We found 173 results that contain "social justice"

Topic Area: DEI
Presented By: Stacia Moroski-Rigney, Karen Moroski-Rigney
Abstract:
In Fall 2021, the Writing Center’s Accessibility Committee collaborated with a section of First Year Writing to pilot an accessible revision assignment. In this pilot, students were asked to revise a multimodal assignment using accessible composing features (alt text, captions, etc.) and to broaden their idea of “audience” to include disabled readers. Completing both pre- and post-reflections, students carried out these revisions within the course. The Writing Center’s Accessibility Committee developed a workshop on accessible composing to support the students, including video modules, handouts/online resources, and one-to-one writing and revision mentoring. By situating disability justice as a core component of First Year Writing’s goal of fostering critical inquiry and as a core component of the Writing Center’s community engagement and restorative justice work, we hoped to posit accessibility as a meaningful Spartan value for writers beginning their time at MSU.
This presentation will be twofold: First, we will describe the pilot, share some of the resources generated by the Writing Center and some of the reflective writing done by students in FYW, and offer suggestions and support for attendees interested in implementing similar measures in their courses or assignments. Second, we will describe the assessment process we developed for this pilot: What questions did we ask? What rubrics did we employ? How did we collate data or determine success? What did we learn? What do we still hope to learn?
This presentation will provide attendees with takeaways supporting accessible composing as well as strategies for assessing new teaching practices or programmatic turns.please note: the first 15-minutes of this session will be an at-you-own-pace PowerPoint with a script audio for accessibility. 
Session Resources: Imagining Access (PowerPoint)

The Web Center for Social Research Methods provides resources related to applied social research and evaluation.

H-Net is an international interdisciplinary organization of scholars and teachers that provides academic news, book reviews, job postings, and career advice.

Iowa State University's library provides a guide to conducting research in the social sciences and humanities, with resources in methods, ethics, and sampling.

Leadership Fellows

2016-2019: Jacob Bradburn
2019-2020: Courtney Bryant & Tatiana Bustos
2020-2021: Kionna Henderson & Jaleah Rutledge
2021-2022: Cordelia Martin-Ipke & Jessie Pink
2021-2023: Qi Huang

Jacob Bradburn (2016-2019)Jacob Bradburn constructed a thorough and thoughtful approach to building the Social Science graduate student community as the first Fellow for the college. He began by surveying the college’s landscape in order to gather information on departmental procedures, college structure, and identify possible intervention points in which to enhance the graduate student experience. He created an organizational chart mapping the graduate departments and degree programs and a supplementary Excel spreadsheet with information on each of the departments, programs, and graduate student organizations (GSOs). Jacob took his research further by analyzing the survey results from two specific departments, Psychology and Social Work, and presenting his findings to department leadership. Jacob also advocated for graduate student representation on the College of Social Science Dean’s Student Advisory Council, which consisted of only undergraduates at the time. He worked with GSOs to help register them with the university and to facilitate outreach through his organizational chart.
Jacob was a key author in the Leadership Institute’s 2019 grant proposal to the Office for Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives CIEG. He worked closely with then-Coordinators, Madeline Shallgren and Makena Neal, and former Coordinator, Megumi Moore, to outline the Institute’s vision, purpose, and leadership development curriculum. This document is an important reflection of the Institute’s ethos during a time of past leadership and helps us understand how the Institute has grown since. In short, Jacob was a key player that went outside the bounds of his Fellowship responsibilities to support the Institute’s development and lay a strong foundation for future Social Science Leadership Fellows.Courtney Bryant & Tatiana Bustos (2019-2020)Courtney Bryant and Tatiana Bustos leveraged Jacob’s leadership network to build a strong relationship with the Assistant Dean and gather connections within the College to inform their multi-tier support system for underrepresented graduate students. Their project specifically focused on diversity and inclusion within the College and utilized a needs assessment survey to help define the different tiers within the support system. Example initiatives they considered included getting a physical space in the college, creating a section on the website including diversity and inclusion resources, and implementing a program to teach multicultural mentoring to faculty. As they were faced with the time-consuming and difficult challenges brought on by graduate student life amidst the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Courtney and Tatiana were unable to see these initiatives through. However, their work brought awareness to unequal graduate student representation in the College and they built an incredible network of connections and data that will inform future graduate student diversity and inclusion initiatives.Kionna Henderson & Jaleah Rutledge (2020-2021)Kionna Henderson and Jaleah Rutledge’s project, All About Academic Entrepreneurship, consisted of a four-part series that introduced graduate students to academic entrepreneurship. With the understanding that graduate students possess a variety of skills and talents that can be applied to a wide range of fields, this series aimed to help graduate students turn these skills into for profit business opportunities. The series covered an introduction to academic entrepreneurship, marketing and building your brand, finding the right partners and financial resources, as well as a panel of academic entrepreneurs. Speakers included Dr. Jasmine Abrams, Dr. Paul Elam, and Christine Beamer. The panelists included Jen Fry, Dr. Tatiana Bustos, Dr. Sederick Rice, and Dr. Valencia Moses. Kionna and Jaleah worked closely with the Director of Graduate Student Life and Wellbeing, Dr. Megumi Moore, and Social Science Deans Mary Finn and Anna Maria Santiago. Their series was received extremely well by their audience, with many remarking that it exceeded their expectations and provided valuable and inspiring content.Cordelia Martin-Ipke (2021-2022)Cordelia began the year by looking at how to recruit more underrepresented minorities into the Geography Department. She worked to strengthen the Advancing Geography Through Diversity Program and community building among underrepresented minority groups in the geography field. She worked with her department chair as well as director, and established a network to create a recruitment pipeline from Chicago State, which does not have a Geography PhD program and is a minority serving institution. Cordelia has been exploring the sustainability of this program.Jessie Pink (2021-2022)Jesse’s project addressed environmental justice and racism. He used an interdisciplinary approach that tied environmental justice with health inequities. Jesse has been working to highlight the importance of activism and community engagement in solving environmental health issues in vulnerable communities.Qi Huang (2021-2023)Qi worked with CAL Fellow, Hima Rawal, to address international students’ use of mental health services on campus. They hope to build bridges to increase access to and decrease stigma of mental health services. They collaborated with the Office of International Students & Scholars, Counseling and Psychiatric Services, the Trauma Services Training Network, and more to learn more about how these offices support international students. They also interviewed over a dozen international students to deepen their understanding of the concerns and barriers international students have concerning mental health. Using this data and their partnerships, Qi and Hima hope to create a Wellness Ambassador program where selected international students are trained to reach out to other international students to help them learn about mental health services on campus.

The following is a list of the educators receiving the #iteachmsu Educator Award from the College of Social Science. For more information on these awards, check out the article entitled "#iteachmsu Educator Awards".
Amanda Kreuze: Amanda is appointed as the instructor of the online version of ISS310: People & the Environment for the Spring Semester 2020. As the course administrator and coordinator, I could not do my job without a highly motivated and knowledgeable person like Amanda in that role. She truly cares for her students and does her best to make sure that they are not only successful, but also that their online experience in People & the Environment is positive. The situation that students (and instructors) now find themselves in is unfathomable in many regards, but Amanda continues to do all that she can to provide a safe and positive online environment for students to learn. Thank you Amanda for all that you do for onGEO and your students!
 
Ida Djenontin: In addition to maintaining high performance on her own work, Ida has been a great support to both me and students in her role as TA for two of my classes this Spring! She has done a yeoman job with grading, but more importantly, has taken many other steps to get to know the undergrad students and to help with management. These have been crucial in helping us all successfully navigate the transition to 'remote' instruction. I deeply appreciate her work ethic and positive demeanor.
 
Rajiv Paudel: We would like to recognize Rajiv Paudel, graduate student in the Department of Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences, for his unwavering understanding and compassion through an unprecedented semester. Rajiv is teaching GEO325 (Geographic Information Systems) for the Department this spring and found himself responsible for transitioning 42 students through a swift transition to remote learning. Throughout this transition, Rajiv has been concerned for his students and their situations, in and out of the virtual classroom. Rajiv has been willing to work individually with students to remedy technical challenges with the fully online labs and repeatedly put his students first. The onGEO group is grateful for all that you do, Rajiv!
 
Aaron Luedtke: Aaron is one of those exceptional graduate students who devotes a tremendous amount of energy on being one of the best teachers in our department. Aaron received the Harry Brown Graduate Fellowship for Academic Excellence from our department in 2019 and had previously received the Fred Williams Graduate Award for teaching in 2018. This year, he was again nominated for the Somers teaching Award in IAH. Academically and intellectually, Aaron is an outstanding student with numerous fellowships and awards. He received a short-term dissertation fellowship from the D'Arcy McNickle Center at Chicago's Newberry Library and the Everett Helm Visiting Fellowship from the Lily Library at Indiana University. His article on Indigenous communities in the Great Lakes will be published in the forthcoming collection, The Northern Midwest and the US-Canada Borderlands: Essays on a Lost Region, in 2020.
 
Steve Anderson: Steve has been a teaching assistant for one of our department's largest courses--Introduction to Comparative Politics--for several semesters. Given the number of students and the nature of the assignments, this is not an easy job, and Steve always performs beyond expectations. He provides quick, careful, and helpful feedback to students on their work, and he is careful and reliable. Our students are lucky to have him as a teacher, and I'm lucky to have him as an assistant!
 
Kesicia Dickinson: Kesicia is so smart, kind, and respectful. She is inclusive and strong and serves as a mentor to our newest students of color. She is constantly empowering other students who feel out of place in the academy and creating space for them to shine. When some students -- especially her more junior peers of color – feel isolated and feel imposter syndrome, she goes out of her way to remind them that they have earned their space in the discipline and reminds them that they have so much to contribute. Our department is trying so hard to build a minority politics initiative, and without Kesicia and her persistence, encouragement, and participation, we would be a much worse group and department. She kills people with kindness, is genuine, constructive, and empowering. I am so proud to have her as a student in the discipline. I have yet to meet someone as inclusive and encouraging as Kesicia.
 
Natasha Fowler: I’d like to give a huge shout out to Natasha for being an amazing mentor this year! She’s been helping me with my UURAF poster, and I have learned so much from her. From the background science to the research process as a whole, Natasha has played a crucial part in my learning. The process of researching, making, and presenting this poster to the lab has been an amazing experience overall and I couldn’t have done it without Natasha. Thank you so much for your help, patience, and enthusiasm Natasha!
 
Megan Mikhail: Megan, I'm so happy you are in our lab! I so enjoy when you present and teach in our lab meetings, you make the science so easy to understand and also so engaging. You are clearly passionate about your work and it is so awesome to see. I always appreciate your insights as well, you offer such constructive and thoughtful input into research discussions. You're a joy to work with!
 
Nafiseh Haghtalab: Nafiseh is appointed as the instructor of the online version of GEO204: World Regional Geography for Spring Semester 2020. These are unparalleled times for our world, students and the University alike and Nafiseh has done all that she can to help students continue to be successful in the course amidst a new, and often more complicated, set of circumstances. I sincerely appreciate Nafiseh for her dedication to teaching the online course and supporting her students; having Nafiseh as an instructor has made my job as the course’s administrator and coordinator that much easier and more enjoyable. Thank you Nafiseh for all that you do for onGEO and your students!
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.

In addition to pursuing a social event in his own college, Jacob was integral to the redesign of the overall fellows' application process. Jacob facilitated a group in defining a fellowship competency framework, and then using said framework to establish an application, referral form, and interview protocol.

 
“It’s not what you know, but who you know.” is one of the largest colloquialisms when it comes to career trajectory. In addition, a big part of attending higher education is to help propel student careers. While we may want to prepare students by just giving them the necessary knowledge for their future endeavors, we should also strive to take this time to help establish connections and reasonable paths forward for them as well.   
 
Engagement/Participation:
Student engagement is defined by how actively and enthusiastically students are involved in the learning process during class.  Meanwhile, participation refers to actual involvement of the students. So, it is possible for:  

A student may participate and not be engaged,
Or a student to be engaged but not participate.

This is important to consider when defining your pedagogical approach to classroom engagement and participation, and how you define it within your class. If you plan to award student participation, or your class heavily relies on discussion and active student engagement, you may even want to provide these definitions in the syllabus.
 
However, you may not directly explain these ideas and instead focus on whether ask these questions of your syllabus:

Does your teaching style facilitate your views of participation/engagement?
Is your syllabus communicating whether you want students to participate?
Is the syllabus itself engaging for students?
Do your assessments reflect your goals for participation/engagement?
In what ways is your syllabus contributing to student participation and engagement?

 
Peer-to-peer Interaction 
Students working together is crucial for learning and development. It helps students build necessary social skills, establish relationships between current/future colleagues, increases active participation and engagement and often increases student self-efficacy towards the course topic.
 
Therefore, it is encouraged that you construct course materials that facilitate peer-to-peer interactions and foster some sense of community within your classroom. As far as what to include in the syllabus, you should specify what types of activities you will hold that require peer-to-peer interactions, and what expectations you have of students during these interactions.
 
For example, the syllabus may contain:

A list of classroom rules that you or your class develops:

Developing them yourself lets you be in control of exactly what values you want accentuated in your class.  
Developing them as a class can communicate that students have autonomy over their learning and increase classroom engagement.  


Examples of peer-discussion techniques you use:

Whole Group Discussions:  

Ask your class to consider a question/topic and facilitate a group discussion on the topic, allowing students to speak freely and challenge one another.


Think-Pair-Share:

Ask students to individually consider a question/topic, discuss it with a partner, then share their insights with the whole class.


Mingle-Pair-Share:

Similar to think-pair-share, except students can move freely about the class and have discussions with multiple students.


Discussion Groups:

Breaking students into smaller groups to hold discussions on a question/topic, which can then be brought into larger group discussions.


Jigsaw:

Break down a larger topic into smaller pieces and allow each group to focus on an individual piece to share out in a whole class discussion.


Collaborative Assignments:

Students work together in small groups to develop material specified by a rubric or find solutions to laid out problems.


Socratic Seminar:

This is an open discussion based on an assigned set of readings. Instead of generating a question or specific topic you want students to consider, just allow them to openly discuss the material and explore at their own pace.





                               
There are numerous other ways you may facilitate peer-to-peer relationships and communication, but however you choose to do so, it is helpful to communicate that to students upfront and through the syllabus.
 
 
Instructor-Student Interaction:
Fair or not, how students reflect on course material, or a specific subject, largely depends on their (impression of)/ (relationship with) their teacher. For this reason, it’s important to have a positive relationship between an instructor and their student. The syllabus, again especially as a first impression, can help facilitate this relationship and help an instructor feel more approachable. For this reason, it’s important that your syllabus:

Sets a welcoming/positive tone:

Clearly communicate your enthusiasm for the course and the students participating.
Set expectations but don’t dictate them.
Include words with positive connotations

As an example, instead of describing student work as “acceptable” consider saying it is “valid” or “commendable”


Avoid negatives (such as “do not” or “unable to” as much as possible)


Encourages engagement:

You’ve explained what types of engagement you’re looking for, but now it is important to encourage that from students. To do so:

Give examples of your interactive content.
Engage in storytelling by sharing personal details you feel comfortable sharing.
Ask for and encourage student feedback.
Be authentic.




Promotes your own availability:

One of the leading reasons students don’t attend office hours is because they feel they are “awkward.” To break through this barrier, you might:

Explain the value office hours provide students:

Promote the benefits such as improved understanding and better test scores.
Highlight success stories


Offer flexible scheduling for office hours.
Consider Location/Modality:

Are you available via video or only in-person?
If in-person, where are you available to meet and how accessible is that to the students?


Set one-on-one meetings during the semester.

These can be informal and short to get students familiar with the process, or perhaps there is a specific purpose tied to the meeting.







 
Students who feel more comfortable with their instructor tend to perform significantly better in a course and have a stronger sense of confidence in their own ability. Fostering this relationship is one of the most crucial for the educator to create a positive classroom environment.
 
Provide Connections:
With the goal in mind that students attend college to increase career success, it is important to use our abilities and connections to help them achieve it. This will appear vastly different depending on the field of study, and possible career paths, but here are some forms this may take:
 
Connect students with other faculty: Perhaps another member of the department or institution you know has better connections that align with a student’s career aims, or areas of interest.
 
Have guest speakers: You can’t know everything, and having a guest speaker can help students gain exposure to the community around the topic they’re studying and form meaningful connections with them.
 
Utilize connections in the field: You more than likely studied this material at your own university/had a job in the field. Consider connecting students to relevant contacts or having them be a guest speaker.
 
Ask Alumni: If you’ve had students who have gone into the field, especially if you’ve stayed in contact with them, consider having them be a guest speaker or asking them to explain how your class helped prepare them for industry. What types of things could you change in your class to help make this transition more effective?