Lumen Circles are asynchronous faculty professional development experiences that use virtual learning communities to connect faculty with peers, helping them refine their expertise as student-centered educators. Grounded in evidence-based teaching practices and self-reflection, Lumen Circles are designed to benefit faculty members across disciplines and career stages.

Dr. Iona Ringgold and Dr. Katherine Orlando participated in the Lumen Circles Belonging and Inclusive Teaching Fundamentals Circle, where they embraced teaching strategies that foster engagement and belonging. The foundational knowledge gained through their Lumen Circles experience empowered them to extend these practices into their campus community, encouraging other faculty to engage in belonging work through their own learning collective.

This blog shares their journey and the transformative impact Lumen Circles had on their work, demonstrating how Lumen Circles faculty professional development experiences can inspire meaningful change in higher education.

Authors: Dr. Iona Ringgold and Dr. Katherine Orlando

 At Towson University in Maryland, we have been applying what we learned during our time as Lumen Circle fellows to two different professional learning series for faculty and staff.  The Lumen Circles program provided the foundational knowledge and collaborative environment that inspired us to create our own space to foster student belonging.  With the support and framework provided by Lumen Circles, we established The Inclusive Teaching Collective—a community aimed at engaging faculty and staff in enhancing students’ sense of belonging in their learning spaces.

 For this post, belonging will be defined as a subjective feeling of deep connection with social groups, physical places, and individual and collective experiences as a fundamental human need (Allen et al, 2021). Our approach to fostering belonging has been deeply influenced by the evidence-based practices and collaborative methods we learned through Lumen Circles. Research shows that when higher education students do not feel a sense of belonging, this negatively impacts academic and social success, persistence, and mental health, and is especially true for students from marginalized groups (Davis, Hanzsek-Brill, Petzold, & Robinson, 2019; Gopalan & Brady, 2019). In contrast, Gopalan & Brady’s (2019) findings suggested that a greater sense of belonging might have a positive longitudinal impact on academic performance and persistence and is protective for mental health in year three for undergraduate students. 

Recent research findings reveal that professors are uniquely situated to advance social justice issues in higher education learning spaces (Liera & Dowd, 2019). However, some do not see themselves as agents of change regarding student belonging. In addition, some faculty may have different experiences based on the intersectionality of their own identities (Pittman & Tobin, 2022). In our work, we also found that many who are working on inclusive and affirming practices also seek support and new learning in these efforts.  In addition, just saying that students “belong” is not enough according to Walton (2021). Showing students through intentional conversations about learning and growth, modeling that belonging is a process, supporting students’ diverse identities, letting students know that they are not alone, and allowing space for these exchanges is essential (Gopalan, Linden-Carmichael, Lanza, 2022; Walton, 2021).  

Belonging and Inclusive Teaching Fundamentals Lumen Circle: Circle Activities

We created S.P.A.C.E. (Semester-Long Intensity, Participant and Identities-Centered, Awareness and Agency for Creating Cultures of Belonging, Collective Responsibility and Accountability, Engagement and Empowerment for Equity: Belonging Matters) to provide faculty with a supportive, collaborative environment focused on fostering student belonging.

Here are our top 5 tips for increasing faculty agency and awareness to create inclusive spaces where students truly feel they belong. We’ve also included powerful quotes from members of the Collective, sharing their personal experiences in this transformative journey.

Semester-Long Intensity 

The members of the Collective committed to the project for an entire semester. Following the principles of the Lumen Circles program, we created a semester-long commitment for the participants. Our series was based on the effective professional learning communities model of Lumen Circles. Lumen Circles are 9-week asynchronous virtual communities of practice with faculty peers and coaches engaging in weekly activities to explore, apply, and reflect on effective teaching practices.  

• Grounded in adult learning theory, much time and effort were made to create and sustain community across and between participants in the professional learning series. Our goal was to co-create a semester-long, cross-university collaboration, and inclusive space that would allow time for critical inquiry, conversation, and reflection. Applying principles of effective professional learning communities and Lumen Circles, we knew that a “one and done” workshop would not suffice as it would not permit the learning and reflection cycle that adults need. In his work with K-12 principals, DuFour found that student outcomes improved when educators collaboratively engaged in inquiry-based improvement efforts at their work site (McLaurin, 2021). 
• Participants had the opportunity to learn, plan, apply to student interaction, and assess in “real time” during the semester. Others used the time to plan and strategize to implement for an upcoming semester or a bigger project.  

Reflection from Collective Member

I really appreciate hearing the ideas that other people have in terms of what they’re doing in their classrooms and the projects that they’re working on because it really sparks, you know, my own sense of wonder.

Participant and identities-centered  

The design of The Inclusive Teaching Collective was influenced by Lumen Circles’ focus on identity and inclusivity. We emphasized understanding diverse identities and their impact on learning environments, encouraging participants to reflect on their own identities and those of their students.

• “Inclusive Teaching Collective,” signifies the importance of focusing on belonging in the professional learning series. We worked with diverse university participants from nearly every college, and our participants are representative of different tenured (or not) ranks, course instructors or staff, and more.  
• Based on the professional learning we provided, participants were asked to name a goal to “start” or “stop,” something that they felt would assist with fostering an inclusive environment of belonging in their learning spaces.   
• Participants were asked to identify a specific focus for the goal (for example, mitigating bias or pedagogical partnership). They were partnered with another collective member to work with for the semester. In addition, Drs. Ringgold and Orlando held individual conferences with each participant in addition to holding regular “Collective” meetings each semester.  
• We were intentional in having our initial meetings in person to provide greater opportunities to connect to others. Subsequent meetings were hybrid to provide convenience and flexibility.  

Reflection from Collective Member

…allows the students to have a voice in the class and hopefully not only give them a sense of belonging but engage them more with the class content and the university as a whole… that experience in the classroom permeates other places during their experience here. 

Awareness and Agency for Creating Cultures of Belonging  

Grounded in cultural responsiveness, we sought to see and hear students, the intended beneficiaries of our “Inclusive Teaching Collective” efforts.  This integration of student voices was a key takeaway from our Lumen Circles experience, reinforcing the need to listen and adapt based on student feedback.

We included student input in the professional development process by taking the following steps:

• Graduate and undergraduate students were invited into the Collective to share their experiences and voices about what instructors did to help them feel a sense of belonging. Examples shared were connections to student identities, involving the students as pedagogical partners, and more.  
• Participants shared that these first-hand accounts of students’ perceptions of belonging and the conditions instructors created were incredibly insightful and made a significant impact. From these experiences, many of the Collective looked to replicate some of their colleagues’ strategies and efforts and make space for listening to students’ perspectives in their classrooms.   
• Participants were also encouraged to share their goals with their own students and elicited student feedback as part of their reflective process.  

In the discussion forum, one faculty member reflected on her learning by stating: 

So, I think sometimes it can feel like belonging can feel very theoretical… hearing students actually explain what belonging means, and how their professors can actually make them feel like they belong, has really been helpful. 

Collective responsibility and accountability  

Lumen Circles’s emphasis on ongoing collaboration and empowerment influenced how we structured our activities, encouraging participants to engage across departments and work collectively towards equity and belonging. None of us are experts; however, together we learn, are inspired, and seek to do better.

• Collectively, we provided opportunities for reading, discussion, inquiry, reflection, learning and un-learning. Participants shared their ideas, efforts, and risks with each other as they sought to create inclusive spaces. Because participants had their own lived experiences, and not all participants were at the same level of development, collective space was essential.   
• Participants were transparent in goal setting, progress, reflection, and outcomes.   
• Members of the collective celebrated their efforts, inviting department members and chairs, family members and others to our end of semester events:

In the discussions, faculty reflected 

…it’s easy to feel really isolated and it’s sometimes feels like, you know, struggling to meet these goals by myself. 

…appreciate the opportunity to interact with faculty from a range of disciplines and colleges and programs at the university.                

Engagement and Empowerment for Equity: Belonging Matters  

Continuous engagement, a cornerstone of Lumen Circles, was crucial in our series. The program’s emphasis on ongoing collaboration and empowerment influenced how we structured our activities, encouraging participants to engage across departments and work collectively towards equity and belonging.

• Some Collective members formed collaborative projects that crossed departments and other colleges within the university, effecting change beyond their classrooms or spaces.  

 

Reflections from Collective Members on Change Beyond their Classrooms or Spaces

What I really appreciate about the Inclusive Teaching Collective is just knowing and being able to identify and name and wave at people on campus who share the same goals as me and who want to transform the culture of higher education in a positive direction. 

It just really helps me think about how I am being inclusive. So, I do appreciate this group for that reason and just giving me a greater sense of belonging. 

 

Our participation in Lumen Circles was instrumental in shaping our teaching and inspiring us to pursue similar collaborative and evidence-based approaches. The impact of Lumen Circles on our work underscores the value of asynchronous professional development programs that emphasize community, inclusivity, and continuous growth. We encourage you to consider joining Lumen Circles, as it was foundational in allowing us to bring the teaching strategies that foster engagement and belonging to Towson University.

Resources

Allen, K.A., Kern, M.L., Rozek, C.S., McInherney, D.M., & Slavich, G.M. (2021). Belonging: A review of conceptual issues, an integrative framework, and directions for future research. Australian Journal of Psychology, 73(1), 87-102. https://doi.org/10.1080/00049530.2021.1883409 

Davis, G. M., Hanzsek-Brill, M. B., Petzold, M. C., & Robinson, D. H. (2019). Students’ sense of belonging: The development of a predictive retention model. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 19(1). https://doi.org/10.14434/josotl.v19i1.26787  

Gopalan, M., Linden-Carmichael, A. Lanza, S. (2022). College students’ sense of belonging and mental health amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Journal of Adolescent Health, 70(2), 228-233. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2021.10.010 

Liera, R., & Dowd, A. C. (2019). Faculty learning at boundaries to broker racial equity. The Journal of Higher Education, 90(3), 462-485. 

 McLaurin, J. (2021). The principal’s playbook on instructional leadership: 23 things that matter most for improving student achievement [pdf]. Archway Publishing. https://www.theprincipalsplaybook.com/ 

Pittman, C., & Tobin, T. J. (2022). Academe has a lot to learn about how inclusive teaching affects instructors. The Chronicle of Higher Education. 

Walton, G. (2021). Stop telling students, “You belong!. Education Week, 9. https://www.edweek.org/leadership/opinion-stop-telling-students-you-belong/2021/11 

Before you start collecting feedback, there are a few things you should consider to make sure you achieve your desired results.

1. Think about what you’re hoping to achieve – do you want to improve your teaching or just check that your students are understanding everything? Both?
2. Consider how your students are performing and feeling at the time you’re asking for feedback.
3. Plan out how you will use the results of the feedback you receive.

By considering your goals for collecting this student feedback, you can create effective and meaningful questions to ask your students at a time that will generate the most engagement and honest feedback. 

If you’re not sure where to start, don’t worry – we’ve got some tips to help you get going.

Share your why with students

To better engage students,  share the role their feedback plays in the classroom and how you plan to use it. Sharing the “why” behind your request for feedback and how you plan to use the information helps students see the value in their voice and how their feedback will help them and future students. This will not only help build pedagogical partnerships but also help to foster an inclusive learning environment. 

Get to know your students

As you gear up for the new teaching term, one of the most impactful things you can do is get to know your students better.

A simple, effective way to do this is to ask students to complete a short survey at the start of the term. Lumen One makes this easy with its built-in “Introduce Yourself” survey, designed specifically for faculty. This tool allows you to gain valuable insights into your students’ backgrounds right from the beginning, setting the stage for a more personalized and effective learning experience.

Taking the time to understand who your students are can make all the difference in how you connect with them and how they engage with your course. So, as you start the term, consider making this small but significant step a part of your teaching routine.

The following questions can be incorporated into a survey for students to introduce themselves. 

• • • • • • • What is your goal for this course?

• • • • • • • How are you feeling about this course? 

• • • • • • • Do you have any obligations outside of class that would be helpful for me to know about? 

Once you’re ready, here are some ways effective strategies to gather feedback:

• Leverage Discussion Boards: Don’t just limit discussion boards to simple Q&A. Transform them into dynamic forums where students can ask questions, share thoughts, and engage in meaningful discussions throughout the course. By creating a dedicated feedback thread, you open up a space for students to voice their opinions and concerns in real-time, making the feedback process ongoing and interactive.
• Use Anonymous Feedback Boxes: Encourage candid feedback by providing anonymous feedback options. Whether it’s a physical box in your classroom or a digital version online, anonymity can help students feel more comfortable sharing their honest thoughts without fear of repercussions. This approach often uncovers valuable insights from those who might be hesitant to speak up otherwise.
• Conduct Online Surveys: Online surveys are a convenient and effective way to gather detailed feedback. Utilize tools like Kahoot, Polling Apps, Google Forms, or your LMS to create surveys and email them to your students. Be sure to include both open-ended and closed-ended questions to capture a broad range of insights that are easy to analyze and apply.
• Prompt Feedback After Assignments: Integrate feedback collection into your regular workflow by adding prompts after assignments or assessments. Ask students to share their input weekly as they complete their work. Additionally, consider using Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATS) to quickly gauge what’s working, what’s unclear, and what needs further reinforcement, helping you adapt your teaching on the fly.

Things to Consider:

 If you’re already collecting student feedback, take a moment to reflect on how you gather feedback and explore ways to make it more impactful for you and more accessible for your students., here are some tips to elevate student engagement: 

• • When gathering student feedback, it’s important to consider the diverse ways students might feel comfortable sharing their thoughts. Some students may prefer to remain anonymous, while others might be more inclined to share verbally or need time to write out their responses thoughtfully. To truly involve students in feedback, consider asking them how they’d like to provide input. This approach respects their preferences and helps build pedagogical partnerships, leading to more meaningful and effective feedback.
  • Consider whether you want to “compensate” students for their time. Feedback takes time, and most students have other responsibilities. Incentives can come in many forms, including extra credit, early release time from class, or additional assignments during the feedback window.
  • Whenever possible, acknowledge students’ contributions to your changes due to their feedback. Students will appreciate seeing how you’re using the feedback! This will help you build trust with your students and show them that you are actively listening to their feedback and involving them in the process.

By Angelica Halbert and co-authored by Lumen Team

Resources: 

https://schoolguide.casel.org/resource/strategies-for-gathering-student-feedback/ 

https://www.linkedin.com/advice/1/how-can-entry-level-critical-thinking-professionals-jye6e 

https://vcsa.ucsd.edu/_files/assessment/resources/50_cats.pdf 

As Hispanic Heritage Month draws to a close, we reflect on the significance of this celebration and its relevance in the context of higher education. Hispanic Heritage Month began as a week-long tribute in 1868 and was extended to a month by President Ronald Reagan in 1988. This month-long celebration honors the rich cultural heritage of Latin American countries. At Lumen, we are doing our part by shining a light on the unique experiences and challenges faced by Hispanic students who are attending higher education institutions.

For many Hispanic students, the pursuit of higher education is a transformative journey filled with unique challenges. According to a report on Latino students sharing their college experiences, a staggering 70% of Latinx students enrolling in college are first-generation scholars. This status brings with it a distinct set of obstacles, such as navigating the complex college application process, overcoming language barriers, and often coming from historically minoritized communities. To hear directly from students, we hosted a panel of remarkable students who candidly shared their experiences and triumphs in the face of these challenges while finding their place in the world of higher education.

During our enlightening conversation, Valeria Gutierrez-Cruz, a student from Charlottesville, VA, shed light on the added responsibility of educating her parents about the higher education process. This is a common experience shared by many Hispanic students, showcasing the multi-faceted nature of their academic journeys. Valeria also touched upon the representation of Hispanic heritage in educational materials and classrooms. While occasional nods to Hispanic culture are seen on campus, the lack of meaningful representation within coursework can leave Hispanic students feeling overlooked.

Throughout the conversation, panelists offered valuable insights into how educators can enhance inclusivity in the classroom. Carolina Alvarez, a student from Houston, Texas, emphasized the importance of not dismissing students’ questions or opinions, emphasizing that fostering a welcoming environment is crucial for their sense of belonging. Kiara Portillo, also from Houston, Texas, echoed these sentiments, highlighting the desire of Hispanic students to be heard and supported in their learning journey. Just like every student, they need educators who see their potential and are willing to nurture it.

Valeria’s personal experience with a professor who recognized her bilingualism as an asset rather than a deficit serves as a powerful reminder of the impact educators can have on students’ sense of belonging. By celebrating the diversity of skills and backgrounds within the classroom, educators can empower their Hispanic students to thrive.

Learn More

If you’re intrigued by the stories and insights shared by our panelists, you can watch the on-demand recording of “Latinx Belonging in Higher Education” here. If you wish to delve deeper into the challenges faced by other historically minoritized groups of students in higher education, such as those with diverse abilities, we invite you to explore our Elevating Student Voice Belonging Webinar Series. Here, you will find other on-demand recordings of past webinars as well as a registration form for our future webinars.

Welcome to the kickoff of our enlightening webinar series on college student belonging! In an era where higher education is evolving unprecedentedly, creating an inclusive environment that empowers every student is more crucial than ever. We are thrilled to bring you a series of insightful webinars that delve into critical aspects of college student life, guided by the very individuals who navigate this landscape daily.

The Significance of Student Voices in Building Inclusive Learning Environments

The value of centering and elevating the student voice in designing inclusive learning environments cannot be overstated. By doing so, we recognize the inherent expertise and unique experiences that students bring to the table. Here are a few reasons why this approach is so critical:

1. Authentic Insights: Students are the end-users of educational products and the inhabitants of the learning environments we create. They possess firsthand knowledge of what works and what doesn’t. Listening to their voices provides invaluable insights into their real challenges, making it possible to design solutions that address their specific needs.

2. Equity and Inclusivity: Every student’s journey through higher education is unique. Some may face obstacles related to disability, others may grapple with mental health concerns, and many are navigating the increasingly complex landscape of technology and AI in education. By centering marginalized voices, we ensure that products and learning spaces are designed with equity and inclusivity in mind.

3. Empowerment: Involving students in the learning process empowers them to play an active role in molding their educational experiences. This newfound sense of agency can profoundly influence their confidence, motivation, and overall sense of belonging in the academic community. Inviting students to be co-creators of their education fosters a deeper connection between learners and their learning journey. It instills a sense of ownership and pride in their academic endeavors. This empowerment goes beyond the classroom, extending into their lives as informed, capable individuals poised to contribute meaningfully to their communities and the world.

Exploring the Webinar Series

Throughout the upcoming fall semester, we are excited to present a series of three illuminating webinars that will showcase students from diverse higher education institutions, representing a wide range of backgrounds and lived experiences. Here’s a glimpse of what you can anticipate.

Mind Matters: Navigating College Life & Mental Well-Being

The first webinar will address a topic that has garnered increasing attention recently – college students’ mental health. Join us as a panel of students opens up about their experiences, challenges, and strategies for maintaining mental well-being while pursuing higher education. Their insights will underscore the importance of fostering supportive and inclusive campus environments where students feel comfortable seeking help and support.

Beyond Labels: Navigating College with Diverse Abilities

In our second webinar, we turn our attention to college students with disabilities. These individuals navigate unique challenges and triumphs in their pursuit of academic success. Our student panelists will share their journeys, highlighting the importance of inclusivity and accessibility in higher education. By doing so, they will underscore how equity-centered and accessible learning environments can unlock the potential of all students.

Smart Students, Smarter Learning:  Student’s Guide to AI in Education

The final webinar this semester delves into the intersection of technology and learning. College students today engage with Artificial Intelligence (AI) in various aspects of their education. Our student panelists will discuss how AI impacts their learning experiences, the opportunities it presents, and the ethical considerations that arise when integrating AI into higher education. This session will emphasize the need for ethically designed AI tools that enhance, rather than hinder, the educational journey.

Join Us in Elevating Student Voices

Each webinar is a unique opportunity to gain fresh insights, perspectives, and ideas directly from the individuals who matter most – college students. We invite you to actively engage in the conversation, ask questions, and contribute your thoughts to these critical discussions.

By centering and elevating the student voice, we can collaboratively shape a future of higher education that fosters a sense of belonging and empowers all students to thrive. So, please mark your calendars, invite your colleagues, and join us as we embark on this enlightening journey into the world of college student experiences. 

Together, let’s create an inclusive educational landscape where every student feels valued, supported, and heard and where products and environments reflect the diversity and equity-centered values that are crucial to the future of education.

At Lumen Learning, we believe deeply that the contributions made by the learner and the faculty are crucial to the development of effective learning materials. Because Lumen uses open educational resources (OER), we have legal permission to make changes to our content for the betterment of teaching, learning, and student outcomes.

But where do we start? A Lumen course has around 300 learning outcomes, and while we ultimately want to optimize them all, with finite time and resources we have to start somewhere. Lumen begins by using RISE analysis, a learning analytics technique, to evaluate where students are struggling most and prioritize changes to these learning materials and teaching practices.

Workshop design

RISE Workshops can be flexibly designed while maintaining efficacy. We can facilitate virtual workshops over Zoom that work best with at least two 1-hour meetings and independent work in between sessions. We can also facilitate meetings in person on your campus, usually as a 3-hour event. A hybrid format is another possibility.

In any of these cases, faculty will learn how we gather and analyze data, how to use our RISE data dashboard to understand their students’ learning, and what kinds of research-based changes are most impactful. Our team is happy to custom design a workshop that best meets the schedules and needs of your faculty.

What you can expect to accomplish

Lumen welcomes all instructors, faculty, instructional designers, and librarians who are currently using a Lumen Waymaker course to attend the workshop. Ahead of the workshop, Lumen will pull the data generated by your students in their Waymaker courses. Our team will create a custom data dashboard and train participants in how the data is analyzed and how to target changes.

Then, participants will be guided through Lumen’s approaches and tools to making improvements and will be invited to make contributions targeting learning outcomes with which their students are struggling. Ideally, there should be a minimum of 200 students using Waymaker to collect a useful sample of data.

There will be time to work on changes to content and teaching practices in the workshop, and participants can also elect to continue work afterward. If you would like, Lumen will keep workshop participants informed about implementations, testing, and the impact of their suggestions.

Testing and follow-up

We can say we’ve changed OER without measuring the impact of those changes, but we can only say we’ve improved OER when we have measured student outcomes and confirmed that they have actually changed for the better. So we also have built the capacity to conduct A/B testing on our changes.

Following the workshop, Lumen will implement content changes as part of a randomized controlled trial for all students who take the course in a future semester. We will analyze the students’ performance with both the original and the changed versions, and if the changes result in a significant improvement, we will roll out the changes to all students in the course to improve learning for all students. Lumen will provide a follow-up presentation of the results for your faculty.

If you’re a current customer and would like to discuss organizing one of these workshops for your faculty, please reach out to your primary Lumen contact or email our Support Team support@lumenlearning.com.

Why we share: commitment to openness

We are committed to supporting faculty to do their best, and we realize that it can be helpful to examine assessment data to better understand where to concentrate changes to teaching practices. Further, sharing these data is in direct alignment with one of our fundamental values, openness:

“We share openly, knowing that others will build upon and expand the impact of our work. We contribute resources, expertise and goodwill to the commons. We seek to learn and commit to share what we know.”

The template

Our research team has devised two formats for pulling data that is generated by Waymaker use: quiz level and question level. 

Quiz level is the simplest dataset Lumen can pull and is a record of all quiz scores broken out by course unit/module per deidentified student. We can customize this by the following factors:

1. Semester (Would you like data for all semesters you’ve worked with Lumen? Only for a certain time frame?)
2. Course (Are you hoping to analyze data from just your course or are you collaborating with other faculty who want to analyze data from all Lumen courses your university uses?)
3. Unit/module (Are you only interested in a particular unit/module?)
4. Type of assessment (Are you hoping to look at summative quizzes, formative quizzes, or show-what-you-know assessments?)

Question level is a more detailed record of quiz item scores associated with a course’s skill-level learning outcomes. We can customize this by the following factors:

1. Semester (Would you like data for all semesters you’ve worked with Lumen? Only for a certain time frame?)
2. Course (Are you hoping to analyze data from just your course or are you collaborating with other faculty who want to analyze data from all Lumen courses your university uses?)
3. Unit/module (Are you only interested in a particular unit/module?)
4. Type of assessment (Are you hoping to look at summative quizzes, formative quizzes, or show-what-you-know assessments?)

For examples of what these data pulls look like in spreadsheet form, have a look at this sample data template.

How to request a data pull

If you’re a current Waymaker customer and would find these data helpful, please reach out to your primary Lumen contact. If you are unsure, don’t hesitate to contact our excellent support team at support@lumenlearning.com who will connect you with the right person.

Many colleges continued to offer students the choice to attend virtually or in person. Some instructors pivoted to virtual teaching easily, but many were not ready, and students and instructors both suffered from the lack of continuity.

With the 2020-2021 school year behind us, instructors have learned a lot, and best practices are popping up. In this post, we’ll discuss three tips to help you improve your virtual teaching skills, so you can keep your students engaged and learning. The three tips include:

1. Make all expectations clear.
2. Take time to build relationships with students (and take student feedback seriously).
3. Respond to students professionally, whether they’ve earned it or not.

1. Make All Expectations Clear

Clear expectations help foster a sense of well-being and a desire to do well. This is true for both individuals and teams. Most of the data we have to support this idea comes from employment studies.

According to Effectory.com, “role clarity is the degree to which employees have a clear understanding of their tasks, responsibilities and processes at work.” And role clarity in work is similar to role clarity in an educational setting.

Data shows that employees who say they have high role clarity are 53% more efficient and 27% more effective at work than employees who don’t quite understand their role. We believe that clarity would increase efficiency and effectiveness in classrooms as well.

Clearly, by the time students are enrolled in higher education, they have a good understanding of the role of “student”. But in each new class, with each new teacher, students have to relearn what it means to be a student again and again.

You can help provide clarity in several ways:

1. Organize your class well.
2. Stick to the same basic format for the duration of the class.
3. Make all assignments and resources easy to find.
4. Make your grading system as simple as possible.
5. Provide clear instructions and due dates.

In a virtual classroom, you’ll have learners of varying needs as you have in an in-person classroom. Catering to every individual is impossible, but providing the same information in multiple formats can help at least cater to students’ various learning styles. 

Some students want to see numbered lists. Some want outlines. Others want a visual representation such as a calendar. It’s more work for you upfront to provide information in multiple formats. Yet, as long as the information is consistent, providing it in multiple formats will save you time and frustration in the long run.

While it may seem that sticking to the same basic format for the duration of the class will cause boredom and lack of engagement, variation in topics can more than make up for a lack of variation in format.

2. Take Time to Build Relationships With Students

Relationship skills can be learned and developed at any point in a person’s life. In other words, if you haven’t been a “people person” for the first several decades of your life, all hope is not lost. You can always improve.

Some of the best insights on relationship development come from the world of healthcare. In 2012, Koloroutis and Trout, a nurse and a psychologist, wrote a book called “See Me as a Person”, which defined the four practices that form and nurture relationships.

1. Attuning: Deliberately tuning in to what another person is saying or doing
2. Wondering: Being genuinely curious about another person
3. Following: Allowing yourself to be informed and guided by what you’re observing from another person
4. Holding: Making yourself a safe and nurturing person for others to be around

Focusing on even one of these practices will improve your relationships with all of your students. It can be difficult for anyone, including instructors, to feel fully seen and heard in virtual settings. Taking on any of these practices will help everyone involved to feel more seen, heard, and held.

Provide Timely Feedback

Providing students with timely feedback also helps them feel seen, heard, and held. Even for students who are used to screen-based communication, submitting an assignment and not hearing anything back can feel like shouting into a black hole. It can be a lot to keep up with, but quick responses, even if brief, can mean a lot to students.

Take Student Feedback Seriously (but With a Grain of Salt)

This is where your obligation for self-care meets your obligation to provide a positive experience for your students. Even the best instructors get student feedback that’s hard to accept.

In these instances, pausing to reflect before responding is important. Chances are good that whatever unkind sentiment the student’s communication seems to convey, it wasn’t meant to be as unkind as it appears.

The reasons for negative student feedback are highly varied. If you can keep from taking that feedback personally, you may even be able to find something useful in what’s being said.

3. Keep All Interactions With Students Respectful, Even if Students Haven’t Been Respectful to You

There are many reasons why this can be a very hard suggestion to follow. On message boards across the country, virtual instructors are rightly complaining about disrespectful communications from their students.

They often point to a sense of entitlement from their students, sometimes even labeling them as self-centered and shallow. Yet, engaging with them at that same level would be a threat not only to your relationship with those students but to your own professionalism.

It’s not always the most helpful course of action to give someone what they have coming. If you receive negative feedback or aggressive communication from a student, take a breath and ask yourself a few questions before responding.

1. What’s really going on with this person?
2. Is there a grain of truth hiding in this message?
3. Is there a way for me to provide some coaching for this person rather than responding in a way that simply matches the tone of what the person wrote?

We’re not suggesting you give the person free rein to be disrespectful. And of course, anything that can be construed as a threat must be addressed appropriately. We’re merely suggesting that in virtual relationships—particularly with people who are not skilled in written communications— things are easily misunderstood.

In some cases, you may find it helpful to offer the student a “do-over.” You could reply with a request that the student look again at what they wrote and see if there is a way they can express themselves with clarity and professionalism. Sometimes an invitation is all it takes to turn a moment around.

What You Can Do Today

Working on your relational competence begins with the simple realization that developing a higher level of relational competence would be a gift to yourself and everyone in your life. Some resources to improve your relational competence include all the following:

1. Any of the work of the Arbinger Institute.
2. Books and courses of study such as The Four Agreements, Crucial Conversations, Non-Violent Communication, and See Me as a Person.
3. Any content that discusses what authors Eisler and Potter have termed the Partnership Paradigm.

While all of these resources will be helpful, it’s your level of commitment to improving your relational competence that will make the biggest difference.

As See Me as a Person states, it is impossible to wonder and judge at the same time. Students will give you countless opportunities to judge them. Decide to wonder first, and see how your experience changes.

Bonus Tip: Improve How You Deliver Course Materials With Lumen Learning

At Lumen Learning, we believe that when learning is a joy, teaching is a joy. Our tools, including in-depth courses and virtual courseware, can help you improve how you deliver educational materials to your students.

To learn more, fill out our request a demo form. A member of our team will get back to you quickly to review the course materials in your LMS and decide if you’d like to use them in your classes.

A study completed in late 2020 highlighted that roughly two-thirds of students in colleges and universities were educated either wholly or partially online. As a result of that push, many students and instructors expect more flexible learning options than the traditional classroom allows.

Whether your college or university class is 100 percent online or a mix between traditional and remote, your LMS is the gateway to learning. To ensure you and your students are prepared for whatever comes next, you must know how to make the most of your learning management system. These tips can help.

1. Choose the Right LMS for Your Institution

If you don’t have an LMS, the first step is to ensure you choose the right one for your classroom from the get-go. Choosing an LMS that isn’t the right fit will only lead to frustration on your behalf and for your students.

There are key elements to look for in an LMS. For instance, the one you choose should be:

• Easy to use: The LMS you choose should be easy to use for students of varying ages. This means the LMS should have simple controls and a streamlined interface where course materials and resources can be found quickly and easily.
• Customizable to fit your needs: Your LMS should be customizable, so you can make changes that fit your classroom. This may include controls that allow you to change the layout of your LMS or the ability to add more modules to enrich learning. Customization enables you to take your students’ feedback and make changes to your LMS to better fit their needs too.
• Flexible with multiple material delivery options: While some of your learning material might be in basic document form, you may wish to use other materials too such as videos or interactive modules. Your LMS should support these material delivery options. In addition, your LMS should deliver testing options. For example, you should have the option to create both quizzes and exams.
• Available from anywhere at any time: Students should be able to access the LMS from anywhere at any time. A cloud-based LMS (available via browser or an app with an internet connection) is a great choice.
• Accessible for all: The LMS you choose should have accessibility features built right in. For example, it should have options for live-captioning and hand-raising, especially if you’re teaching live. It should also feature screen reader compatibility and multiple methods for turning in coursework.

Before you choose an LMS, try a few out first. Make note of what you like and what you don’t to narrow down your options.

2. Provide LMS Training Resources to Students

Your LMS is only useful if your students know how to use it effectively. Provide training materials and resources to your students before you open your e-learning class. For example, you could provide a handy printed guide document or even record a video of you using the most important tools inside the LMS.

It’s also important to highlight who a student should call in the event of a system issue or if they should have questions. Many LMS tools feature online support options and FAQ sections your students can visit for additional help when needed.

3. Ask for Feedback From Students Using Your LMS

As your students get acclimated to the learning environment, ask for their feedback on what works well and what doesn’t. This feedback may highlight issues within your LMS you were unaware of on the student side. You can then make changes to improve the learning environment for your students.

Feedback can also highlight what works great and the components your students really enjoy. This can help you understand what’s important to your students for future classes.

4. Ensure Your LMS Is Mobile-Friendly

Students using an LMS will need to access it on various devices, from tablets to phones. Your LMS itself as well as any other learning materials included should be mobile-friendly for the best experience.

First, choose an LMS with mobile capabilities such as a simple app students can open to view their work and communicate. Next, you’ll want to make sure your course materials are mobile-accessible too.

For example, put all of your content inside the LMS when possible instead of asking students to download documents. Downloading documents via mobile can be clunky and they’re often difficult to read. You should also eliminate all unnecessary content and stick to what’s important—screen space is limited on mobile.

5. Be Creative When Putting Together Course Materials in Your LMS

Online learning can be just as engaging, if not more engaging, than traditional classroom learning. With your LMS, you have the opportunity to provide truly in-depth learning experiences to your students. By adding access to additional content and course materials, you can lead your students to more.

Feel free to get creative. For example, create short and fun videos to showcase important topics. Or, use interactive modules to teach in-depth subject matter. This can be as simple as a drag and drop activity or a short quiz. Be sure to also include visuals such as graphics or even fun GIFs to further illustrate complex topics.

You can also gamify your learning to help inspire students to keep going. For example, incentivize students who complete certain course materials or who engage often in message boards.

6. Encourage Communication via Your LMS

Many LMS solutions come with simple communication tools, including message boards and emailing. These tools enable your students to reach out to you with questions and concerns right from within the LMS simply and quickly.

Encouraging communication using these tools can also help you keep your email inbox free from cumbersome threads and allow you to deliver the support your students need for classroom success.

You can also use these communication tools to foster collaboration and social learning between your students. For example, ask questions and allow your students to discuss via the message boards. Collaboration inside your LMS can provide your students with a sense of community, critical for education.

Take Learning to the Next Level With Lumen

Lumen Learning integrates with your LMS to make accessing digital courseware more streamlined. We offer a wide range of course materials, from biology to business. We’ll help you review the course materials within your LMS and decide if you’d like to use them in your class.

To learn more, fill out our request a demo form. A member of our team will get back to you quickly to review the course materials in your LMS and decide if you’d like to use them in your classes.