A group of PROSPECT members came together over Zoom to discuss Delivering Promise by Xueli Wang, the Barbara and Glenn Thompson Endowed Professor in Educational Leadership at the University of Wisconsin. Wang is an accomplished higher education researcher who focuses on institutional change in support of transfer students.
The book’s subtitle, Equity-Driven Educational Change and Innovation in Community and Technical Colleges, highlights themes that resonate with the PROSPECT goal to connect research and practice in support of STEM transfer students. Reading and discussing the book offers an opportunity to ground our PROSPECT and S-STEM efforts in a larger context.
Delivering Promise starts by bringing us back to the remarkable pivots made by higher education faculty and staff in response to Covid – as well as the range of emotional, social, and mental health challenges experienced during that time. The first chapter, “Built for the Moment, Sustained by Humanity,” explores how educators strove to adapt and continue to deliver on the promise of providing equitable institutional student support. The second chapter, “Compassion-Enhanced Teaching Innovations,” examines efforts to implement asset-based pedagogies and use trauma-informed approaches within the online classroom.
In our discussion, we talked about the importance of being conscious of the impacts of our practices as viewed through an equity lens. We shared the challenges of facing student and institutional needs that exceed available resources. A phrase from the book articulated the “dual reality of fired-up and burned out,” (Wang, p. 29) which echoed some of our own experiences then and now. We talked about how, while we can try to prevent burnout, we also acknowledge the paradox that once you are experiencing burnout you often don't have time to participate in the very things that would ultimately help prevent it.
The PROSPECT research team has illuminated the theme of hidden work as part of managing S-STEM projects and building partnerships to support STEM transfer. The Pulse of the PROSPECT post Update on PROSPECT Research: Hidden Work defines this concept as work that is essential but essentially unrecognized. We named the tension that can be involved in teaching with more humanity. For example, providing grace in relation to deadlines with late work and quizzes that can lead to hidden work for instructors.
In the book’s introduction, Wang shares “... the beginning of real change is often marked by recognizing our own vulnerabilities, or just that we are humans that have limits; owning our past mistakes or imperfect practices; and recognizing and doing the work ahead.” (Wang, p. 18) The PROSPECT project has created a community of faculty, staff, and graduate students with a shared goal of better supporting low-income STEM transfer students. Discussing Delivering Promise allows us to engage in conversations about the impact of the pandemic on community colleges and the need for innovative, equity-focused solutions in a way that resonated with many of us and our own professional experiences over the last five years. We look forward to our subsequent conversations and our shared hopes for the work ahead.
Article provided by Rebekah Dupont at Augsburg University