Faculty Responsibilities in Creating the Supportive Learning Environment
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EDITOR’S PAGE
Faculty Responsibilities in Creating the Supportive Learning Environment Libby V. Morris
The articles in this issue of Innovative Higher Education show considerable overlap in purpose and interest; each in its own way focuses on improving the learning experience of college students by enhancing the institutional and faculty commitment to meaningful educational environments and activities. As I read these articles, it struck me (again) that education, all education, is about people. Certainly, as faculty members and administrators, we select course content, draft learning objectives, create and revise instructional activities, and regularly assess students and evaluate our courses. In planning for instruction, the course syllabus is prepared prior to the arrival of students, in preparation for the “generic” student. However, in reality, there is not a “common student;” students are not unidimensional disciplinary devotees as these articles remind us. At all levels of education, we teach people, not content; and our pedagogies must engage a wide range of learners with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and multiple educational and personal goals and needs. In the article “Cross-Racial Friendships and Social Distance between Racial Groups on a College Campus,” Professors Odell, Korgen and Wang examine social distance and the effects of student background variables and on-campus experiences to reducing social distance, i.e., the degree to which members of groups desire to interact with members of other groups. They found that curricular offerings, the most common institutional response to diversity issues, did not reduce social distance. In fact, only cross-racial friendships significantly related to social distance. If one of the broad goals of higher education is to eliminate the prejudice associated with social distance, the authors call upon colleges and universities to reconsider how they construct learning environments, both curricular and extra-curricular, and to create with the outcomes in mind those situations that can meaningfully affect student growth across college.
All correspondence should be addressed to Libby V. Morris (e-mail: [email protected]).
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INNOVATIVE HIGHER EDUCATION
Professors Garcia and Hoelscher in “Diversity Flashpoints on College Campuses: Understanding the Difficult Interpersonal Situations Grounded in Identity Difference” examine “negative” interactions in the educational setting between faculty and students that grow out of identity differences. Identity differences may be grounded in race, ethnicity, language or linguistic ability, religion, age, and other categories of difference. Diversity flashpoints, as explained by the authors, are difficult interpersonal incidents that originate from identity difference. The authors analyzed over 150 incidents on 11 campuses and determined that flashpoints are most likely to occur in interactions during discussions. They note that faculty members often fail to respond app
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