Improving Campus Culture
Dear Faculty Relations: I want my students to succeed, both as learners and as human beings. But I confess that I’m frustrated by DFWs (for lack of a better phrase). Do my actions in the classroom matter? —Hungry for Hope
Dear Hungry for Hope: I hear a note of despair in your voice, so let me say it plainly: your actions in the classroom do matter and the spirit of your instruction is just as important as your content. Our campus culture data strongly indicate that students with effective classroom instructors feel a greater sense of belonging and are more likely to remain enrolled and graduate. Remember, you’re only getting a snapshot of your students when they show up to class, but thoughtful strategies make a difference.
Academic and social challenges can weaken a student’s feeling of belonging, making them more susceptible to negative consequences like their confidence being eroded, becoming more anxious or depressed, failing or dropping a course, and leaving college. Counteract this by modeling a growth mindset--the belief that anyone’s abilities can be improved through effort, learning, and persistence, rather than being innate.
To model a growth mindset, you can:
- Share your belief in your students’ ability to learn and that mistakes are part of the learning process.
- Be open about your own struggles and what you’ve learned from them.
- Commend students for their strategies, perseverance, and planning (rather than just their intelligence or effort).
- Recognize their small successes and their improvement over time.
You can read more about practices that improve classroom and campus culture, and about trauma-informed classroom practices.
Campus data also show that students don’t feel like most of their instructors care about their well-being. Center your students’ well-being by showing care and concern and articulate to them the ways you are trying to offer that care. When students do feel like a faculty member cares, their ability to successfully navigate the normal stresses of college, as well as their ability to deal with harmful experiences, increases greatly.
How’s that for a bit of hope?
Written by Teresa Wroe, Assistant Vice Chancellor of Prevention Education & Deputy Title IX Coordinator, and Julie Volckens, Senior Director of Assessment & Prevention, Office of Institutional Equity & Compliance