Students bring high hopes to their pursuit of an education, but too often, they also experience internal and external obstacles that can interfere with their success.  By identifying and planning for these obstacles faculty can support students in transforming their understanding of self as learner.  In this research-informed workshop participants will use case examples to identify typical obstacles and develop proactive strategies for faculty to help students.  We can improve students’ academic resilience and self-regulation and create an atmosphere that promotes help-seeking and autonomy.  Being compassionate does not require that we lower our standards.  Rather, we can help students understand what it takes to learn effectively, develop the self-discipline to do what it takes, and believe that their efforts will be successful to achieve learning outcomes. Thus, the first learning outcome for participants is to identify obstacles that interfere with their students' chances of success.  The second learning outcome for participants is to develop solutions and interventions that will help students achieve success, transforming their understanding of self as learner.  Key themes of the discussion will be (1) faculty-student interactions, (2) fit (self-efficacy) and belonging (shared values), (3) faculty and student mindsets, and (4) students' understanding of learning, or metacognition.

Students do not lack motivation, but they are not always engaged in ways that faculty desire.  Furthermore, students often lack the skills and resources to cope with obstacles to their success.  Some of these obstacles are of their own making, such as lack of time management or study skills, and some result from financial or family stressors, or even traumatic events such as illness or victimization.  These concerns are relevant to the theme of transformative learning because changing students' understanding of self as learner is key to helping students overcome obstacles that may derail them from their educational path.  Students may be surprised by unexpected events or demands that interfere with their academic success, but the fact of these events comes as no surprise to faculty. 

The workshop is informed by research that supports specific intervention and preventive efforts that promote retention and academic success. Accommodating to the needs of a diverse population of students does not require that we lower our standards, but it does require that we proactively create a structure of course policies that allow flexibility in how students meet our high standards. Thus, the objectives of this session will be achieved in an interactive examinination of case examples that prompt creative problem-solving regarding course structure, policies, and assignments.  With the goal of transforming students into learners, this workshop equips faculty with ways to build self-awareness in students and allow them to take ownership of their learning.  

Students may come to us with a desire for deep learning or superficial learning, but we can design learning experiences that require them to engage in deep, transformative learning whether they intended to do so or not.  Students may be poorly prepared, lack self-regulation or study skills, have work or family obligations that interfere with academic obligations, or encounter circumstances that they couldn’t have predicted or prevented, but still must address.  We can explicitly teach metacognitive awareness and effective study strategies (Cox, 2009; Dunlosky et al., 2013; Gabriel, 2008).  We can show students how to ask for help and manage their time (Nilson, 2013) and reach out to students who are struggling (Halawah, 2006; Chambliss & Takacs, 2014).  

Students who may otherwise feel marginalized need for us to do more than just address their deficits (Stephens et al., 2015).  They need to feel that they fit in the college environment, that they are in a place and with people with whom they belong (Harackiewicz et al., 2014).  They also need to feel empowered to be successful in this environment (Stephens et al., 2014).  It is important for faculty to communicate to students a growth mindset (Dweck, 2015; Aronson et al., 2002; Yeager et al., 2011, 2014) and to be aware of the ways in which they may inadvertently give discouraging feedback, even when their intention is to be kind (Rattan, Good, & Dweck, 2012).  Doing so results in students showing greater resilience in the face of setbacks.  Cognitive, social, and emotional transformation in the instructor precedes transformation in the students.

American Association of Community Colleges, The College Completion Challenge Fact Sheet, http://www.aacc.nche.edu/About/completionchallenge/Documents/Completion-Fact_Sheet.pdf

Aronson, J., Fried, C. B., & Good, C.  (2002).  Reducing the effects of stereotype threat on African American college students by shaping theories of intelligence.  Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 113-125. 

Chambliss, D.F., & Takacs, C. G.  (2014).  How college works.  Cambridge, MA:  Harvard University Press.

Chew, S.  (2015).  Using cognitive principles to improve teacher effectiveness and student learning.  Psychology Teaching Network, 25(3), 7-9. 

Cox, R. D.  (2009).  The college fear factor:  How students and professors misunderstand one another.  Cambridge, MA:  Harvard University Press.

Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J., & Willingham, D. T.  (2013).  Improving students’ learning with effective learning techniques:  Promising directions from cognitive and educational psychology.  Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1), 4-58.

Dweck, C. S.  (2000).  Self-theories:  Their role in motivation, personality, and development.  Philadelphia, PA:  Taylor & Francis.

Dweck, C.  (September 22, 2015).  Carol Dweck revisits the “Growth Mindset.”  Education Week, http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/09/23/carol-dweck-revisits-the-growth-mindset.html

Gabriel, K. F.  (2008).  Teaching unprepared students:  Strategies for promoting success and retention in higher education.  Sterling, VA:  Stylus Publishing.

Halawah, I.  (2006).  The impact of student-faculty informal interpersonal relationships on intellectual and personal development.  College Student Journal, 40(3), 670-678. 

Harackiewicz, J. M., Canning, E. A., Tibbetts, Y., Giffen, C. J., Blair, S. S., Rouse, D. I., & Hyde, J. S.  (2014).  Closing the social-class achievement gap for first-generation students in undergraduate biology.  Journal of Educational Psychology, 106(2), 375-389. 

Illeris, K. (2017). Transformative Learning as change and development of identity. In: Laros, A., Fuhr, T., & Taylor, E.W. (eds.), Transformative Learning Meets Bildung. International Issues in Adult Education. SensePublishers, Rotterdam.

Illeris, K.  (2014).  Transformative Learning and identity.  Journal of Transformative Education, 12(2), 148-163.

Isbell, L. M., & Cote, N. G.  (2009).  Connecting with struggling students to improve performance in large classes.  Teaching of Psychology, 36, 185-188. 

Legg, A. M., & Wilson, J. H.  (2009).  E-mail from professor enhances student motivation and attitudes.  Teaching of Psychology, 36, 205-211.

Nilson, L.  (2013).  Creating self-regulated learners:  Strategies to strengthen students’ self-awareness and learning skills. Sterling, VA:  Stylus Publishing.

Rattan, A., Good, C., & Dweck, C. S.  (2012).  “It’s ok—Not everyone can be good at math”:  Instructors with an entity theory comfort (and demotivate) students.  Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48, 731-737. 

Stephens, N. M., Brannon, T. N., Markus, H. R., & Nelson, J. E.  (2015).  Feeling at home in college: Fortifying school‐relevant selves to reduce social class disparities in higher education.  Social Issues and Policy Review, 9(1), 1-24. 

Stephens, N. M., Hamedani, M. G., & Destin, M.  (2014).  Closing the social-class achievement gap:  A difference-education intervention improves first-generation students’ academic performance and all students’ college transition.  Psychological Science, 25(4), 943-953. 

Yeager, D. S., Henderson, M. D., Paunesku, D., Walton, G. M., D’Mello, S., Spitzer, B. J., & Duckworth, A. L.  (2014).  Boring but important:  A self-transcendent purpose for learning fosters academic self-regulation.  Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 107(4), 559-580.

Yeager, D. S., & Walton, G. M.  (2011).  Social-psychological interventions in education:  They’re not magic.  Review of Educational Research, 81(2), 267-301. 

50-Minute Interactive Session

Launching Transformative Learning