Too many students are likely to feel isolated and lack a sense of support or belonging in college, according to Dr. Peter Felten, assistant provost for teaching and learning at Elon University.
To address the problem, he suggests refocusing faculty, staff and peer relationships in an effort to improve students’ overall wellbeing and graduation rates.
“By doing this, we are putting our students as whole humans in the center of our work and empowering them to be agents of their education,” said Felten, who is also the executive director of the Center for Engaged Learning and professor of history at Elon. “When we do that, I think we will really help them achieve their dreams.”
Oakton Community College, for example, has launched the Persistence Project to develop relationship rich education. In the first three weeks of a semester, faculty members aim to learn students’ names, hold one-on-one conferences and provide feedback on assignments.
Other equity-minded approaches to student success were discussed during the second day of Achieving the Dream’s (ATD) 2021 virtual conference Wednesday.
As institutions take steps to address systemic racism, Dr. Laura I. Rendón, professor emerita at the University of Texas-San Antonio, emphasized the need to be concerned about “matters of race.”
She suggested implementing trauma-informed and anti-racist pedagogies to foster equity and inclusion within the classroom.
