Effective & Efficient Faculty
RETAINING DIVERSITY
Support for Retaining Diverse Faculty & Students
The online/virtual services below are especially designed to help campus leaders and administrators retain diverse faculty and students. Diverse faculty and diverse students are likely to face classroom challenges that might result in their decreased success and retention. Each of the services below addresses at least one but often several classroom threats to retention (e.g. classroom incivility, negative classroom climate, heavy teaching or diversity service load, negative course evaluations, course content that underrepresents or stereotypes diverse students, etc.).
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Formats: Online Professional Development Course, Individual Virtual Consulting/Coaching, or Online Faculty Learning Community
To schedule a consultation for support, contact chavella@effectivefaculty.org or fill out our contact form by clicking below
Faculty might need or want to teach topics that are marginalized, controversial, or otherwise new scholarly perspectives for students yet want to avoid creating a negative learning environment for diverse students. Diverse faculty might be more likely to teach topics students perceive as difficult. As such, participants will learn how to lay an evidence-based foundation for teaching difficult or controversial topics. At the end, participants will have a detailed strategy for choosing, planning and teaching these topics that is suited for their teaching style, discipline, campus, and students.
Preparing for Difficult or Controversial Classroom Topics*
The retention of diverse faculty supports the retention of diverse students. Diverse faculty are more likely to use innovative teaching methods. Additionally, their diverse statuses can have an impact on both classroom dynamics and student course evaluations. In light of these unique contexts, participants will learn about research on diverse faculty’s teaching methods and goals. They will also learn the best practices for documenting their teaching effectiveness. This is done in an interactive format such that participants can practice implementing these strategies. At the end, participants will have an individualized plan to document their teaching effectiveness.
Documenting Teaching Effectiveness for Student Learning, Tenure, and Promotion*
Teaching in No Time (TINT): Preparing for a Stress-Free Efficient and Effective Semester* (Across Delivery Modalities - F2F, hybrid, online, synch live & remote, etc)*
[This course has been updated to prepare faculty to teach across delivery modalities during the upcoming unpredictable Fall 2020 academic term.]
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It can be difficult for faculty to find the time to both learn about and incorporate teaching practices for diverse students. And difficult for diverse faculty to focus on research productivity given their higher diversity service requests, new course preparations, etc. In order to engage in excellent teaching and research, faculty need to create “space” in their teaching time and energy. In an interactive format, faculty will learn how to teach effectively with less time and stress via using efficient evidence-based teaching practices. At the end, participants will have weekly course topics, lesson plans for the first two weeks, course assignments, and a grading strategy for the term.
Teaching Excellence: Developing Effective Practices for Inclusive Classrooms*
Inclusive teaching is important to the retention and success of all students but especially for diverse students. Participants will learn about the research basis for inclusive teaching. In an interactive manner, participants will engage and begin to apply the four main components of inclusive teaching to their own practice. At the end, participants will know what they can immediately do to improve their inclusive teaching and/or have a plan for future improvements.
Developing Effective Strategies for Classroom Disruptions & Incivility
Student incivility and inappropriate disruptions can derail faculty effectiveness and student learning—especially for diverse faculty and students. In an interactive format, participants will learn about diverse faculty & students’ experiences with classroom incivility. They will also learn about the potential consequences of unchecked classroom incivilities. Most importantly, participants will learn about and practice strategies they can use to address student classroom incivility. At the end, each participant will have an individual plan to address potential classroom incivilities.
Writing Your Teaching Statement/Narrative
A teaching statement should clearly and concisely communicate about various aspects of your teaching. This is especially important for diverse faculty who might employ teaching goals and strategies that are evidence-based, but uncommon on their campuses. This seems like a simple document to create and written guides on how to do so are plentiful—yet many find it is not a straightforward task. At the end of this workshop, participants will have used the provided support and guidance towards drafting their teaching statement.
Understanding Your Student Ratings/Course Evaluations**
New and experienced teachers may not know how to interpret their student course evaluations. Yet this skill is essential to creating or maintaining effective teaching and a successful academic career. This is especially important for those with diverse statuses or content since this might affect classroom dynamics. At the end of this workshop, participants will know how to identify and understand (and potentially address) both the patterns and outliers in student course evaluation data.
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Collecting and Presenting Data about Student Learning in Your Courses
Teaching effectiveness is best demonstrated with multiple types of evidence. This is especially important for diverse faculty who might perceive their course evaluations as biased. At the end of this workshop, participants will know how to identify, collect, and analyze data about student learning in their courses.
*All of the above are designed to meet the needs of new and experienced faculty. However, the starred services (*) are particularly important for 1st year and early tenure track diverse faculty to improve their success and retention.