From Weeding Out to Belonging
We really like hearing about the collaborative process for course revision that addresses both belonging as well as some other key course features that align with equitable teaching practices. If you’re looking to redesign your course with belonging in mind, this is a great resource!
Today’s episode features the story of how educators at Northern Arizona University redesigned a gateway course at Northern Arizona University called Bio 181, that’s required for 25 majors. In doing so, they reimagined what was previously known as a “weed out course” with about 30% of students dropping out into a course that built community and established critical student to student connections, incorporated active learning strategies, and help students improve their metacognition skills. The result has been increased exam scores and fewer DFWs. Today you’ll be hearing from Bio lecturers, Ana Araya-Anchetta, Mar-Elise Hill, and also, from a returning guest, Flower Darby, in her capacity as instructional designer who partnered with Ana and Mar-Elise on the redesign.