Class structure, Assignments & Deadlines
- Encourage submission of partially completed assignments to meet the deadline, with the option of revising them later on.
- Accept past due assignments and lower the point deduction penalties I usually enforce for late submissions.
- Prompt grading & feedback.
- Clear guidelines, rubrics and comments for each assignment.
- Response to emails within 48hrs.
- Focus on broad concepts rather than technical/software-specific skills.
Positive/hopeful outlook
- Find opportunities, news articles etc. to highlight how relevant the skills we are learning in our courses are in the current/post-COVID economy (i.e: advantages of animated vs. live action production in a pandemic; the power of digital and social media in creating systemic changes etc.)
Emotional support
- Dedicate 5 minutes at the beginning and end of each class to discuss students’ concerns – whether they are related to the class or not.
Inclusive pedagogy
- Use of gender and race neutral nouns in examples/prompts/lectures
- Showcase role models from diverse genders, race, and cultural backgrounds.
- Growth-mindset encouragement (i.e: “I know you have the ability to master this topic if you follow these steps” instead of “ I know you are smart”)
- Emphasis on the fact that I don’t know everything and that the field we are engaged in is always evolving and requires us to constantly learn new tools, make mistakes, and learn from them.
Building Community
- Encourage asynchronous peer-to-peer interactions (i.e: discussion boards, Flipgrid, Slack).
- Facilitate constructive peer reviews (synchronously and asynchronously)
Thank you, Anna, for this comprehensive list of strategies and practices that you will integrate in your courses. In categorizing these practices with trauma-informed pedagogy, you have provided an invaluable framework to approach this task.