote learning environment, where students have fewer opportunities to feel a sense of belonging and connect with their peers and/or instructors. This paper will consider strategies of inclusiveness in the online classroom and in-person learning environment within a social psychology framework to better support underprivileged students to improve academic performance and the overall educational experience. The suggestions and discussions provided apply to both in-person learning as well as remote delivery.

scholarly journals Learning Management System (LMS) Use with Online Instruction

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 68
Author(s):  
Vaughn Malcolm Bradley
Keyword(s):  
Learning Environment ◽  
Professional Training ◽  
Academic Progress ◽  
Learning Management Systems ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
Classroom Environments ◽  
Online Classroom ◽  
Inclusive Learning ◽  
Learning Mathematics ◽  
Learning Management

Learning Management Systems (LMS) reinforce the learning process through online classroom environments. A standard LMS supports an inclusive learning environment for academic progress with interceding structures that promote online collaborative-groupings, professional training, discussions, and communication among other LMS users. Instructors should balance active learning with the use of LMS technological resources and the use of guidelines from the qualified curriculum. An LMS allows instructors to facilitate and model discussions, plan online activities, set learning expectations, provide learners with options, and assist in problem-solving with processes for decision making. An Instructor’s presence within an LMS creates an engaging learning environment. Students can retain their autonomy, enthusiasm, and motivation with LMS use. Stakeholders of the educational community must find scientific studies to support their contributions in LMS platforms to assist scholars in learning mathematics and other academic subjects.

Identity-Conscious Strategies to Engage At-Promise Students in a Learning Community: Shared Courses in a Comprehensive College Transition Program

2021 ◽  
Vol 123 (8) ◽  
pp. 146-175
Author(s):  
K. C. Culver ◽  
Elise Swanson ◽  
Ronald E. Hallett ◽  
Adrianna Kezar
Keyword(s):  
Learning Community ◽  
College Transition ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
First Year ◽  
Institutional Agents ◽  
Inclusive Learning ◽  
Academic Courses ◽  
Institutional Contexts ◽  
Comprehensive College

Background/Context: Low-income, racially minoritized, and first-generation college students (at-promise students) attending predominantly White, middle class institutions often face inequitable access to enriching educational opportunities, discrimination, and marginalization, creating barriers to their success. Institutions are increasingly designing comprehensive college transition programs (CCTPs) such as the Thompson Scholars Learning Community (TSLC) program to better support this population. Little research has examined how particular elements of CCTPs might foster students’ engagement and outcomes, and TSLC is one of a few existing CCTPs that includes a learning community component where students enroll in shared academic courses. Setting: TSLC operates on three campuses of the University of Nebraska system with different institutional contexts, including mission, size, student population, and geographic location. Study Participants: This study uses quantitative data from 791 first-year students in TSLC who began college in 2015 and 2016 and qualitative data from students and institutional agents who are directly involved with shared academic courses, including instructors and TSLC staff. Purpose: Using a framework of inclusive learning communities defined by Fink and Hummel (2015) , this study explores how and why shared courses may promote engagement and the development of several psychosocial and academic outcomes, including sense of belonging and grade point average (GPA), among at-promise students in their first year of college. Research Design: We use a multilevel mixed methods design, employing quantitative data to examine students’ engagement as well as the link between students’ engagement and several measures of psychosocial wellbeing and academic achievement and qualitative data from students and institutional agents to identify the structures and practices that likely contribute to students’ engagement and outcomes. Findings: We find no significant differences in students’ patterns of engagement in shared courses based on several characteristics related to their social identities, family backgrounds, and prior academic achievement. Engagement is positively linked to students’ sense of belonging and mattering to the institution, academic and social self-efficacy, and first-year GPA. Qualitative data provide insight into the mechanisms that foster these outcomes, including helping students develop connections in academic spaces, having a faculty coordinator who supports shared course instructors and students, and instructors’ use of active and relevant learning experiences. Conclusions: The loose-cohort shared courses model implemented in TSLC supports the success of at-promise students and provides evidence of scalability and adaptability across different institutional contexts, offering a model of inclusive learning community structures and practices that can inform efforts at other institutions.

scholarly journals How to foster the formation of STEM identity: studying diversity in an authentic learning environment

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison Singer ◽  
Georgina Montgomery ◽  
Shannon Schmoll
Keyword(s):  
Learning Environment ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Sociology Of Science ◽  
Authentic Learning ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Short Answer ◽  
Diversity And Inclusion ◽  
Educational Challenge ◽  
Short Answer Questions

Abstract Background STEM identity has been shown to have a powerful role in an individual’s success in educational environments, as well as on their career goals and trajectories. Historically, however, STEM identity formation for underrepresented students has been hampered by the lack of representation of in STEM fields, which predominantly consist of white males. One educational challenge is diversifying STEM classrooms, both in terms of the students themselves and also in terms of the science and scientists they learn about. Methods We piloted a 4-credit History, Philosophy, and Sociology of Science course at Michigan State University. Students were tasked with creating exhibits focused on themes of diversity and inclusion in science for a real client. Using a STEM identity survey, we assessed students’ attitudes towards the sciences, issues of diversity in science, and their sense of belonging to their educational communities. We also had the students respond to various short-answer questions throughout the semester to better understand their experiences working on a collaborative authentic learning task. Results Our results suggest that authentic learning experiences based around ideas of diversity and inclusion can help students develop sense of belonging and positive STEM identities. Students demonstrated shifts in their self-identities as scientists, focusing more on the intersection between their gender, ethnicity, and self-perception as a scientist. Through qualitative analysis of short-answer questions, we were able to ascertain that working in groups in an authentic learning environment helped the students improve their communication and collaboration skills. Conclusions Students’ increased focus on gender and ethnicity suggests that they are thinking critically about how their personal identities intersect with their scientific identities. Additional research would help us better understand if the coupling of authentic learning and inclusive teaching practices have significant impacts on the formation of students’ STEM identities.

scholarly journals Student Preferences within a Holistic Blended Learning Environment

2019 ◽  
pp. 276-290
Author(s):  
Bernice Beukes ◽  
Karin Barac ◽  
Lynette Nagel
Keyword(s):  
Academic Performance ◽  
Learning Environment ◽  
Blended Learning ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Mixed Method ◽  
Student Preferences ◽  
Performance Levels ◽  
Residential University ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Method Approach

Extant research shows that blended learning environments are widely accepted by students mainly because of the flexibility it offers. However, there is very little research that focuses on students’ preferences within a holistic blended learning environment and the contribution that a component makes to the learning of the subject matter, especially in large class settings. The purpose of this study is to investigate students’ perceptions of blended learning components in a holistic blended learning environment and whether these perceptions vary for students with different academic performance levels. A mixed method approach was used in this study performed at a residential university in South Africa and the results indicate that auditing students do have a clear preference for specific components within the environment and significant differences exist between the preferences of different academic performance levels. Such insights allow lecturers to adjust the resources and focus of the different components implemented in a blended learning environment.

scholarly journals La progettazione inclusiva per gli studenti gifted nella classe di lingua

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberta Novello
Keyword(s):  
Learning Environment ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Gifted Students ◽  
Inclusive Learning ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Efficient Learning

Since learning a language for gifted students is noticeably different from their age peers, their learning programme needs to be suitably tailored to their needs. Only by proposing tasks responding to their learning peculiarities, teachers will be able to foster gifted students’ talent in learning a foreign language, and to create an inclusive and efficient learning environment. The essay aims to outline the main traits regarding learning a foreign language by gifted students, and to explain how to create an inclusive learning environment in their language classroom.

scholarly journals Teacher Presence and Social Presence in Virtual and Blended Courses

10.28945/3965 ◽  
2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Learning Environment ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Social Presence ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
The Other ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Blended Courses ◽  
Challenge And Threat ◽  
Teacher Presence

[This Proceedings paper was revised and published in the 2018 issue of Journal of Information Technology Education: Research, Volume 17] Aim/Purpose: The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between teacher presence and social presence on one hand, and feelings of challenge and threat, self-efficacy, and motivation among students studying in virtual and blended courses on the other. Background: In this study we examined two types of courses, virtual courses (VCs) and blended courses (BCs). Physical separation between teacher and learners may lead to transactional distance, which should be reduced through teacher presence (TP) and social presence (SP). Methodology: This is a mixed-method study. Participants completed a threat/challenge questionnaire, a motivation questionnaire, a self-efficacy questionnaire, and answered open-ended questions. The sample included 484 students from two academic institutions in the Israel. Contribution: The study highlights the connection between critical factors involved in learning and teaching in VCs and BCs (teacher presence, social presence, feelings of challenge and threat, self-efficacy, and motivation) from the point of view of students studying in VCs and BCs. Findings: We found a link between teacher presence and social presence on one hand and feelings of challenge and threat, self-efficacy, and motivation of students in VCs and BCs on the other. At the same time, we found that the perceptions of motivation, challenge, and threat associated with VCs and BCs are interrelated, that is, students have similar perceptions in relation to both types of courses. Recommendations for Practitioners : It is preferable to create a learning environment that supports the learners and is attentive to their needs and to the creation of an active learning community. It has been found that these factors greatly influence the process and the quality of learning in the course. Recommendation for Researchers: The study examined the subjective feelings of the students about the learning process in virtual and blended environments. We recommend continuing to explore the characteristics of the virtual environment and of teaching methods in these environments. Impact on Society: The combination of virtual and blended learning environments in the learning process may lead to the realization of the educational vision of creating a learning environment that supports students and responds to their needs, enabling autonomous and collaborative learning while creating a learning community. Future Research: It is advisable to examine the issue from the perspective of the teachers in VCs and BCs to elucidate the topic from other angles.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document