Beyond Belonging: Creating Online and Blended Spaces for First-Generation Students to Flourish

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**This webinar is part of the OLC Accelerate 2022 Best-in-Track webinar series!**

Although first-generation students—those first in their families to pursue higher education—comprise a sizable portion of gateway (or general education) course enrollment, little, if any, attention has been given to the pedagogical approaches that might be used to meet the needs of this diverse student population (Baldwin et al., 2021). This webinar will focus on strategies and approaches that can be used to go beyond belonging to create inclusive academic experiences for first-generation students.

The webinar will begin with a focus on existing research on (and with relevance to) first-generation students and their academic experience (e.g., Baldwin et al., 2021), including contemporary research on levels of “first-generationness” (Darrah, Humbert, & Stewart, 2022), and theoretical frameworks (e.g., Yosso’s Community Cultural Wealth Model, 2005). Information about gateway courses and the gateway course impact on students identifying as first generation will also be discussed. This part of the presentation will include several reflective questions aimed at helping participants understand the nuances associated with first-generation student identities.

Then, we will explore pedagogies and practices—ranging from examples of small teaching practices to more extensive forms of course redesign—all of which are particularly responsive to students who identify as first generation. Furthermore, the emphasis will be on small changes that are evidence-based and applicable across the disciplines and modes and modalities. Specifically, we will explore aspects of humanized/humanizing and critical compassionate pedagogy (an approach used with first-generation identifying students), and the use of the Transparency in Learning and Teaching or TILT framework  and Universal Design for Learning to reduce or remove aspects of unwritten curriculum and provide opportunities for all students to be successful in our courses. This section will conclude with a brief introduction to and discussion about designing our courses to foster self-regulated learning—a metacognitive approach to learning that can benefit all students—but has all been found improve course performance for first-generation identifying students (Bernacki, Vosicka, & Utz, 2016; Vosicka & Utz, 2017, as cited in Horrowitz, 2019, p. 25).

Finally, we will reflect on and commit to ways in which we can incorporate the strategies, approaches, and ideas from the webinar into our own teaching practice. To this end, participants will leave with a plan to employ small course changes with the goal of going beyond belonging to create inclusive academic online and blended experiences for first-generation students.

Key Takeaways:

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

• Describe characteristics of first-generation students and common influences on their transition and success
• Articulate several pedagogical approaches that are responsive to first-generation students
• Identify ways in which they can adapt and apply the pedagogical approaches for use in their own online and/or blended course(s)