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The Community of Inquiry framework proposed by Garrison, Anderson, and Archern (2000) identifies three dimensions to support a social constructivist model of learning. Research suggests that building these three dimensions into your course will help to support the learning experience for your students. 
 
Cognitive Presence
Cognitive presence refers to the way your students might construct meaning in your course. This happens when they have the chance to be curious, explore, and have an "ah-ha" moment. You'll see this when they're able to connect and apply new ideas from the course. The important steps you'll need to take to support cognitive presence are to carefully select content for your course and support discourse. You can help to build this into your course by providing multiple opportunities for students to explore and engage with material that will help them to understand the big ideas. You can accomplish this in your course by providing different options for engaging with the content, such as reading texts, watching videos, and completing learning activities and various assessments. 
 
Social Presence
Social presence refers to the way your students might present themselves to the class. This happens when students have opportunities to openly communicate in class, and are free to express emotions in a risk-free environment. To encourage this, you should support the discourse and set the climate for discussion. You can support this by providing opportunities for interaction and collaboration amongst students and by modeling the kinds of behaviors they should follow. You can accomplish this by asking students to introduce themselves, either in a live zoom meeting or on the course discussion board. Set parameters for students to engage in discussion in both the asynchronous and synchronous environments. For example, in a synchronous zoom meeting you might direct students to post in the chat to answer a question and set breakout rooms for students to engage with their peers. Or, you might direct students to complete an assignment in a small group, and direct them to use an asynchronous discussion board to chat and plan their assignment. 
 
Teaching Presence 
Teaching presence refers to your structure and process, including how you will provide direct instruction to your students and build understanding. This means selecting the content, identifying the topics for discussion, and keeping the discussion focused on those topics. It will also help if you set the social climate and provide clear instructions for how students should engage with and respond to these discussions. You can easily accomplish this with discussion forums related to course topics, with targeted discussion questions in your online course. What are some other ways you might accomplish this?
 
 


Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T, & Archer, W. (2000). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education. The Internet and Higher Education, 2, 87–105

 

"Community of Inquiry Model" by jrhode is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Are you interested in creating an event or program to build community for your students population? There are a variety of ways to actively connect with your students and foster a sense of community. In this article, explore programming ideas and additional tools that can assist. Event and program ideas:

Information sessions on important curriculum information
Career/alumni panels
"Creating Your Next Semester Schedule" workshop
Webinar on locating co-curricular opportunities
Study skills workshop
Navigating test anxiety discussion with representative from CAPS
Group advising for first year students
Graduate/professional school preparation seminars
Registered Student Organization fair that relate to a specific topic
Study spaces during mid-terms and finals week
Semester kick-off and end-of-year celebration

There are free resources available to MSU staff and faculty to support your events and programs. These include:

MSU Brand Studio provides a variety of tools and downloads that adheres to MSU branding guidelines. This includes color palettes, typography, logos, signatures and office toolkits, flyers, manuals, facts sheets, and more. 


25LivePro is MSU's room reservation system. If hosting an event on-campus, check 25Live for open classrooms.

A job aid for using 25LivePro is available here(this link downloads a file).




Zoom is an excellent tool to host virtual meetings and webinars. You can also record and share sessions in Zoom for anyone that was not able to attend the live session. 


Kaltura MediaSpace is MSU's media hub designed to store and share media collections. For video recordings that you wish to share, upload to Kaltura MediaSpace to create a shareable link or embed code, and add closed captioning. A video tutorial for using Kaltura MediaSpace is available here.


Canva is a versatile design tool that offers many free templates for flyers, infographics, worksheets, and so much more. 


Camtasia provides faculty with the ability to create, edit, and upload their screen recordings or presentations. This helps students navigate their online courses, provide assignment feedback, and more. This program is offered free through MSU IT Services. 


TechSmith SnagIt allows faculty, staff and students to create beautiful documentation, images, screen captures, diagrams, and other media that can be used along with D2L. This is also free through MSU IT Services. 

The following is a list of the educators receiving the #iteachmsu Educator Award from the College of Nursing. For more information on these awards, check out the article entitled "#iteachmsu Educator Awards".
Rebecca Boni: Thank you for being an amazing mentor, role model, and friend this past year at MSU.  I appreciate our many chats whether it was work, school, or kid related.  Your patience and prompt answers to my many questions/concerns was very appreciated.  Excited that I am able to call you my friend and mentor!
 
Betty Buck: I appreciate your input and guidance on nursing matters and the fun we have when we get together!  Thank you for being an amazing co-worker and friend!  
 
Patrick Crane: As new faculty for NUR 460, you took the time to meet with me one on one and make sure I understood the course and how to communicate with preceptors-something I had never done before.  While I did require a lot of support teaching this course for the first time, you understood and offered all the support and guidance I needed to help me be successful and the students as well.  Thank you!
 
Izabella de Barbaro: Izabella is hands down the most passionate instructor I have had while at MSU and I am so grateful for her patience in teaching and contagious enthusiasm. 
 
Pallav Deka: In the beginning of the semester, Dr. Deka told our pathophysiology class that it would be his first time teaching the class. Usually, it is professors talking about how great it was to see students grow, but this time I'd like to acknowledge how much Dr. Deka has improved already in just one semester. He made the class interesting and enjoyable, even when the information got hard. He was willing to work with students when they needed help and often stayed after class. There was not one single day that Dr. Deka was not willing to go above and beyond for his students, or just be generally kind to them. I hope that Dr. Deka will continue teaching this course, and as he did on the last day of class, finish the lecture slides all at once:) Thank you for a wonderful semester, Dr. Deka!
 
Jessica Ery: This semester was Dr. Ery's first semester teaching NUR 205 and she did a wonderful job. I feel very prepared to move on to the next step with the base knowledge she has provided us. There are a lot of things Dr. Ery did a lot of great things throughout the semester, but the thing that has made the largest impact on me was not a teaching moment. On our last clinical day, Dr. Ery took a guess at which type of nursing everyone in the clinical group would do. During the semester while I was waiting to find out her prediction for me, I thought it would just be fun to see how my instructor saw me. However, when she told me her guess, pediatric oncology, and the reasons she thought so, it opened my eyes to a type of nursing I had never considered before. Pediatric oncology is now at the top of my interests, but without Dr. Ery I may have never discovered this. So I would like to thank her for not only doing an incredible job of teaching us all, but also for making clinical a fun, safe environment and opening my eyes to an area of nursing that I believe I will one day love being a part of.
 
Joanne Golbert: Thank you for an amazing semester where you offered me a LOT of support and guidance on student issues that were new to me at MSU.  I greatly appreciate you taking the time to help me navigate MSU policies and vesting in my success that in turn ensured students' success this semester.  Thank you!
 
Stephanie Gray: Thank you for all the support and willingness to go above and beyond to make a learning event that much better for the DMC students.  I appreciate your knowledge and willingness to share that knowledge with me to teach the future of our profession.
 
Andy Greger: Andy works tirelessly to support faculty and students successful navigation of all things technology to enhance the learning environment. He responds, without hesitation, to urgent calls about computer blue screens, presentation issues, to evaluating software, designing online learning environments, integration of technology and continuous faculty development and support. Most impressive - he is always patient, supportive, and professional.
 
Jackie  Iseler: As my Academic Advisor in both my MSN CNS and now in my post masters DNP program Dr. Iseler has been extremely supportive and encouraging. Dr. Iseler often checks in to see how I am doing with course work and provides support as needed. I have also had Dr. Iseler as course faculty in many of my CNS courses and she always did a great job of incorporating real life examples from her own clinical setting into our instruction providing an authentic learning environment. I would like to thank Dr. Iseler for providing me the support and guidance I need as I work towards achieving my academic goals. 
John Mailey John was the best clinical instructor I've ever had, and was by far the most influential in developing my clinical skills, knowledge, and confidence. 
 
Emily McIntire: Emily McIntire is the director of the simulation lab and has developed a program of simulated learning at the College of Nursing that uses the best technology available.  However, beyond that, she has amazing skills in developing real life scripted situations that allow nursing students to experience fully the minute to minute consequences of their nursing decisions in a high pressure setting.  Over the past two years, Emily and I have been adopting and presenting the first ever community based simulation at the College of Nursing using the Missouri Community Action Network Poverty simulation kit.  As we provide this simulation, Emily and I have become aware of the emotional aspect of this experience.  She is currently exploring the concept of embodied learning in order to understand how simulation can provide more than kinesthetic based learning, but also help develop emotional intelligence and compassionate based care giving.  This project has been presented at the National Conference for the Association of Contemplative Learning in Higher Education and is currently an active IRB based study with a manuscript in process.  We can always train intelligent nurses, but exploring how to train wise and compassionate nurses is a more daunting task.  I believe Emily McIntire is a champion and leader in this important area. 
 
Kyle Miller: Bio was a hard subject for me to comprehend and Dr.Miller really made it more enjoyable and showed that he really cared when I was having difficulties 
 
Francisika Nekaien: I appreciate the helpful and flexible office hour times and that the professor showed that she genuinely cared about students understanding of the material.  I appreciate the professor's down to earth personality and also her patience when I was struggling to understand the material. Getting one on one help time surely help me understand the class material. 
 
Kathleen Poindexter: 
a) You are a wonderful leader, teacher, and friend.  It is impossible to count the ways that you have helped me to achieve my professional and personal goals.  Without you, I would not be the nurse, leader, or educator I am today.  Thank you for believing in me and teaching me how to believe in myself.  
 
b) Dr. Poindexter impacted my life tremendously as a graduate student at MSU in the MSN clinical nurse specialist (CNS) program. As a graduate student I had to balance many responsibilities (family/children, full time employment etc.). Dr. Poindexter gave me the support, encouragement, and guidance I needed to continue to achieve my goal of becoming a Masters prepared CNS. Dr. Poindexter was always there when I needed her, once when I was feeling very overwhelmed in my second semester of coursework I called Dr. Poindexter and her and I spoke for almost 2 hours and our conversation helped me to have a renewed sense of confidence and determination, this was a turning point for me in the program. Currently I am faculty in the CON at MSU and a Masters prepared CNS and again with Dr. Poindexter's encouragement and support I am continuing my education to pursue my post masters DNP. Dr. Poindexter is my faculty mentor and is helping me to transition into my faculty role at MSU as well. Dr. Poindexter is  great role model and someone I greatly admire and would like to take this opportunity to recognize and thank her for the role she has played in my academic and professional career thus far. 
 
c) Thank you for your assistance on my first poster presentation, promotion of an EBP clinical learning environment, and navigating scholarship at MSU.  My success (current and future) is because you believed in me and guided me to the path I needed to be on.  Thank you!
 
Amy Pollock: Dr. Pollock was an amazing professor.  She knew her subject very well and made it as easy as possible for me to understand the material.  She was also very helpful during her office hour and I would definitely have her again!
 
Lorraine Robbins: Dr. Robbins has provided guidance and support throughout my PhD Nursing Program at Michigan State University. She is always available and willing to share her vast experience in research. She has the nursing research experience to know and adhere to the ethical standards associated with conducting research. Her professionalism and expertise in nursing research should be applauded.  Through her research experience she is well versed in conducted research and analyzing data in a detailed and scientific manner to accurately assess the benefits of program interventions. She is able to communicate these skills across all levels of the interdisciplinary research team. She is committed to ensuring efficient, high-impact and well-organized research studies and holds her students to these same standards. She is very deserving of this recognition.  
 
Carol Vermeesch: Thank you for always being available and responding to the many needs and questions I had through the past year.  As new faculty, your guidance has made me feel more welcomed at MSU and successful in being a Spartan Nurse! 
 
Anne Thomas (Passed in July): Thank you for being inclusionary of all new faculty.  I truly have felt very welcomed and set-up for success at MSU because of the environment you have created among faculty.  This environment that is welcoming and supportive does not go unnoticed by our faculty, especially those of us that are new!  Thank you!
Anyone can recognize a fellow Spartan for their contributions to MSU's teaching and learning mission or for how they made a lasting impression on your experience. All you have to do is click "Thank an Educator" in the left panel of iteach.msu.edu. From there you'll be directed to a form where you can enter the name, netID, and a short story of the educator you'd like to recognize.

Interested faculty members can partner with us to create interdisciplinary, experiential courses as part of the Spartan Studios project within the Hub for Innovation in Learning and Technology
Are you interested in:

Invigorating your teaching?
Collaborating with colleagues in other disciplines?
Creating a course that tackles a real problem?
Learning high-impact teaching practices?
Making experiential learning accessible to more MSU undergrads?
Giving your students workplace-relevant skills in high demand from employers?
Exploring new areas for your research? 
Engaging with the local community or forming partnerships with local or international stakeholders? 

We are looking for educators interested in trying a new way of teaching.
Spartan Studios courses can be:

Experiential: students learn through and reflect on their experiences
Interdisciplinary: co-taught by multiple faculty members from different disciplinary backgrounds and/or departments across campus. Students are exposed to approaches/methods not normally part of their major and work with other students from different majors
Project-based: teams of students work to design their own solutions. They plan, produce, receive feedback, and iterate their projects. It’s ok to fail.
Impactful: courses can work with community partners to create relevant, local solutions
Accessible: these high-impact educational experiences are accessible to more students than study abroad programs or unpaid internships 
Transformative: Research suggests that this type of course can lead to positive outcomes for students and faculty members
In-person or online

We help faculty members identify the combination of features that best fit their course, topic, and goals.
The Spartan Studios project helps faculty members develop experiential interdisciplinary courses at MSU where students respond to real life situations or wicked problems and design solutions in partnership with local stakeholders. We have been facilitating prototype courses since 2018, supporting faculty members who developed experiential courses including Snares to Wares, Wildlife Sanctuary, the Food Waste Challenge, and Songwriting.
We can facilitate your teaching goals through consultations, our Playkit resource for faculty, and a limited number of stipends for 2021-22.
If you are interested in creating novel and transformative student experiences at MSU, connect with the Hub to learn how to plan and teach your own compelling Spartan Studios course.Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

The following are challenges and solutions identified by colleagues in the inaugural, synchronous, Teaching Multilingual Learners: An Introduction to Translingual Pedagogy workshop. Challenges are bolded below with solutions directly following in bulleted format. Time difference

different times for office hours
organize conferences at 8 PM
don’t take attendance
record the classes (but do they watch them?)
offer asynchronous options
ask what time works best for them (survey)
encourage them to form study groups

lingering questions:What are some ways to share information other than a video or mini-lecture?idea:Group presentations; prepare their own slides for the presentation of material that the instructor would normally present. Teams.Not participating in class

facilitating culturally-mixed work groups
let them Chat or poll as well as speaking
start with the question of the day
what’s going on behind the camera
share own experience (like with studying abroad)
pairwork looking at partner’s artifact
slow your speech
turn on the closed-captioning
let them rehearse
let them write first
“fun time” at end of class (when we show our faces)
give them time
model wherever possible
give examples
present material multimodally
have pictures
have a student translate

Difficult vocabulary in course materials 

unpack metaphors and codes
have a student make a glossary
use images and examples
have materials available ahead of time, e.g. on D2L
remind them that this is a space for them, whether English is their first language or not, to learn and practice writing, not master the language—mistakes are welcome!

Understanding assignments

Key assignment words like “summarize” or analyze”: be sure everyone understands them the same way
invite them to ask questions
Jamboard or Padlet for anonymous questions
make links
small group work on specific terms
give models of how other students have approached an assignment
invite students to actualize or embody the concepts
Writing Center and English Language Center (ELC)

Attendance

talk about class content multiple times in multiple forms
reframe “attendance” as “engagement”
help them understand the cultures they bring to the class
D2L can help us know how much time they’re spending on various tasks

Extra work of translating

Share out the work if more than one student with the same L1
tools like online translation of transcripts and captions
use images, examples, body language
let students know that you’re rewarding this labor -- have them make it visible in reflections
ELC
office hours (enlightening for instructor too)
“visible thinking: cross between text and image”

Check out the July training courses available at no cost to all MSU students, faculty, and staff. Visit SpartansLearn for more information and to register.
 
Featured Course of the Month  
Teams – Working with Teams
July 22, 11:00 a.m.
Instructor – Megan Nicholas
This hour-long course is valuable to individuals, teams, and departments looking for a centralized hub for communication, file sharing, and collaboration. Learn how to request a new team or join an existing team, manage channels and tabs, and manage the team’s members, settings, and analytics.
 
What participants are saying...
“I enjoy the humor and interactivity that Megan brings to the training. It makes her courses engaging. Having the hands-on experience is great too!"
 
July Schedule
To register for the following virtual instructor-led training courses go to SpartansLearn.
 
Spartan 365 – Overview
July 10, 11:00 a.m.
Have you ever wanted to work collaboratively in a document or simultaneously on any device? Spartan 365 makes this type of teamwork easy! Spartan 365 offers robust features and a secure environment. This one-hour course will give an overview of the main Microsoft 365 apps including Forms, OneDrive, OneNote, Outlook, and Teams.
 
Microsoft Teams – Getting Started
July 11, 1:30 p.m.
Teams is one of the best tools at MSU for effective communication and collaboration. Join us as we dive into the basics and share how to chat and host meetings with individuals, groups, and entire teams.
 
Zoom – Getting Started
July 16, 1:30 p.m.
Unlock the power of virtual meetings with Zoom! Engage new audiences, elevate customer experiences, and boost productivity. Learn essential settings, starting, and managing meetings. Perfect for faculty, staff, and students—don’t miss this chance to master Zoom and enhance your online collaboration.
 
Microsoft Forms – Creating Forms and Surveys
July 25, 10:00 a.m.
Forms can help survey classmates, students, coworkers, or any group where feedback is needed. Learn how to create forms and surveys, format, branch, collect data, and share with others.
 
Zoom – Meetings
July 26, 9:30 a.m.
Unlock the full potential of Zoom and revolutionize your virtual meetings! Dive into the heart of collaboration as you learn to effortlessly orchestrate breakout rooms, harness the power of seamless recording and reporting, spice up engagement with advanced polls and quizzes, and discover the art of content sharing.
 
OneDrive – Working with OneDrive
July 30, 1:30 p.m.
Expanding on the basics of OneDrive, learn more about this great storage tool. Discover navigation strategies, explore the desktop app settings and options, manage accessibility of files and folders, and more.
 
 
Can’t attend a live course? Each is available on-demand to watch anytime at SpartansLearn.
 
Weekly office hours are available for those with questions about content shared in the courses. Find the schedule at SpartansLearn.
 
All participants are invited to share anonymous feedback about their course through our End of Course Survey. Your feedback is incredibly valuable to help shape and inform our future offerings. Congratulations, Tyler Donelson, our quarter 2 drawing winner for completing an End of Course Survey!
 
For any other questions about technology training, please contact train@msu.edu. 

Stephen Thomas
Title: Drawing to Teach: Visualizing our Curriculum for Reflection and CommunityLocation: Room 2130College courses and programs of study are comprised of a complex arrangement of structures and processes that can make them difficult to conceptualize or communicate to others. When describing a course to others, we often fall back on simplistic narratives of the topic without referencing the pedagogy, assessment, learning environment, resources, student engagement, or a myriad of other impactful features. In this presentation we will look at what it might mean to use visual tools and formats to more formatively represent our curriculum to allow reflection on your teaching, receive feedback from colleagues, and foster community around our teaching efforts.
Dr. Stephen Thomas is the Assistant Dean for STEM Education Teaching and Learning, the Associate Director for the Center for Integrative Studies in General Science at and the Digital Curriculum Coordinator for the College of Natural Science at MSU.  For his bachelor’s degree from Denison University, Stephen majored in Biology and minored in Art.  This interest in the science/art intersection continued into graduate school as he freelanced as a biological illustrator while earning his masters and Ph.D. at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in Organismal and Evolutionary Biology and Entomology.   Since coming to MSU, Stephen’s focus has shifted from virulence of fungal pathogens of Lymantria dispar to visual communication of science in formal and informal settings and the use of technology in teaching.    Stephen has worked on projects such as the use of comics to reduce subject anxiety in non-major science courses, the development of a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) to teach general science, and augmented reality and kiosk games to engage visitors in science museums.  In more recent projects, Stephen has worked on curriculum for Drawing to Learn Biology where students explore science practices of observation and visual model-based reasoning through nature journaling.  In his professional development work, Stephen collaborates with Dr. Julie Libarkin on building communities of practice in STEM teaching, STEM education research, and interdisciplinary experiences in art, science, and culture. You can learn more about this work at the STEMed@State website. 

This article provides sentence starters for various classroom scenarios, especially for Fall 2024. This post is the final part of the Civil Discourse in Classrooms series and playlist.
The following pages include scenarios with accompanying sentence starters that can help defuse or deflect speech or behavior that distracts or interrupts instruction. As always, these are context-, identity-, and classroom-dependent, and educators should use their discretion when adapting them. These scenarios are provided as a way to pre-reflect before you encounter these or similar scenarios. When the below sentence starters mention resources, you don’t need them immediately, as you can always follow-up with students when you don’t know. As educators, it is acceptable to not know the answer, to ask for time to find the right words, and to follow up after the fact with additional information.
Educator-Student Interactions and Boundaries

Scenario: You (the educator) make a remark that a student strongly reacts to.

Apologizing: “I used language that may have impacted several of you. I want to apologize, and I’ll do better in the future before using that language.”
Acknowledging: “That content of discussion must have been really heavy to deal with. I will follow-up with support resources after class, and if you want to talk more about it, [contact method].”
Acknowledging and Apologizing: “I have observed that I may have made a remark that has made some of you uncomfortable, and I apologize and promise this will be a learning moment for me.”

Scenario: A student directly asks you who you will vote for or your stance on a political issue.

The MSU Faculty Handbook states, “As citizens, the faculty/academic staff members of Michigan State University have the same rights and responsibilities of free speech, thought, and action as all citizens of the United States. Their position, however, imposes special obligations, such as emphasizing that they are not institutional spokespersons, and exercising appropriate restraint.” Some examples of reinforcing boundaries are below.
Reinforcing Boundaries: “Voting is a deeply personal decision for many folks. If you’re wanting to know more about the process to vote, I’m happy to provide those resources for you.”
Reinforcing Boundaries: “Because of my role at MSU, I’m going to keep my political positions to myself.”
Reinforcing Boundaries: “I have many deeply held beliefs that inform my decision to vote, and for whom I vote. In the classroom, I am focused on course content and making sure this is a place where all students can learn.”
Reinforcing Boundaries: “As a teacher, I’m here to teach you how to think, not what to think. As a voter, you should base your voting decision on the candidates’ stance on different issues, not on who others vote for.”
Redirecting to Course: “That political stance has been discussed in our field quite a bit. Would you like some scholarship on those various views in this field?.”
Defusing through Humor (humor is extremely context-dependent and may escalate tensions, so use discretion by choosing that path): “I can't tell you who I'm voting for, but I can tell you that whoever invents automatic sock sorters has my full endorsement!”


Classroom Disruption and Conflict

Scenario: Two students enter into a verbal disagreement that persists and intrudes on the instruction in the class.

Redirecting: “Let’s remember that our classroom norms mention that we respect class instruction time and our peers within the classroom.”
Acknowledging and Redirecting: “I notice y’all have some pretty strong emotions right now and that might be difficult. Right now, we need to turn our attention to the course instruction time, and we can chat after class to discuss more.”
Redirecting: “Is the discussion related to [teaching topic]? If not, I’ll have to ask you two to respect your classmates’ time and discuss this after class.”


Scenario: A student stands up in class and begins to speak loudly with the intent of disrupting or stopping instruction.

Ideally, refer to an existing norm or policy stated in the syllabus that clearly defines acceptable discourse practices in your classroom.
Listening and Redirecting: “I hear you, and your opinion matters. Right now is a time to focus on class content. Let’s continue this after class.”
Listening and Redirecting: “Thank you for your input, but right now, we need to continue with the course content for everyone’s learning.”
Defusing: If comfortable, you may want to use proximity to get closer to the student and calmly ask, “Please take a seat so I can continue instruction. If that’s not possible today, I’d be happy to catch up with you about course materials in office hours.”


Scenario: A student makes a particularly incendiary remark that clearly affects others in the room.

Acknowledging and Defusing: “I just want to take a moment here to recognize that those words may have impacted others in the room. As discussed in our community norms, we don’t use disparaging remarks in class. It’s my goal to keep our discourse focused on course content and to uphold our discourse norms so all are comfortable learning here.”
Acknowledging and Defusing: “Thank you for sharing and it sounds like you’re really feeling strongly about that issue. For now, we want to be cognizant that those words may have negative connotations for others. In order to abide by our classroom norms, we should not use phrases like that. “
Acknowledging and Defusing: “I think that we’ve heard some pretty heavy things, and I know that it can be helpful to take some time to process before we return to course material. Let’s take a brief moment for us all to channel our thoughts in a free write about this. ”
Naming Expectations: “These types of remarks can make students in this classroom uncomfortable. I will have to ask you to stop using this language in order to make this a respectful learning environment.”
Naming Expectations: “You know, that comment was outside the bounds of what’s acceptable in this class. I am going to return to the subject at hand.”


Scenario: A major news event distracts multiple students or otherwise interrupts the normal operations of the class.

Acknowledging and Defusing: “I wanted to acknowledge [event]. This is a heavy and difficult topic, and I want to take a moment to give us all time to process. We’ll try to move back into course content once we take a collective breath.”
Acknowledging and Defusing: “I know many of us may not be able to be fully present today because of [event]. I am going to do my best to move on with class, but I will post  today’s core content online as well, for you to navigate when you are in a space to learn. You should review this before our next class on [day].”
Acknowledging and Redirecting: “Today may be hard for us today. We have some stress relief activities on campus for anyone who wants to participate [e.g., direct to therapy dogs on campus, other college/department stress relief or wellness activities happening].”




 

Political Engagement and Class Participation

Scenario: A student tells you they will miss class to attend a political event or protest.

Acknowledging and Setting Expectations: “Thank you for letting me know ahead of time, and that is your choice. If that is the case, the outcome for that decision in this course is [policy].”
Acknowledging and Setting Expectations: “I appreciate you letting me know and that is your right as a student. In terms of this course, you have [X] excused absences with no questions asked and this can count toward that.”
Acknowledging and Setting Expectations: “Just a reminder that this will overlap with our exam, and the policy on that is [policy].”
Acknowledging: “While I cannot comment on your decision to attend the event, as a teacher, I will ask you to please prioritize your personal safety when attending the event.”

Scenario: A student asks for an extension on an assignment or leniency on a grade due to political or protest activity on campus or more broadly in the world.

Acknowledging: “That sounds like you are trying to balance a lot. Your options in this case are [provide options for your course].”
Acknowledging and Setting Expectations: “You have the absolute right to protest; however, this extension would count toward your one late assignment submission. Is that something you’d like to use in this case?”
Acknowledging and Setting Expectations: “You are definitely free to make that decision, but there are consequences in the class for late assignments, which means [policy].”


Interpersonal Interactions and Political Concerns

Scenario: A student tells you that interactions with their peers on a course project made them uncomfortable or feel unsafe because of its politically-charged tone.

Please note that Mandatory Reporter guidelines apply to all RVSM and Title IX related statements.
Instruct the class on how to work with people who may have different points of view than you, with an emphasis on focusing on completing the group assignment and using respectful language and manners during work time. Also, decide whether allowing students to form their own groups would be a better way to avoid this situation from reoccurring.
Acknowledging and Defusing: “I’m so sorry to hear you did not feel safe in this course, and I appreciate you letting me know. What supports or modifications do you currently need to feel safer in the course?”
Acknowledging and Defusing: “Thank you for telling me. That must have been hard to do. Because this course does overlap with political topics, sometimes this may occur, but in the meantime, what would make you feel safer in these interactions in the future?”
Acknowledging and Defusing: “That sounds really difficult, and I’m so sorry that happened. Let’s discuss how you can still get the most out of this assignment?”



Scenario: A student comments to you about political or social remarks they heard another faculty or staff member make.

Reinforcing Boundaries: “Everyone’s stances are their personal decisions and sometimes we may disagree with others, but they still have the right to that expression.”
Redirecting to the Course: “That sounds like it upset you, and I’m sorry that happened. In this course, we will keep course content focused on the course learning goals.”


Resources

President Guskiewicz’s video on free speech and civil discourse
MSU’s Freedom of Speech
MSU Dialogues
MSU Votes
MSU Student Activism
Tuft’s Free Speech and Inclusion on Campus
Bridging Differences Playbook
Inclusive and Civil Classrooms
Maintaining Campus Community During the 2024 Election


Return to the Civil Discourse in the Classroom playlist.