Culturally Responsive Teaching in STEM for HSIs

NURS 170: Foundations for Evidence-Based Nursing Practice

Social, Cooperation, Interdependence

Reflection on Instructional Change:

Bias in Grading:

The activity about bias in grading made me think about my assessments for writing in my introductory research course. I put a lot of weight on a summative research paper and wonder if I'm being biased with the expectation that students should be able to write in this style in one semester. I need to consider my students' prior experiences and exposure to this type of writing. What are the skills that would make them successful in their field at this stage of their career in nursing? These are undergraduate students who do not conduct research. Do I want them to be able to write research papers or is it more important for them to know how to find evidence and appraise them? I will consider activities that will give my students the skills to find and appraise research. Writing is still an objective of the course, but I will put less weight on a summative writing assignment and spread this weight over several shorter writing assignments. I need to emphasize why research matters to them and their profession.

Grading bias can widen the equity gap, leaving students frustrated and possibly causing them to quit. Addressing grading bias will reduce equity gap. We tend to teach the way we learn, and if grading bias has been there all along, it’s hard to see it. I need to keep asking myself that question: “What am I trying to assess?”

High vs Low Context:

I also enjoyed learning about low vs high contexts. This is a good reminder for me to consider the flow and timing of my course delivery and activities. I liked the introduction in this course about our educational journey, so I already implemented that as part of the course's introductions. From the beginning, I want to learn about my students' backgrounds and how they got here, who were influential in their lives. I think this will also validate their experiences and uniqueness as students in my course. Their peers will also learn from them as well. I already do peer related activities during Zoom, but I am adding more of this asynchronously. I have designed a few case studies for my class where students can work together to answer questions.

Understanding students from high context backgrounds allows me to adjust activities and assignments to incorporate values as they relate to time, communication, and relationships. Implementing learning activities that consider high context values will be more in alignment with students’ way of thinking and learning, and this will ultimately address equity gaps.

How has your participation in this FLC helped you identify areas in need of change and strategies for implementation?

I didn't realize that I was not practicing equitable grading. For example, I allocate a large percentage in weight for "homework" or formative assessments, whereas I should make this lower. I thought it was a good idea to make sure that I spread out grading based on a variety of activities including homework, and not weigh too heavily in anyone category. I do have multiple ways that students can demonstrate achievement, but perhaps I need to rethink how to include homework or learning activities.

I need to consider reducing the weight homework on the student's overall grade. I still think I need to give some points so that students will do them. I also need to consider the summative assessment if students fail, perhaps permit resubmissions with a slightly lower maximum grade. I don't know if this is equitable or not. I'm trying to balance how to encourage high quality submissions the first time and not have students turn in incomplete work or work that does not reflect time and effort. I don't see a barrier to low stakes assessment. I actually do a lot of this in my course, and students seem to benefit from this strategy. I teach primarily online so there are opportunities for discussion reflections, weekly quizzes, etc. each week that permit students to demonstrate understanding while assessing their progress for the summative assignment. A main barrier I see is making the sure the assessments align with course objectives and meaningful for students so that they don't perceive them as busy work.

As a result of ESCALA, I incorporated more activities where students can work together and collaborate. About every other week, students complete a case study that requires them to answer several questions. Students can answer one question or more individually then work together to make sure that their peers' responses are correct. This permits a peer review process before submission. Students place their names next to the question that they. had worked on individually. The grade for this activity is a group grade.

**Evidence of Instructional Change**
High Context Learning Group Assignment	Grade Distributions of NURS 170 (prior to course change) DFW Rate of Hispanic Students in Spring 2023 (prior to implementation of course changes).

Changes in Course Syllabus and Schedules:

Pre FLC - Syllabus and Schedule

Post FLC - Syllabus and Schedule

**Faculty Bio**
	Michelle Dang is a Professor in the School of Nursing. She teaches community health nursing and research in the RN to BSN program and a human sexuality GE course. Michelle is also a co-lead for the Online Course Services Program in the CTL and a certified QM reviewer.

This work was supported by grant funding from:
	STEM4Equity: US Dept. of Education STEMHSI P031C210012 NSF STEMZone: 1832335 *Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation, US Department of Education, or Sacramento State.