Culturally Responsive Teaching Fall 23-Spring 24

MIS 140: Business Telecommunication

Equity/ Success/ Motivation

Reflection on Instructional Change:

One practice that I plan to implement in the future is bias-resistant grading. After reading Grading for Equity, I realized that my current grading policies may unintentionally reflect my personal biases, particularly when assessing effort and participation. For example, my perception of a student's engagement, such as attending office hours or emailing questions, might influence my grading decisions. I selected this practice because improving bias resistance will advance equity in my courses by ensuring that all students are evaluated fairly, regardless of how visible their effort is to me. I believe that implementing this change will promote a more equitable environment where all students are assessed solely on their understanding of the material.

Although I haven’t yet implemented this change, I have taken initial steps by reflecting on my current grading practices and considering how to make them more objective. In future classes, I plan to develop clearer rubrics that minimize subjectivity and ensure that students' grades reflect their mastery of the content rather than my perception of their effort or participation. This will help me create a more consistent and fair grading system that better supports all learners.

Another practice I intend to implement is minimum grading as an alternative to giving zeros. Grading for Equity highlights how zeros can disproportionately affect students' averages and demotivate them. I selected this practice because I want to create a grading system that is more forgiving of setbacks and focuses on students' potential for growth. Instead of assigning zeros for missed or late work, I plan to use minimum grading to provide students with the opportunity to recover from mistakes and improve over the course of the term.

Though I haven’t yet implemented this policy, I am preparing by researching how minimum grading can be effectively integrated into my courses. My plan is to offer more flexible deadlines and retakes for quizzes and assignments, ensuring that students have multiple opportunities to demonstrate their learning. This shift will encourage a growth mindset and help students stay motivated to improve, fostering a more supportive and equitable learning environment in my future courses.

**Evidence of Instructional Change**
Original Syllabus	Before and After Change
I had the retake option for the Homework quiz.	Before: After: I changed the Pop quiz policy to make it more equitable.

Course Syllabus

MIS140-Fall22- Ashtari.pdf

Post FLC syllabus and Schedule

MIS140-Fall22- Ashtari- Syllabus Change FLC.docx

**Faculty Bio**
	My Name is Sadaf Ashtari; I am an Associate Professor of Information Systems and Business Analytics. I joined Sac State in 2017. I did my PhD in Technology Management, and my research is in the intersection of Healthcare and Information Systems.

This work was supported by:
	Grant funding from Sacramento State Division of Inclusive Excellence *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 Sacramento State.