Seeing Equity in Courses from Data to Faculty Learning Communities
Chad E. Brassil University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Institutions, colleges, departments, and individual instructors increasingly recognize the role they play as both gatekeepers and facilitators for the education of students. Constructive change begins with a recognition that equity gaps exist in courses at the institution, coupled with a mechanism to engage individuals of the institution in a dialogue of inclusion. For example, higher DFW rates (students receiving a D, F, or withdrawing from a course) typically exist for first generation students and students from underrepresented, minoritized races/ethnicities. Institutional change to eliminate these gaps requires engagement, support, and action at all levels, and an acknowledgment that lurking in the background are issues such as fear. One strategy for engagement is to develop equity gap metrics specifically targeted for each level of audience, for example department chairs and instructors, not just institution-wide numbers. This both compels and enables action because instructors see their contribution to institutional patterns. While change can be enacted by individual instructors, it can be even more effective when teams of instructors, or learning communities, work in concert to support each other’s efforts. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln created a Faculty Director of Undergraduate Analytics position to connect and translate data into the academic culture and the mechanisms of change within departments. Deriving from that position, case studies of dialogue with colleges, departments, and instructors have emerged which resulted in civil discourse and productive reflection, all with the goal of closing equity gaps to elevate student success.
