Student belonging

Everyone's brain is different, and if we set up our schools in a way that makes room for many variations, we'll all be better off.

Join Kate Griggs for an in-depth discussion in this video, Dyslexics are the future, part of Empowering Dyslexic Thinking at Work.

Research shows that students who feel they belong in a course or discipline are more likely to persist and can promote learning. This collection provides a set of practical resources for fostering a sense of belonging in your classroom.

What does it mean, to belong? How do belonging and not belonging get experienced/expressed in learning contexts? In networks and communities?I have been teaching for nearly three decades, learning...

With some surprising takeaways from my students

Planning workplace wellness activities? Jessica N. asked, “Our employees want to highlight healthy lifestyles, perhaps by hosting a ‘step challenge’ or a 5K. While I love these ideas, we have employees who use wheelchairs. Do you have suggestions that are inclusive to everyone?” Stick with me 👇 🧵

The week before the break, CETL hosted our final workshop of the semester, “Developing a Trauma-Aware Pedagogy.” Unfortunately, the topic is more relevant than ever: according to recent reports, nearly half of students who attend college counseling sessions

I was recently reading this article by Mays Imad: Imad, M. (2022). Trauma‐informed education for wholeness: Strategies for faculty & advisors. New Directions for Student Services, 2022(177), pp…

Does retrieval practice improve learning for neurodiverse learners ? Yes! Learn about the newest research, including students with developmental language disorders, Down syndrome, dyslexia, and ADHD.

What can we do when our capacity for emotional work is overdrawn, just when our students & our families need us the most?

Jeannette Baca, New Mexico Highlands UniversityDebbie Gonzalez, California State Polytechnic University, HumboldtJamie Langlois, Grand Valley State UniversityMary Kirk, Winona State UniversityKey Statement: A framework for educators to address personal and student trauma, provide compassionate instruction, and create a thriving learning environmentKeywords: T-I CoI, Instruction, Well-Being, CrisisIntroductionUsing the Trauma-Informed Community of Inquiry (T-I CoI) framework as a pedagogical desi

CW: mental illness, trauma, suicide (Please take what you need and leave the rest.) This piece has been bubbling up inside of me, fighting to get out, for the past several months, as I've seen an increase in folks in higher education who are obsessed with talking about other people's mental illness.

Discover how the imposter phenomenon uniquely impacts people of color and the role racial discrimination plays in feelings of self-doubt. Learn what this means for students and what higher education institutions can do to create inclusive environments.

Learn how embracing vulnerability can reduce student stress and strengthen classroom connections. Discover four key strategies for building trust and rapport with your students.

Today on the podcast I talk with Mariel Pfeifer, assistant professor of biology. Mariel started at Ole Miss just about a year ago as part of a cluster hire of three STEM faculty who are on the tenure track at UM doing disciplinary based education research. I was excited to hear Mariel was coming to the university because I was already familiar with her work. Back in the spring of 2023, I lead a faculty learning community on the topic of active learning in large enrollment STEM courses, and we read her study on the experiences of neurodivergent students in active learning STEM classes. As Mariel points out in our conversation, a lot of the traditional accommodations we use for students with learning disabilities assume that a college course is full of lectures and exams, but that’s not as true for STEM courses as it once was. Mariel shares lots of insight into the student experience in these courses and has practical advice for instructors interested in helping more students succeed. Episode Resources·       Mariel Pfeifer’s lab website, https://www.pfeiferlab.com/·

Recent Student Voice data from Inside Higher Ed and Generation Lab finds two in five college students say stress or mental health is impacting their academics a great deal, and they want help from their institutions to take the pressure off.

This spring Holly Tilbrook presented as part of a panel titled “Neurodivergent Learners (and Earners!) in Postsecondary Education” at the UPCEA annual conference. Holly is a deputy director of the Academic Centres at the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Continuing Education. That institute offers a variety of postsecondary learning opportunities for students of all ages, from onsite weekend courses to online certificate programs to degree programs offered across various modalities. Many of Holly’s students aren’t just learners, they’re earners, in the sense that they are active participants in the workforce. I wanted to know what Holly has been learning about supporting students with ADHD and other types of neurodivergence, particularly adult students and online students. I reached out to Holly via LinkedIn, where she posts thoughtful reflections on her work on a regular basis, and she was glad to talk with me. In our conversation, we discuss ways to build trust with neurodivergent students, accommodations that can more authentically meet these students’ needs, and helping neurodivergent students enter or re-enter the workforce. Episode Resources·       Holly Tilbrook on LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/in/hebtilbook/ ·       Institute of Continuing Education, University of Cambridge, https://www.ice.cam.ac.uk/ ·       Still Distracted After All These Years: Help and Support for Older Adults with ADHD by Kathleen Nadeau, https://amzn.to/3ze0pt8

Many of us have excelled professionally while privately coping with various diagnoses, afraid that revealing them will discredit us, writes Marta Elliott.

Embed these four strategies into your courses to tap into the strengths of your neurodivergent students while helping them make critical connections to the course material and their classmates and develop essential executive functioning skills.