Make learning personal: Recommendations for classroom practice

19 aBOut campus / may–June 2010

Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com).© 2010 by American College Personnel Association and Wiley Periodicals, Inc. DOI: 10.1002/abc.20018

Belonging to a personally meaningful com-munity of learners is a powerful predictor of a student’s retention and academic success. Being part of a community that is intentionally built on recognizing, valuing, and learning from the

diversity within that community can further deepen students’ understanding of self, others, and the global community in which they will live and work.

However, as charles glassick notes in About Cam-pus, “the increased diversity on our campuses made community-building an arduous and complex process” (p. 31). Finding a campus community intentionally built on capitalizing on the diversity of its students can be a challenge. with the exception of some residence halls, most student communities, such as sororities, fraternities, student organizations, departmental clubs, and religious groups, are structured around commonalities such as major, race, gender, religion, or common interests.

Finding a community based on diversity within the academic arena is even more difficult unless a stu-

dent takes a course specifically focused on multicul-turalism. yet, from student feedback, the authors have concluded that participation in a classroom experience that utilizes the diversity within the class as an integral part of the learning process can greatly enhance the learning goals of a class and can provide students with some distinct benefits.

the authors taught and supervised a parapro-fessional training program that consisted of a three-semester course sequence. the first of the three classes focused on learning basic listening and helping skills. these skills were then utilized in the subsequent semesters in a variety of supervised campus services, such as providing psycho-educational workshops, peer advising, and assisting campus organizations with program development. Because the students would be providing services for a wide range of students, including working in many of the campus cultural houses, the authors determined that learning from the diversity within the class would be more valuable in

Make learning Personal

Recommendations for Classroom Practice

By John D. Powell and Janice I. Lines

Structuring the curriculum and the classroom experience in ways that promote community building

and develop an appreciation for diversity is a powerful way to deepen and personalize

a student’s learning experience.


their later campus services than learning about diver-sity from lectures or presentations alone.

every classroom has the potential to be a multicul-tural community. regardless of the subject matter or the background of the students, all the necessary ingre-dients are there. But making a classroom into a com-munity that recognizes and utilizes diversity as a part of the learning process requires planning. this article presents four principles for establishing such a class-room environment. these principles were developed and utilized by the authors over 10 years of teaching this three-semester sequence of courses. they are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they are often developed simultaneously. each, however, requires attention, and they are therefore described separately.

PrinCiPleS

1. Broaden the concept of community.

2. Broaden students’ understanding of diversity and multiculturalism.

3. provide opportunities for reflection.

4. provide opportunities for engagement with the instructor through active learning.

BroaDen The ConCePT of CommuniTy

The classroom or lab� is a social network. Focusing on how students interact and then using

those interactions in collaborative efforts can enhance the learning experience and its application beyond the classroom or lab. Because our students would be collab-orating with other campus offices and providing services to other students throughout the campus community, we determined that it was important to build a sense of community within the class and to incorporate col-laborative skills in the curriculum. we identified two important tasks necessary for community building in our class. First, it was important for students to get to know one another on more than a superficial level. students

must get to know one another in more personal ways. However, as will be discussed later, the ways they get to know one another must be consistent with the curricu-lum and must include some important safeguards.

second, students must learn to work together toward meaningful academic goals. learning to work collaboratively pays off not only in the classroom, but beyond the classroom as well. richard light, in his Harvard assessment seminars, concluded from inter-views with alumni that collaborative learning was “the best thing colleges could do for students in the coming years.” working collaboratively includes learning many skills, such as moving a group toward a goal, manag-ing disagreements without being destructive, generat-ing ideas to move beyond obstacles in a project, and being accountable; in short, how to work effectively and productively with others. these are skills necessary for most workplaces and in most relationships.

In some cases it may be beneficial to focus on these two tasks separately by structuring time and activities spe-cifically for the purpose of having students learn informa-tion about one another that will be useful in subsequent collaborations. In the authors’ classroom, for example, students knowing something about their own and one another’s learning and organizational styles was important to several later team projects. we therefore structured activities in which students identified their own learning

John D. Powell, PhD, was a clinical counselor with the university of Illinois counseling center from 1984 until 2007. In addition to his clinical, supervisory, and consultation duties, he co-taught the courses related to the counseling center paraprofessional program from 1997 until 2007.

Janice I. Lines, MFA, is a visiting professor with the theater Department of the university of Illinois. From 1998 until 2007 she was the program coordinator for the counseling center paraprofessional program, where she provided administrative leadership and shared teaching responsibilities.

we love feedback. send letters to executive editor Jean m. Henscheid ([email protected]), and please copy her on notes to authors.

Focusing on how students interact and then using those interactions in collaborative efforts can enhance

the learning experience and its application beyond the classroom or lab.


styles through an inventory, then structured activities in which those styles were observed and discussed.

In some settings the two tasks may be accom-plished simultaneously by building familiarization activities into group projects. collaborative learning will inevitably engage student learning styles as well as personal histories and values that relate to the material. Being intentional about addressing those styles, histo-ries, and values provides important steps toward build-ing a sense of community in the group.

karl smith highlighted the conditions necessary for collaborative learning in New Directions for Teaching and Learning: “carefully structured cooperative learn-ing involves people working in teams to accomplish a common goal, under conditions that involve both positive interdependence (all members must cooperate to complete the task) and both individual and group accountability (each member is accountable for the final outcome)” (p. 71).

careful structure is needed to encourage and facili-tate this kind of learning. collaboration and interdepen-dence may be fundamental aspects of many life situations, but they are not natural characteristics of many classroom or lab environments. the culture of many classrooms assumes competition rather than collaboration. when students have the perception that they are competing for limited resources (grades), they are disinclined to work together and depend on each other.

group projects, a staple of many college courses, can be a useful collaborative learning tool, but too often, students are put into groups and given a task and a deadline but provided few other guidelines. the group must figure out how to complete the project. when students are disinclined to depend on each other, it usually means that the majority of the work falls on the one or two students who are natural leaders or who are deadline-driven. those students not so driven or simply less concerned about the final grade have a greater tendency to wait for the other group members to do the work. the main thing students learn from this approach is how to compensate for each other in

order to meet a deadline. they may completely miss the information, concepts, or processes the project was intended to teach. they also miss valuable opportuni-ties for learning from each other.

learning can be a social act, and the participants learn from each other through conversations, delega-tion of tasks, reporting, reflecting, and many other tasks involved in completing the objective. In designing the project, the instructor must ask, “what are the ways that students can learn from working with one another on this project?”

most projects, for example, involve a division of labor with a variety of roles and tasks. students gravi-tate to the tasks and roles most familiar to them. an alternative approach to task selection is to provide information about what each role involves. this should include timelines with deadlines for subtasks and pos-sible progress reports. these additions increase the likelihood that each student is involved and provide opportunities for the instructor to intervene if needed. additional steps at the end of the project can solidify and enhance community awareness. For example, stu-dents can provide written feedback about one another’s strengths and weaknesses in their roles. the feedback can be followed with a discussion of possible areas for increased focus and how the group worked as a unit.

the authors routinely scheduled individual assess-ment meetings with each student at the conclusion of the semester. students frequently expressed how unusual it was for them to meet and get to know their classmates. more gratifying, however, was the frequent report that not only had they gotten to know their classmates, but they had also discovered that their classmates had become a crucial part of their learning experience.

with attention to group process, collaboration, and individual contributions, the careful structuring of group projects can solidify learning and can add to the sense of community within the classroom. as students are able to identify how they personally interact with the material and with one another, learning is more likely to be personalized and generalized.

Working collaboratively includes learning many skills, such as moving a group toward a goal,

managing disagreements without being destructive, generating ideas to move beyond obstacles

in a project, and being accountable.


BroaDen STuDenTS’ unDerSTanDing of DiverSiTy anD mulTiCulTuraliSm

As campuses become increasingly diverse, edu-cating students about racial and cultural differ-

ences and promoting appreciation of those differences become increasingly important. like the skill of col-laboration, learning about and developing appreciation of diversity will have an impact far beyond the college experience. the ability to live and work effectively with people of other races and cultures is essential. However, it is not enough to relegate diversity train-ing to student affairs programs or to specific classes on multiculturalism. Doing so deprives students of vital opportunities to incorporate diversity and multicul-tural understanding into a fundamental and commonly shared aspect of their experience, the classroom.

regardless of how homogeneous the students in a class may appear, every classroom or lab has the potential to be a multicultural learning environment. every stu-dent brings important and educationally relevant cultural diversity to the class. In the classes taught by the authors, for example, a majority of the students were female, caucasian, psychology majors, and residents of suburbs in a large metropolitan area. at first glance, similarities far outweighed differences. yet, with some structured activities, writing, and discussion, even the obvious sim-ilarities revealed complex and unique experiences and cultural perspectives.

a student’s culture is much more than his or her race or ethnicity, and the instructor must recognize this in order to lead students in cultural explorations that relate to the curriculum. students must be encouraged to consider their own families, their hometown neigh-borhoods, their primary campus affiliation groups, and other such identifiers as unique cultural groups, each a potentially useful part of their learning process.

gender, for example, was one obvious homoge-neous factor that yielded vast differences in our classes, which were often 90 percent female. through a variety of activities and writings, students in the class focused on their experiences of being either female or male on campus. the women’s perspectives varied greatly. some

women in the class came from unsafe backgrounds. their experiences on campus either confirmed their feelings of not being safe or provided them with a sense of relief. Other women had come to campus feeling safe but had been harassed or assaulted since being on campus while others felt perfectly safe on campus and could not identify with the concerns for safety. a large majority felt objectified in a variety of ways. the men in the group presented a whole different set of experi-ences and perspectives, some of which, to their surprise, contributed to the lack of safety or objectification expe-rienced by the women. In the course of the semester, these many experiences and perspectives were discussed in terms of how they affected the individual’s approach to the material, to his or her collaborative work, and to his or her involvement on campus.

similar explorations of differences in race, ethnic-ity, and religious background revealed significant and valuable perspectives. even an exploration of more basic demographics can provide valuable information to stu-dents and instructors. For example, because many of our students were from the same geographical region, we utilized activities that explored variables such as size of hometown, size of high school graduating class, distance of hometown from campus, size of family of origin, and educational background of family. In many cases, doing so gave voice to some students from rural communities, small high schools, and working-class families. these were students who tended to remain relatively quiet oth-erwise. In a recent article in the NEA Higher Education Advocate, kathryn plank and stephanie rohdieck sum-marize the educational importance of diversity: “Diver-sity isn’t always visible, but it’s always present, relevant, and an integral part of student learning” (p. 6).

maintaining clear personal and emotional boundar-ies is crucial to this kind of exploration. For example, the option to “pass” should always be included in the instruc-tions when students are asked to disclose personal infor-mation. In our experience, however, as students become more familiar with each other, with the instructors, and with the assurance that the disclosures facilitate learning, the option to pass was used infrequently. the revelation of personal information and background should always be

With attention to group process, collaboration, and individual contributions, the careful structuring of group projects can solidify learning and can add to the sense of community within the classroom.


filtered through the question, “How does this pertain to and deepen the student’s understanding of the curricu-lum?” Disclosure for the sake of disclosure becomes voy-euristic and will inevitably interfere with learning.

as students engage in purposeful disclosure and get to know one another, it is often the case that they develop a profound sense of appreciation for others in the class and the differences presented. students are empowered in the learning process when they discover that their own back-ground and experiences give them a unique perspective and a unique approach to the material. their challenge, then, becomes not only to learn the material, but also to discover how they can be a resource to others’ learning.

students bring complex experiences and back-grounds into the classroom. this complexity influences their approach to learning. structuring the curriculum and the classroom experience in ways that promote community building and an appreciation for the diversity that exists in the classroom is a powerful way to deepen and personalize a student’s learning experience.

ProviDe oPPorTuniTieS for refleCTion

Reflection,� having students examine how they have done something as a group or as individuals,

is essential in turning information or experience into understanding. reflection involves thinking not only about the material learned, but also about the processes involved in the learning. such reflection can enable better choices or improved methods by the group or by individuals in the future. reflection can also highlight students’ personal contributions to a project, revealing both their strengths as well as those areas they need to develop. Helping students become reflective learners must be a central component of the curriculum. learn-ing to engage in purposeful reflection is itself a valuable lesson that can deepen and generalize the individual’s capacity to learn future tasks and skills.

Having students engage in structured reflective activities during and after a project can contribute to the sense of community, an appreciation of the diver-sity in the group, and an appreciation of individual

contributions. the processes explored in the classes taught by the authors often included, for example, the roles taken by individuals, the effectiveness of strategies used, and an evaluation of what worked and what did not work for the group as well as for individuals.

For example, after completing a group project in which tasks and roles had been clearly defined, some questions for individual reflection might be:

what was my primary role in the project?

what do I perceive to be my strengths and weaknesses in that role?

what were some surprises about being in that role? How did I respond to those surprises?

what part of the process was most interesting and enjoyable for me?

what was the most difficult or challenging part of taking that role?

During the process, how did I modify my approach based on the group membership?

Following a group project in which tasks and roles had been clearly defined, some questions for group reflection and discussion might be:

How did each person/role affect the overall project/outcome?

How did an identified event affect the overall project/outcome?

How would each person restructure roles and assignments for the next project?

Following a group project in which tasks and roles had been clearly defined, some questions for reflection of application might be:

How might this project or group process relate to a future job?

what are the qualities of a supervisor or group leader that would be most helpful to me as a new professional?

How would I supervise or lead such a group in a professional setting?

Students are empowered in the learning process when they discover that their own background and experiences give them a unique perspective and a unique approach to the material.


what ethical principles were involved in this project?

what ethical concerns arose during this project?

Diana crundell emphasizes the importance of reflec-tive learning in a variety of scientific disciplines in Thought and Action. she suggests that when teaching in one of the sciences, “the first thing was not to limit teaching to the material itself, but also explore the impact it has on everything else” (p. 42). she suggests that we deprive stu-dents of the whole picture when we focus on the “how to” rather than the “what for” or “consequences of” the science. the authors frequently used ethical dilemmas involved in the material to prompt reflective thinking. For example, assigning students to argue or write about a particular side of an ethical dilemma broadened their understanding of an issue as well as sharpened their think-ing about the issue.

purposeful reflection generally begins with men-tal reflection, asking students to think through their experience. However, reflection should not stop there. reflective questions in a written assignment can con-solidate the thoughts for the individual. engaging in a discussion of these reflections can generate new per-spectives for group members and extend the learning from the group project further.

a simple reflective tool used in the authors’ class-room became known as “quick writes.” these writing assignments are done in the final minutes of a class ses-sion and turned in. they are not graded, and they may or may not be signed, depending on the topic. “Quick writes” can take many forms. For example, students can be asked to write their opinion about a topic pre-sented that day. their responses can then be used to prompt discussion or debate in the next class period. the authors frequently had students do “quick writes” to identify the parts of the day’s material that remained unclear to them. such an assignment not only prompts the students to think critically about the day’s material, but it also provides the instructor with a quick assess-ment of what material needs more attention.

we have found in our classes that providing stu-dents with the opportunity to reflect on the learning experience promotes greater understanding not only of the material, but also of the individual’s contribution,

strengths and weaknesses, and the steps and processes involved in meeting the objective.

ProviDe oPPorTuniTieS for engagemenT wiTh The inSTruCTor

Through aCTive learning

A final component to a multicultural learning community is active engagement between stu-

dents, the instructor, and the material. In the crush of deadlines for lectures, assignments, grading, research, advising, and all the other aspects of teaching, faculty’s involvement with students easily takes a backseat to these more pressing, deadline-driven activities. engage-ment with students is often confined to occasional discussions in class or poorly attended office hours. engagement with students, for the purpose of building a multicultural learning community, necessitates that professors be more active and more flexible in their roles with students.

numerous surveys have concluded that one of the most important principles to enhance undergradu-ate teaching is frequent contact between students and faculty, both in and out of class. From our experi-ence teaching in a large research institution, students often reported that they could go through four years of undergraduate education and not get to know a single professor or be known by a single professor on a per-sonal level. when this happens, students are deprived of the rich experience of interacting with a member of the profession to which they may aspire. as instructors, we must remember we are not merely teaching chem-istry. we are developing chemists. we are not sim-ply teaching history. we are encouraging students to appreciate history and to be historians. when instruc-tors view their work as developing new members of their discipline, they become experienced representa-tives of the discipline. they can then engage students in discussions of professional development, balancing professional and personal demands, opportunities and pitfalls of entering the profession, and other issues of vital importance to most students.

engagement between the instructor and students suggests two important factors. First, it suggests active

Reflection, having students examine how they have done something as a group or as individuals, is essential in turning information or experience into understanding.


approaches to teaching and learning. russell warren provides an overview of active learning in About Cam-pus and states that such an approach “has the potential to revolutionize instruction and stir students’ enthu-siasm for education” (p. 16). engaging students as active participants in the teaching and learning pro-cess allows and necessitates that students take greater responsibility for their own learning and the learning of the class as a whole.

the classes taught by the authors lent themselves naturally to active learning approaches. a growing body of literature, though, suggests that active learning approaches can be used effectively across the full range of academic disciplines. For example, charles Bonwell from the center for teaching and learning at the saint louis college of pharmacy, has compiled an extensive bibliography of active learning resources for business as well as for teaching in the humanities, the sciences, and the social sciences.

many active learning approaches can easily be adapted to include attention to community building and diversity. In a teaching workshop, for example, the authors grouped professors into small groups based on their college or department, such as humanities, engi-neering, physical sciences, and social sciences. each group was given the task of generating a variety of approaches to a particular topic from their own disci-plines. each group, regardless of discipline, generated a number of individual and group approaches that incor-porated attention to community and diversity.

engagement between instructors and students also necessitates that instructors rethink their role as teach-ers. engagement with students often does not allow the instructor to remain comfortably detached and aloof. Instructors must recognize their own participatory role in their classroom community. while facilitating bet-ter understanding among students and having students exchange more personal, curriculum-related informa-

tion about each other, the instructors must make deci-sions about their own level of disclosure. In addition, as instructors we bring to the group our own individual diversity that can contribute to the learning experience of students. taking a more collaborative and engaging approach to teaching not only benefits students, but also can revitalize the role of the instructor, allowing the instructor to engage students in more flexible ways, including being a collaborator and mentor, as well as a teacher.

ConCluSion

The classroom has the potential to be not merely a learning situation, but also a powerful

site of transformational learning. In our experience, vast and complex diversity already exists among the students, regardless of how homogeneous they may appear. structuring the classroom or lab experience to utilize their connections and their diversity as vital parts of the curriculum is a powerful formula for learning.

nOtes

Bonwell, c. c. (1993). Active learning strategies across the disciplines: A bibliography. st. louis, mO.: center for teaching and learning, st. louis college of pharmacy.

crundell, D. r. (2006). science as a borderless discipline. Thought and Action, 22(6), 41–48.

glassick, c. e. (1996). Building a sense of community on campus. About Campus, 1(2), 31–32.

light, r. J. (1992). the Harvard assessment seminars: second report. cambridge, ma: Harvard university.

plank, k. m., & rohdieck, s. v. (2007). the assump-tions we make about diversity. NEA Higher Education Advocate, 24(6), 5–7.

smith, k. a. (1996, Fall). cooperative learning: making ‘groupwork’ work. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 67, 71–82.

warren, r. g. (1997). engaging students in active learning. About Campus, 2(1), 16–20.

•

Documents

Make learning personal: Recommendations for classroom practice