Reframing Syllabi to be Equity-Minded and to Develop Students’ Growth Mindset
Brief Abstract
Educators can make a difference in reaching each learner’s intellectual potential through caring of each learner’s learning, no matter their backgrounds. How do educators establish a nurturing learning environment from the syllabus? This session will share strategies/practical ideas to reframe syllabi to be equity-minded and to develop students’ growth mindset.
Presenters
Extended Abstract
As confirmed by human learning principles, an individual’s intelligence is partly determined by genes and partly by nurture and supportive learning experience. Educators can make a difference in reaching each learner’s intellectual potential through course design, teaching, and through our caring of each learner’s learning, no matter their backgrounds. Every course has a syllabus that tries to offer learners a big picture of the course and illustrate the policies and expectations. How do our educators establish a nurturing learning environment to show our caring about every student’s learning, starting from this essential document—the syllabus? Are all syllabi we have provided and have accessed keep equity in mind and motive students’ learning by supporting learners’ growth mindset? This session will share strategies and practical ideas to reframe syllabi to be equity-minded and to develop students’ growth mindset.
The session will share examples and facilitate discussions among participants. For example, why and how tone and language matters? Why do we need to avoid rigid obligation policies and how to reframe them? How can we reconsider evaluating student work? How do we talk about the ways to succeed in our courses? How do we create favorable failure climate to make failure productive?
Learning Objectives
After participating in the workshop, each participant has opportunities to:
- Identify at least one strategy or practical idea to revise their own syllabus (to be equity-minded and to develop learners’ growth mindset).
- Bring one suggestion provided by the presenter or session participants to their institution and share with the community.