Tips to Foster Belonging in the Classroom for Increased Student Success

Research shows that academic belonging is an important contributor to student success, particularly for students who have historically been marginalized. Faculty are on the front lines when it comes to helping students feel that sense of academic belonging in their classes.

A student experiences academic belonging when they see themselves as being in the right program, as part of that program’s learning community, and believe themselves to be academically capable of success in that program. But we sometimes unintentionally signal “you don’t belong” to some of our students, even in straight-forward documents like our syllabi. To learn more about how to develop syllabi that better encourages academic belonging, a team of USU faculty recently engaged with the Student Experience Project's  First Day Toolkit which provides faculty evidence-based approaches to modifying syllabi language to better promote academic belonging and student success equity in classes.

Many of the suggestions from the toolkit are “low-lift” changes which can be made in a matter of minutes. We’d like to highlight a few helpful tips from the First Day Toolkit to help faculty promote a sense of belonging and self-efficacy for all students. In particular, we will focus on ways the syllabus can more effectively communicate care, a growth mindset, information about resources, and the values of inclusion and diversity in our classrooms.

Think ‘Welcome Document’ Rather Than ‘Contract’

• Read over your syllabus with the eyes of a first-generation student who may not know academic jargon. Try to use ordinary language whenever possible. When it is necessary to use technical language, make sure you provide a definition within the document.
• For every policy and assignment, lead with the “why.” This signals intentionality on your part. Students will be more engaged with your class if they clearly understand the value of your activities, policies, or deadlines.
• Consider renaming Office Hours to “Drop-In Hours”. To most students, being sent to the “office” likely signals something negative. Normalize utilizing these drop-in hours by indicating that “the best students know to use this time with their professors.”

Communicate a ‘Growth Mindset’ Instead of a ‘Fixed Mindset’

• Instead of setting up unnecessary barriers (“Students who are not quick learners should not take this course”), highlight the supports you have in place so that students who are willing to put in the time and effort can get help or determine if they are ready to be successful.

Have Very Clear Expectations and Deadlines

• Don’t reduce rigor — that does not serve our students well. But be very clear and transparent about expectations and deadlines. Most of our students work and have other competing obligations, so they plan their lives around our syllabi. Stick to the dates published in the syllabi.
• Emphasize that you can be more accommodating to challenges students face when students are accountable for bringing those challenges to your attention pro-actively.

Normalize Challenges

• Humanize yourself in your syllabus or on the first day of class, perhaps by sharing challenges you faced while in college and how you overcame them. This models how to approach obstacles and challenges and shows them the results of resilience.
• If you know that students tend to struggle with certain material in your course, say so and then point them to the supports available and encourage them that, with hard work, they can be successful.

Normalize Help-Seeking

• Point students in the direction of academic support and emphasize that help-seeking is something that successful students take advantage of. (Never say “students who struggle use this resource.” Instead say, “students who want to be successful use this resource.”)
• Recognize the school-life conflicts your students likely face — work, caregiving, physical or mental health — and emphasize the importance of prompt help-seeking when they face personal challenges.

Communicate Care and Support

• Express care for your students early and often. Students will be more engaged with classes where they believe their instructor cares about their success.
• Clearly communicate your availability and your desire to help them be successful. At the same time, you can set expectations on when you will be available and how promptly you will reply to emails.

Explicitly Value Diversity and Inclusion

• Consider including language that expresses how you value diverse perspectives and experiences in your classroom.
• Set clear expectations around mutual respect and inclusion to head off any disruptive classroom behaviors.

These are just a few highlights from the First Day Toolkit. Some of these are things you could implement for your summer or fall courses with just 15 minutes of revisions to your syllabus. If you are interested in a deeper dive, it takes around 90 minutes to go through the free modules, after which you will have completed a thorough syllabus review with an eye to student success and academic belonging.