5 Part A: Humanizing the Course and Class Ecosystem

“Some courses feel very different from other courses. I can think of one course where I felt like the whole class cared about each other – and learned together.” – Anonymous student

In practice, this can look like:

• Dedicate one or more units of the course to development by students. Ask students what they want to learn or read, and use those materials to meet your learning outcomes.
• Collaboratively identify the core values of the course with students (e.g., what are we doing and why are we doing it?). Note that iterative development within a course can require real buy-in from students and the intentional use of alternate channels of communication.
• Share some personal thoughts or experiences as we move through difficult news cycles. For example, one team of instructors posted a Friday afternoon message to students with a bit of a summary of what they did in class that week, where the class was going next week, and some comments about what they were planning for the weekend or had struggled with over the past week. Students expressed their appreciation for getting to know their instructors “as people.”
• Encourage small group discussions and larger class discussions to allow all students to share their ideas without forcing anyone to speak in front of a huge audience. This strategy also removes the fear of being called on by a professor to speak in front of the class.
• Remove the dichotomy of the professor / TA at the front with all students facing them to create a more conversational atmosphere that allows students to chat informally with their instructor.
• Demonstrate trust in conversations with students who are requesting extensions or flexibility.
  
• Emphasize relationships rather than achieving outcomes. This can mean modelling and acknowledging the uncertainty of the outcome but trusting the process, particularly in project-based courses. At the beginning of a semester, we often have no clue what will come at the end. But, together, as a class, we build the research and discovery process, we take time to enjoy each other’s company, to be silly, to be serious, to experience each other and, kinda like magic, it all works out.
• Foster space that is open for chatting and encouragement so that students can feel more comfortable with each other and know that their instructor encourages free thought. One TA, for example, makes an effort to show students that their peers are helping them, that the ideas of 5 students can sometimes be more valuable than the ideas of just one. In practice, this TA asks students to create presentations in groups of 4-5. Following the presentation, other groups are encouraged to ask the presenting group questions about their findings and their research. The TA then takes time to show the groups that new ideas are presented within the questions and that the students can use these ideas to strengthen their own analysis.
• Explaining what (not just when) “office hours” are helps to ensure student success, as their meaning of is not immediately apparent, especially for first-generation students. One example of what to say is: “Office hours are times when you can meet with your professors and teaching assistants to discuss the material being presented in class or other related interests you have. Course-related discussions include asking for extra help, seeking clarification of material presented in class and following up on aspects of the class you find compelling. In addition, students also discuss majors and programs of study, and graduation requirements, as well as summer internships, graduate schools, campus events, and much more.”^[1]
• Understand that “office hours” should be regarded as a broader concept, and not a hard-to-get spot that privileges only a few students.
• Where you hold office hours can also express the idea that the course extends beyond the physical walls of the classroom. One student recalled a Professor who would hold office hours in a public space (i.e., Oscar Peterson Hall). The student appreciated this because it was firstly less awkward than having to go to someone’s office to ask a question, and secondly because it allowed for spontaneous discussions and interactions to happen. When instructors make themselves present on campus, it adds to the campus ecosystem. The student recalled regularly seeing and being acknowledged by their former professor in the student centre. That frequent interaction and recognition made the student feel genuinely as a part of the campus community.
• Move office hours to immediately after class. In person, this means moving to an adjacent public place or office. Online, it’s just staying in the Zoom classroom until questions are answered. This appears significantly to reduce barriers to participation. People with very specific comments/questions get this out of the way first, and then there are a group that stay longer without any (apparent) agenda. It is an easy opportunity to open the doors and model the kind of interactions/care/humanised environment you’re trying to build in the class.
• Foster a lab-like environment where students can fail better and debrief on their mistakes.
• Provide time at the start of each class session to check in with students and ask how they are doing. You can also share how you manage your role and responsibilities as a way to connect with students.
• Share your teaching philosophy with students on your learning management system or incorporate it into your welcome first lecture. It is also great if you revisit these ideas throughout the course and remind students of why you do what you do.
• Share reflection prompts with students and give them time in class to brainstorm their responses. The prompts can be related to topics that demonstrate humanizing learning and educating the student as a whole. For example, focusing on skill development or making students aware of things that influence their education and academic performance show that you care about their success overall.
• Pause frequently for questions from students. Taking it a step further – provide common questions that past students have had and reviewing them, ensure stuents know that asking questions is important, and we are there to teach them.
• Provide opportunities for peer and self-assessments, which can challenge the transactional nature of learning exemplified by the grading done by an instructor to students’ work.
• Learn students’ names, and provide clear directions for how you would like to be addressed.
• When possible, if assignments have a choice of topics or formats, include also a “choose your own adventure” clause and invite students to propose something off-list.
• Allow students to earn marks by connecting course material to events happening beyond the course.
• Be transparent in explaining why a certain deadline needs to be met (e.g., you are required to submit an interim grade).
• Acknowledge the limits to your own understanding.
• Adapt a course reading list to reflect the students’ interests and learning goals.
• Reconsider the inclusion of late penalties, especially really strict ones (if the assignment is due at 11:59PM, should there really be a penalty if it is submitted at 12:01AM?).
• Provide ”play by play” and ”colour commentary” on your pedagogy. Tell students why you chose the activities you chose and what you hope is achieved by teaching the way you are teaching. Included in that is debriefing afterwards, about your own teaching and how it went and how it might have gone better (inviting feedback and critique). For example ”ok I want to do a chat waterfall here in the zoom chat. Write your answer to this question but don’t hit enter until we’re all ready. Then we will see all the answers together and go through them. This is to give us all a chance to get to interact, share our ideas and experiences, and not compete. Everyone gets their own space. Ok ready? Hit enter!”
• Discuss with students what topics they want to be evaluated on (e.g. creating question banks), as well as how they want to be evaluated, etc.
• Introduce humor and finding opportunities for laughter, or other emotions, in interactions.
• Conduct regular ‘temperature checks’ at the start of class (could be in the form of a poll) asking how they are currently feeling (ranging from completely overwhelmed to “I got this!”).
• Integrate icebreakers in classes that don’t have a clear connection to the curriculum. Ten minutes discussing favourite foods or sharing travel photos can go a long way to help create community.
• Some students appreciate a more folksy, relatable, and conversational style, which can mean intentionally using first-person voice, avoiding academic jargon, and creating and selecting teaching content that is relatable.
• Create an environment of culturally responsive teaching and choose materials that students can see themselves in.
• Choose open educational resources in lieu of pricy textbooks. As long as the quality is the same this can demonstrate a caring for students and their economic health and well-being.
• Reflect on course materials to see what can be presented in different modalities and not have everything be textual. A podcast of information with a transcript may be great for a student who wants to engage with concepts without being in front of a screen.
• Introduce “Stop Start Continue” surveys throughout the course to reflect on your practices and be open to student feedback. But be honest about what you can or cannot implement in what they have suggested, and why.
• Ask students to anonymously share (index care/anonymous form) one thing they would like you (the instructor) to know about them as a student.
• Give time to talk about expectations and come to agreements on what it means to be respectful in this class, and not to turn away from difficult knowledge but rather to deepen discussion/understanding. This might take a whole semester to work through along with the content.
• Help students think about the ways that teaching and learning can become a source of challenge (desirable difficulty) that engages curiosity rather than turns it away.
• Teach students the tools to be able to have critical and difficult discussions, (e.g., giving and receiving feedback, what will we do when someone makes a mistake or makes a comment that is appropriate, etc.). In this way, we support students to be active contributors and the discussion/dialogue has real relevance for what it means to be part of a citizenry and to learn and bring our full selves to the endeavor of teaching and learning.