Whitney Clay: Welcome to the West Valley College TEACH Center podcast.
Michelle Francis: TEACH stands for training educators advocating change.
Whitney Clay: I'm Whitney Clay, Instructional designer.
Michelle Francis And I'm Michelle Francis, Professional Development Coordinator and Instructor in Child Studies.
Whitney Clay: At the TEACH Center, we support faculty as they cultivate excellence in teaching and learning and welcome their students with engaging pedagogies.
Michelle Francis: In this podcast, we discuss hot topics in teaching and learning. We interview educators about what they are doing in their fields, and we talk to learners about what inspires them.
Michelle Francis: Today on the TEACH Podcast, I am welcoming Brad Phillips, President and CEO of the Institute for Evidence-Based Change. Hi, Brad. How are you today?
Brad Phillips: I'm doing great, Michelle. How are you doing?
Michelle Francis: Awesome. Thank you so much for taking time to talk to us today about Caring Campus and the work that we are going to embark on here at West Valley College and that you have been doing at IEBC for quite a while. So today, we're going to be talking to Brad about making moments that matter. This is West Valley College's Caring Campus behavioral commitment number three. And so, Brad, what does it mean to make moments that matter?
Brad Phillips: Well, thank you, Michelle. So I believe that in our world of education, we are not only in the changing-lives business, but we're in the improving-lives business. And in fact, this was really brought home to me by a colleague of mine at San Juan College. And he comes from a long line of educators. And what he says to me is that no student comes to college because they're happy with their life. They actually want to make improvements in their life. And that's why they're coming to college. So don't we want to make them feel welcome and cared about when they come to us? And that's where moments that matter comes in. And really, Michelle, this is about a connection activity within the first few weeks of the course beginning, where a faculty member spends time with each and every student. And in fact, one of the things that we recommend is that colleges engaging in Caring Campus change the name from office hours to student hours. You know, students don't know how to do college, so they see that the instructor has a particular schedule – this faculty member is in office hours these days, a week for these times. Students think that that's because the faculty members preparing their lectures, grading papers – it's not student time. So in order to create moments that matter, we really recommend that faculty change that name to student hours. And I wanted to give you just a personal story of a moment that matters to me. And, you know, way back – and I'm old – in 1976, I was in high school, and I was able to go to Pierce College. So it was one of these things way back before Dual Enrollment existed, where some students were allowed to go to college. And I was one of them. And I wasn't a very good student. I mean, I did well on exams, but gosh, I never turned in homework because I felt so disconnected from high school. In going to a community college, there was this one instructor there that I really connected with, and I can't remember his name. He was an adjunct instructor. He taught history at night, which is when I went to class. And at that point, I loved school again because he spent time with me and cared about me as an individual.
Michelle Francis:Wow. And so what I hear you saying is caring about students as individuals makes an impact whether or not we as faculty know that.
Brad Phillips: Exactly. And in fact, one of the things that we found upon interviewing faculty participating in Caring Campus is that they'll tell us their students work harder. And the reason they work harder is because when a faculty member connects with a student, that student wants to please that faculty member, to make that faculty member feel proud of them. And so what happens is they work their tails off to be successful. And in fact, you know, one of the things that we know about community colleges, and it's really a sad fact, is across the country, only about 50% of our students stay when they begin in fall and then return the next fall, so we lose half of our students. From my perspective, that's just not okay. I defy anyone to name a business where you can't have repeat customers, where you lose 50%. I mean, that's not okay. And in fact, one of the other things that we note is as we are focused on supporting equity, as we are focused on diversity, equity and inclusion, one of the things that we know is that, unfortunately, our faculty don't necessarily look like the students that are in our classes. And this moments that matter is really about improving the connection and that equity link between the faculty member and that student. In fact, what we hear from students of color is they really want someone in the classroom that looks like them. They say the second best thing is if that faculty member, and they use this phrase all the time, "gets" them. And in order to get them, you have to engage with the student; and it's not engaging with them about what do you want to be when you grow up; why you coming to West Valley College? It's really about, "Tell me your story. Tell me about you." And when you do that with a student, it opens up this whole world because students, you know, in some ways, they put faculty on a pedestal. I remember when I was teaching many years ago, I was in the restroom, and a student walks in and his eyes got really big, like, "I can't believe you go to the bathroom." And so when we are able to get on the same level of students as human beings, it's so important. The bottom line with all of this work is that students want an adult in authority who cares about them.
Michelle Francis: Right. I wonder too, in talking with you and in talking with our group of faculty, one of the other pieces that was identified, which I would love to hear your opinion on, is about the making moments that matter between students. Because I know Vincent Tinto, his seminal piece, really talked about making a connection to a college, and often that's with a faculty member or staff. But it can also often be with your peers, and especially with these students who have been through COVID, that lack of sociability that we've been talking about.
Brad Phillips: Absolutely. So one of the Caring Campus behavioral commitments is that first day experience. And when a student first comes to class, whether it's in a hybrid format, Zoom format, or face-to-face format, it's really important that faculty design the environment so that students can connect with one another. And one of the ways to do that, and there are a number of exercises, but one of the ways, especially in a Zoom environment, is ask students to write about themselves and then those papers get shared with everyone else. So, for example, I love dogs. I grew up with dogs. We're actually considering getting another puppy, although I think we're insane, but we're thinking about doing it. And we have a dog now who's seven, but he's a monster. And what happens is when students disclose about their personal lives and what they're interested in, other students will connect with them. Because we call it likes with likes that people want to be around folks that think like and care about the same things they do. So it's important to set up activities where students can connect with one another, having some fun activities. So rather than just going over the syllabus and saying, you know, "Go read the first chapter," is really spending time being thoughtful about how to connect students with one another from the very first day.
Michelle Francis: Yeah, I hear that. And I think students feel that it makes it easier to come to a class where you feel like, you know, at least one other person who cares whether you show up or don't show up, right. We can all remember that class where we never went to class because we didn't have any friends in that class or any people that cared whether we showed up or not. And we also remember that class where we went every Friday at 4:00 PM – Max Moore and Burges Grammar class – because your friends were in it, and we're going to go for drinks after.
Brad Phillips: Michelle, what's interesting too is that when students make friends early on, and they're thinking about dropping out, what happens is their friends rally around them and keep them in class.
Michelle Francis: Wow.
Brad Phillips: It's really fascinating to see that phenomenon in action.
Michelle Francis: Wow. So not only is it connection between faculty and feeling like faculty are welcoming to the classroom, having those office hours be relabeled, the language we use around the time that we give to students, but also allowing them opportunities to get together and make friends within the classroom. And, you know, we recognize that not everyone's going to be friends, but just that connection of point of saying there's someone else in this class who sees me, knows me, and gets me in a way that makes me want to come.
Brad Phillips: And what also we have to recognize is that most of our students, I know this is a strong statement, they have imposter syndrome. So they get on either Zoom or they come to the campus, and they see all these people walking with purpose to wherever they're going. And they're like, "I can't even find my building." Right, because we know signage is terrible on our college campuses. So they walk in going, "Well, all these other people know what they're doing. I don't know what I'm doing." And so it's really important that once they connect with other students, they talk about their concerns and their fears. And, you know, there's an old expression in psychology that says "misery loves company, but not just any company." And what that means is students will glom onto one another when they have the same issues and challenges.
Michelle Francis: Wow. You've really given us a lot to think about. And I think, as I hear you talking, that this is not hard. It seems like it's some small changes that I can make to my classroom or to my environment or to even the first day that will invite my students to make that connection and make moments that matter.
Brad Phillips: It's so true. What we're asking you to do is simply recognize that there are human beings in your classroom with hopes and dreams, and you have the power to help them get to meeting their hopes and dreams.
Michelle Francis: Thank you so much, Brad. We appreciate the time you took today to talk with us about making moments that matter. I'm excited to get to doing this work together.