“We call ourselves the American Dream Machine,” Dr. Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, chancellor of the City University of New York (CUNY) said in the October 2, 2020 “Conversation on Student Success” part of the series produced by ACUE and the American Council on Education (ACE). Sherri Hughes, assistant vice president of professional learning at ACE, hosted the conversation.

Rodríguez, who first came to the CUNY system in 2000 as a faculty member, explained that many CUNY students come from minority, low-income, and/or first-generation backgrounds. When the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted higher education, the system was tasked not only with transitioning nearly 50,000 course sections to an online format, but also equipping students with the tools they need to continue their learning, such as computers and hotspots.

“We couldn’t leave anybody behind,” Matos Rodríguez said. 

Since the beginning of the global crisis, Matos Rodríguez and CUNY have learned a lot of lessons. Pedagogy has always been a key strategic priority for the leader, and it has become all the more central in light of new challenges and already existing inequities. 

Key Insights from the Conversation

Educators take pride in their teaching and are an integral part of building a culture of instructional excellence.

“Everybody is really proud of their teaching,” Matos Rodríguez said.

Matos Rodríguez noted that there’s a lot of skepticism about higher education right now, and the public needs to see that educators are serious about their teaching. This, he explained, will not only help an institution’s — and the entire industry’s — brand but also help students navigate career prospects.

“The focus on better teaching and better pedagogy is the right thing to do…and helps our students when they pursue jobs to advance as professionals,” he said.

Many faculty, he added, are eager to introduce students to career possibilities and help them create networks and build skills, work that can be integrated into courses. 

Because faculty are central to institutional pedagogical efforts, Matos Rodríguez believes that they must be part of the conversation about how to improve them. At CUNY, faculty are asked about successful initiatives and how the process can be improved going forward. 

“Faculty want students to feel the same passion for the work they do,” Matos Rodríguez opined.

Given support, faculty can not only adapt but also thrive.

CUNY is investing in its faculty, offering numerous opportunities for instructors to improve their teaching, especially in an online environment. 

“All faculty want to teach better. Many of us just don’t get the training. Faculty are thankful for the opportunity to learn how to teach online,” Matos Rodríguez said. “They’re discovering aspects of online teaching they’re enjoying.”

He added that they also have more empathy and sensitivity to the situations students are experiencing having to learn from home. 

“One of the positive things about the pandemic is more interest in pedagogy and teaching,” Matos Rodríguez said. “Faculty are challenging us to do more and dig deeper.”

Matos Rodríguez also emphasized the significant role that philanthropic partnerships play in catalyzing change across higher education. The Mellon Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, and the Charles Koch Foundation — through a National Association of System Heads initiative — have all invested in CUNY to support student success through quality teaching.

Good teaching improves the community.

“One of the great prides I have being a CUNY family member is that we are an indispensable anchoring institution in New York City,” Matos Rodríguez said.

As an important institution in the city that was formerly the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, he believes CUNY has a responsibility — and ability — to help New York recover. He pointed to the fact that the city now has a higher unemployment rate as a result of the stress to the economy, with many students who previously work in industries like hospitality now out of jobs. 

“We can help rebuild the city in an equitable way,” Matos Rodríguez said, citing courses, training, partnerships, and other opportunities as ways of helping New York. “This is one of the reasons CUNY was created.”

The pandemic offers pedagogical lessons for the future.

Going forward, Matos Rodríguez hopes we don’t lose the lessons we’ve learned going forward — empathy and humility for one.

“I pray that we keep that human side and integrate it into the new normal,” he said. “That will make us far better educators and people and will make for a far better country.”

Matos Rodríguez also advised colleagues to use data gathered during this unprecedented period and think about how they can use it to innovate. CUNY, for example, has data from its partnership with ACUE that the system plans to use to show others how transformational it has been. Data can also be used to better support faculty.

“If we invest in our most important asset, faculty, we’ll get faculty that are happier and more motivated, and we’ll achieve better outcomes,” Matos Rodríguez said.

CUNY, for one, found a way to thrive in spite of obstacles: the system graduated over 56,000 students at the end of a tumultuous semester, sustaining a decade-long upward trend.  

“As human beings, we’re not fond of ambiguity,” said Theresa Nance, PhD, vice president for diversity and inclusion and chief diversity officer at Villanova University, as she opened a mid-October conversation on Examining and Mitigating Implicit Bias, the latest in ACUE’s series of Inclusive Online Teaching webinars. “We fill in gaps with our knowledge and our understanding.”

The webinar also featured panelists Kevin Gannon, PhD, director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) and professor of history, Grand View University; Marlo Goldstein Hode, PhD, senior manager, strategic diversity initiatives, Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, University of Missouri-St. Louis; and Darvelle Hutchins, lecturer, Department of Communications Studies, California Polytechnic State University and Diversity Strategist, TDS Telecommunications, Inc. The panel shared practices to set expectations for valuing diverse viewpoints, facilitate respectful conversations, and engage students in inclusive active learning exercises.

Key Insights from the Conversation

We all have biases.

“Everyone has them,” Goldstein Hode added. “These are cognitive shortcuts to categorize information very quickly.” She noted that these are involuntary thoughts that might conflict with our conscious thoughts — and we need to recognize that we have biases and be cognizant of situations where they could come into play. 

“Take a step back, ask questions, and seek out new information,” she said.

“We all have biases,” Hutchins agreed. “I think it’s important to remember that as educators, we’re not exempt from that.”

He revealed some biases he had when he was a new educator. For example, he believed that seniors were more prepared for complex courses than freshmen and engineering students were more analytical thinkers than those studying the arts and humanities — biases that were quickly challenged through his work.

Gannon, meanwhile, urged educators to read Stephen Brookfield’s Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher. This book, he said, provides an excellent framing model for being a critical pedagogue. He also urged instructors to embrace a “radical ethic of transparency.”

We must be able to admit when we’re wrong.

“Intent does not equal impact,” said Nance. “[We must] become comfortable with admitting we don’t know — or we’re wrong.”

In fact, Goldstein Hode noted, you can only be effective if you’re aware you have that bias. “You have to care — have intrinsic motivation to want to challenge these biases. [It involves] developing a chronic awareness of bias.” 

“Are you paying attention to the story that surrounds [actions]?” Gannon asked, noting that it’s essential to make sure students aren’t being targeted in inequitable ways.

Addressing unconscious bias is an ongoing process.

“How can I continue to work to keep myself accountable to make sure everyone has an equal experience, even when it comes to grading?” Hutchins wondered. “How can we best position ourselves to work through that, be more inclusive, and provide a safe and equitable student experience?”

In effort to continue the process of addressing and mitigating bias, he, for example, aims to be very clear about his expectations and continually refers back to a rubric he’s created to ensure he’s being just and fair.

This is particularly important during COVID, Gannon said, when so much has been moved online.

“I try to be as transparent and explicit as I can with my students,” he said. 

As part of this work, Gannon advocates using the Transparency in Learning and Teaching (TILT) framework. “It offers me a way to present tasks to my students by presenting a framework and takes away the anxiety of students who have not been asked to do a task before.” Additionally, he added, it “helps me expose and unpack my assumptions about what students can and can’t do and what I’ve internalized.”

“As faculty members, we all have a responsibility to maintain justice in the classroom,” Nance opined. “If we’re not doing it, then we’re not doing our jobs.”

She advocated using strategies like being more purposeful when forming groups and considering what different personalities would add. She also advises faculty to be explicit when addressing bias, all while acknowledging that “We’re never finished. We have to keep reading, talking, learning.”

Goldstein Hode suggested having students fill in a survey about what they can bring to a group to form one that would harness diverse skills.

At the end of the day, Goldstein Hode said, “Neural paths can be overridden but not overwritten. We can actively choose to act otherwise. [This is] ongoing work.”

Hutchins added that students have biases, too, and educators must work with students to help them consciously face them. “Work to bring to light that bias,” he said. “Post research. Post statistics so students can check their own biases. Be flexible.”

Watch the full webinar and access resources.

This webinar was presented in collaboration with the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), the American Council on Education (ACE), the Association of Public & Land-Grant Universities (APLU), The Council of Independent Colleges (CIC), Every Learner Everywhere (ELE), the National Association of System Heads (NASH), and Strong Start to Finish (SSTF).

Our college and university classrooms, online and in-person, have long been spaces for civil discourse and the expressions of emotions, perspectives, hopes and fears.

A presidential election year often introduces additional feelings, including uncertainty, among many students. To support faculty in creating supportive and inclusive learning environments—including facilitating challenging conversations and practicing self care, we’ve curated a selection of resources.

Have a great class!

Promoting a civil learning environment

• Harry Brighouse, ‘Giving a Voice to Students’ Opposing Views’
• Gina Curcio, ‘How to Ensure Success in Discussions on Controversial Topics: Structure”

Creating a supportive and inclusive learning environment

• Webinar recap: preparing an inclusive online course
• Terri Jett, ‘Insights: The Complexity of the Inclusive Classroom Dynamic’

Student Mental Health and Educator Self-care

• Alison Malmon, ‘Creating a Culture of Caring, Beginning with Self-Care’
• Faculty Resource for Creating a Culture of Caring: Practical Approaches for Faculty to Support Student Wellbeing and Mental Health

“It’s even more important right now to ensure we’re creating courses that are inclusive,” Farrah Ward opined in the webinar Preparing an Inclusive Online Course, the second webinar in ACUE’s Inclusive Online Teaching webinar series, presented in collaboration with the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), the American Council on Education (ACE), the Association of Public & Land-Grant Universities (APLU), The Council of Independent Colleges (CIC), Every Learner Everywhere (ELE), the National Association of System Heads (NASH), and Strong Start to Finish (SSTF).

Ward noted that students usually have a choice in what kinds of courses they take, but COVID-19 has taken that choice away, and students are coping with the myriad challenges of remote learning, such as having to share rooms and computers, facing food insecurity, and more.

“It’s essential for faculty to remain conscious that students are learning in different ways,” she said.

The discussion also featured insights from José Antonio Bowen, PhD, former president, Goucher College and author of Teaching Naked: How Moving Technology Out of Your College Classroom Will Improve Student Learning; Santiba Campbell, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Bennett College; and Kristina Ruiz-Mesa, PhD, associate professor & basic course director, Department of Communication Studies, California State University, Los Angeles. Dr. Kevin Kelly, ACUE academic director, moderated the discussion.

Key Takeaways from the Conversation

Exercising empathy is crucial.

Displaying empathy was a theme of the webinar. Ward commented that faculty never truly know what students are going through — that there could be a reason why they don’t want to share their screen or don’t necessarily know how to use the technologies.

“How do we show students we care?” Ruiz-Mesa asked. She emphasized the importance of transparency — explaining the reasons behind actions, as well as being critically self-reflexive. “I think we have to allow ourselves the grace and flexibility we’re hoping for our students.”
Focus on language and communication.

“We have to ensure we’re communicating [our] ideas,” Campbell said. She encouraged faculty to focus on accessibility, considering how your assignments will be accessed. She also suggested being flexible in terms of engagement, perhaps, for example, offering office hours via phone, DMs, GroupMe, or text at different times to accommodate working students.

“Think about what to include in an e-communication policy,” Bowen suggested. “How fast do you respond to email? When do you respond? Do you use Google or Facebook chat?” He also advised revealing something about your own personal habits to students, such as when you check and respond to emails. “Students need more accessibility and want more security.”

“Students should feel and know that they belong in this course, on this campus,” Ruiz-Mesa added. “Are we taking time throughout the semester to remind students about the resources that are on campus and off?” Ruiz-Mesa, for example, adds resources like mental health organizations to her syllabus with statistics and data about who uses them to reduce stigma. “Think about language; how is it working toward the goal of equity and inclusion?”
Structure and flexibility go hand-in-hand.

“We’re trending toward a perfect storm,” Campbell said, pointing out that systemic racism, COVID-19, election season, and the upcoming holidays are colliding to put students and faculty in under an enormous amount of stress and fatigue. “We can’t bring our stress and fatigue into the classroom.” Structure and flexibility, she added, can help.

Bowen agreed, noting that these are both things students have requested, and they’re not actually contradictory. For instance, he said, it might be time to relax some restrictions while giving students a structure for how to study and complete their assignments, along with opportunities for reflection. “It’s the communication that I have high standards and I’m going to help you get there. That combination is really the secret sauce.”

“Think about course design,” Ruiz-Mesa added. “I think about what I want my students to walk away with and carry into their careers. How can I make this course different? How are students represented in the material?”

Ward said that faculty should focus on the learning objectives. “One thing I think we’ll learn from this phase is how to restructure our courses,” she noted. “Many of us have been in a groove.”

Consider how students can formulate their learning identity.

“A big component of online teaching is ensuring students have an identity,” Campbell said. She pointed to the ACUE welcome introduction, saying that faculty shouldn’t just introduce themselves but also have students do the same, an activity that allows them to establish their identity.

Faculty, too, need to speak to different identities, according to Bowen. Rather than encouraging everyone to apply for a specific scholarship or internship, for example, instructors should say something like “I would love to have a more diverse lab.” “Not everyone hears what you think is neutral as neutral,” he said.

“Identity is what brings us together,” Campbell added. She said that before broaching more sensitive topics like race and gender, faculty can “start small”—sharing zip codes, mascots, and so on. “Start with a shared, common identity — then build to others.”
Self-care is important for faculty, too.

“Model for students that we’re human,” Bowen said.

This, the presenters agreed, involves self-care. “If you take care of yourself, you will be improving your course,” Ward said. “Faculty should give grace to themselves. You cannot help anyone else unless you protect yourself first.”

“Let students know you’re tired,” Campbell agreed. “Use other resources to assist you. You can’t pour from an empty cup.”

Words of Wisdom

As the discussion wrapped up, the moderator invited each panelist to share a final thought on the topic:

“Be bold, be brave.” —Dr. Santiba Campbell

“Think about things you can that will help your most disadvantaged students. It doesn’t hurt anybody!” —Dr. José A. Bowen

“Clear, concise communication of care.” —Dr. Kristina Ruiz-Mesa

University of Colorado Denver partners with ACUE to scale teaching excellence through microcredential courses 

At every university, there are pivotal courses that can “make or break” a student’s collegiate career. The University of Colorado Denver (CU Denver) refers to courses that have the largest impact on student success and retention as “influential courses,” and leadership is committed to equipping instructors teaching these courses with every tool necessary to ensure their students succeed. 

CU Denver’s influential courses are typically characterized by having some or all of the following characteristics: have large enrollment of more than 75 students, are part of the school’s undergraduate lower division, and historically produce high DFW rates—meaning 20% of students receive a final grade of D, F or withdraw from the course. These courses are also considered “gateways” to student success. 

“We chose to partner with ACUE to provide professional development to our professors and lecturers who teach these influential courses, and we’ve recently discovered microcredential courses to be incredibly effective,” explains Lindsey Hamilton, director of CU Denver’s Center for Excellence in Teaching & Learning. 

CU Denver’s partnership with ACUE began in 2017, when Hamilton was one of the first faculty members to complete ACUE’s Effective Teaching Practices program.   

“When we first started working with ACUE, CU Denver didn’t yet have a dedicated Center for Excellence in Teaching & Learning. With very little budget and only one staff member working in an office that supported faculty’s overall professional development, I decided that the ACUE course would allow us to help faculty improve their teaching and have maximum impact on the greatest number of faculty,” says Margaret Wood, CU Denver’s associate vice chancellor of academic achievement. 

“All was not wine and roses, however. I remember in those early years that our faculty loved the course, but some had difficulty committing to a full academic year. After we went remote in March and I heard that ACUE was planning to offer microcredentials, I was thrilled. This was just the answer we were looking for. The microcredentials offer our faculty robust support around targeted teaching topics while also offering flexibility.” 

Hamilton, too, found the ACUE course content to be practical and useful. 

After receiving her ACUE Certificate in Effective College Instruction, which is awarded in collaboration with the American Council on Education, she served as a faculty cohort facilitator, a role which paved the way for her leadership position in the Center for Excellence in Teaching & Learning. She immediately began examining the best way to meet her university’s ambitious goal of providing professional development to the hundreds of faculty members and lecturers who teach one of the university’s influential courses, including general biology, college algebra and English composition. 

CU Denver found the solution in ACUE’s microcredential courses. 

“There is a lot of value in ACUE’s full Effective Teaching Practices program, but we found offering the course in sections as microcredentials was a better fit for our faculty members,” Hamilton says. “So we’re all in on microcredentials!”  

Faculty participants can complete an ACUE microcredential course in six to eight weeks, which Hamilton says was more compelling to faculty compared to the commitment of a full academic year to complete the full credential program. Moreover, Hamilton had faith that once faulty members participated in one microcredential course, they would see the value and decide to enroll in additional microcredential courses. 

This past summer, CU Denver offered multiple offerings of the microcredential courses in Promoting Active Learning Online and Designing Student-Centered Courses. In large part due to the positive feedback from CU Denver faculty who previously completed ACUE courses, one email from Hamilton was all it took to recruit nearly 100 faculty into the courses.   

The Promoting Active Learning Online microcredential course has been particularly valuable for CU Denver faculty, as 75% of their courses are being conducted virtually this fall due to concerns around COVID-19. 

“ACUE provides real examples of how to incorporate best practices into the virtual classroom—the sort of information our faculty were hungry for,” Hamilton says. “As so many of our courses moved online, this was a great opportunity for our instructors to totally reinvent the wheel—not simply take what they were doing in the in-person setting and try to replicate it online.” 

The feedback from faculty has been extraordinary. 

“I successfully completed the program, proving that even a former dean and provost can still learn new things! The ACUE microcredential was an excellent design, rich in content and very interactive—one of the approaches to engagement, obviously,” shares one CU Denver business faculty member. “One impression of many is that the faculty across our university are creative, committed and highly motivated to do our best work, especially in these trying times.” 

In spring 2021, CU Denver will offer another microcredential course, Inspiring Inquiry and Lifelong Learning in Your Online Course, followed by an additional course, Creating an Inclusive and Supportive Learning Environment, which Hamilton thinks will supplement the university’s Inclusive Pedagogy Academy. 

“By offering this particular microcredential course as part of the academy, we’re really providing a two-for-one training for our faculty,” Hamilton says. “Sometimes with a topic like this, faculty leave discouraged by the enormity of the issue. We hope by providing this ACUE course, our faculty will leave with not only a better understanding of inclusive teaching practices, but also feeling positive about their ability to incorporate practical ideas they can immediately implement  to create a more inclusive learning environment.” 

The long-term outlook points to greater student success. 

Faculty who elect to take all four of ACUE’s microcredential courses will earn the full Certificate in Effective College Instruction, a trend that Hamilton hopes and expects to see. 

Independently validated research confirms that students are more engaged, learn more, and complete courses in greater numbers—more equitably with their peers—when taught by faculty who have earned the full ACUE certificate.  

“We’re already seeing a high retention rate of faculty members opting to enroll in another microcredential course,” Hamilton says. “Our faculty think it’s amazing. They’re enjoying the opportunity to structure their modules in a way that seems more manageable to them.” 

“How do we continue to rupture practices that are grounded in convention to teach with equitable outcomes?” Dr. Michael Benitez, Jr., vice president for the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, Metropolitan State University, Denver, asked in Creating an Inclusive Online Learning Environment, the first in ACUE’s series of Inclusive Online Teaching Webinars. 

This webinar was presented in collaboration with the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), the American Council on Education (ACE), the Association of Public & Land-Grant Universities (APLU), The Council of Independent Colleges (CIC), Every Learner Everywhere (ELE), the National Association of System Heads (NASH), and Strong Start to Finish (SSTF).

The webinar also featured insights from Dr. Viji Sathy, professor of the practice, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Dr. Kelly Hogan, STEM teaching professor and associate dean of instructional innovation, College of Arts & Sciences, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Darvelle Hutchins, lecturer, Department of Communications Studies, California Polytechnic State University and diversity strategist, TDS Telecommunications, Inc. Dr. Charity Peak, regional director for academic programs at ACUE, moderated the discussion.

Key Insights from the Conversation

Student feedback is important for assessing inclusive teaching.

“This is not about us,” Benitez said. “This is about the students that we serve.”

In order to ensure that instructors’ practices are meeting students’ needs, Sathy advised gathering feedback. She suggested inviting students to fill out a form, with the option of offering suggestions anonymously. She also noted how important it is to respond to that feedback to demonstrate that you’re listening to what your students are saying. 

Midsemester, Sathy said, is an ideal time to collect this feedback, such as via a prompt on the midterm. 

Hogan and Hutchins also stressed the importance of soliciting student feedback. Hutchins asks students to submit a reflection essay that earns them points. In it, they address a series of questions about challenges and aspects of the course they’re enjoying. “When you attach points to it, students really think about it and give in-depth feedback,” he said.

“It shows that you care,” Hogan said. “That matters the most to them.”

Faculty must be willing to adapt their courses and content.

“Focus on learning and your role in helping students with the learning,” Sathy said. That might include changing the way a course is taught. Part of that, Sathy added, could be based on that student feedback. She advised faculty to not only read that input but share it back to students in some form — and then implement at least one change because of it. “Show you’re willing to meet them where they are, and you’re willing to change things to reflect that community of learners,” she explained. “They’ll really take that to be a sign of good faith.”

Sometimes, Hogan noted, courses don’t always go according to plan. For example, what if certain students aren’t engaging with one another in a breakout room? Hogan presented her approach: Investigate, summarize the problem, and plan a possible solution. In the breakout room scenario, she proposed setting up a Google Slide for each group and then scanning the document to see if any groups haven’t added to theirs. That, she said, will allow instructors to focus their attention on those groups.

“It’s about adapting and adopting,” Benitez agreed. “It’s more important than ever to try different ways and modes of teaching.”

Learning is a partnership.

The speakers also discussed how students have agency in their learning. One way Hutchins makes the teaching and learning process collaborative is by establishing community norms upfront: “Things we commit to as participants.”

Hutchins’ norms are:

1. Demonstrate a respect for difference
2. Assume good intentions
3. Respect confidentiality
4. Be generous
5. Be patient
6. Respect deadlines

After he establishes them, he asks students to offer feedback and add to them — making it a collaboration between the instructor and students. 

“It’s a good time to remind them what can they be doing to improve their learning,” Sathy added. “It’s a partnership.”

Benitez commented that institutions must also work with faculty. “If we better support our faculty, we better support our students,” he said. “Collaborate…and enlist support from one another.”

He also noted that the learning goes both ways, with instructors learning from their students, too. 

In order to ensure that learning is collaborative, Hogan asks students to prepare before class in one of her courses, so class time can be a time to work together and problem solve.

The presenters also discussed optimizing peer interactions. Benitez suggested forming groups with different dynamics. He also leaves some of his syllabus empty for students to fill in.

“Students worry that there’s a scarcity of resources,” Sathy said. “It’s important to remind students that your goal is for all students to learn the material and that they should help each other succeed in this course — it’s not a competition. Encourage students to see the strengths of their peers; it will help them be better thinkers.”

Hogan has students peer-review one another’s work, assigning the pairs so everyone is exposed to different perspectives. She found the majority of her students said they were learning the most from their peers.

For more resources on creating an inclusive online learning environment, including a full recording and transcript of the webinar, visit our Inclusive Online Teaching Webinars page.