In part I of Whose Responsibility Is It, we discussed the role of faculty in student success. Here we pose the same question, but from a slightly reframed lens.
Every instructor, teacher and professor was once a student in a classroom. Yes, times have changed significantly, yet the fundamentals of the college experience and the goals for your teaching and student learning remain universal. An academically sound student is a win for the instructor, the department, program major and the institution. An investment of just a modicum of time for reflection on your ability to solidify the student in their own role can yield major benefits in this equation. Consider the students’ perspective and how you, as an administrator or faculty member, might move them towards taking ownership of their success and achievement; securing collateral for their own academic learning bag.
Going off to college and being away from home for the first-time can be a daunting task. One of the first heady realities of beginning the college experience is the freedom. You can come and go as you please, on campus and off. You can socialize and stay out until the wee hours of the morning, then return to your bed where you sleep soundly until noon. You can decide that you are simply too tired to make it to class, or you make it there but doze the entire time.
For many minority-serving institutions, historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in particular, there are likely appreciable numbers of students with very similar experiences. As we reflect and are reminded of our own plight and possible missteps as a student, we can next consider how to temper our approach and cement students’ efforts. Often, students forget who has responsibility and elect to assign fault when the semester ends. They vent to their peers that “Professor X gave me this grade,” when in fact they earned it. To put it simply, we must make them own it, that success is determined by them but with the help of others only if they seek and ask for it. When a student comes to your office and says, “I need help,” what is your immediate response? Ours would be to congratulate that student on taking the first step to owning his or her academic success.
Having recognized the need for help, an active step was taken to get it. Of course, this conversation goes better if it does not occur at the very end of the semester, when dozens of students are crowding your office because they have just realized how they “really need to pass this course.” Now that the student has taken the first step, what other advice can you offer to help them to fully crystalize how their mindset and actions serve to hinder or solidify their securing collateral for their own learning? Perhaps starting with a few general but important questions about their motivations would help.
These questions can be the foundation for establishing rapport with your students. This may assist in not only getting the conversation started; but also serving to ease a student into opening up while lessening the fear of intimidation. For some, the answers to these questions are not only relevant but also affirming.
Additionally, there are more specific probing questions that require students to more pointedly assess and own the fact that their success belongs to them.
