Managing Microagressions for More Inclusive Online Learning

I am sure some of us have a story (or 6 or 20) describing incidences in which a teacher or another student made us feel inferior, or out of place, or just plain dumb. Maybe such an incident created an evaluation of yourself that altered your academic identity and intellectual performance. I remember my high school teacher telling me that girls don’t succeed in Chemistry because it’s a man’s job. And when an undergraduate classmate told me I could never go to Wesley College because it’s only for rich women. And what about those movies from the 80’s? I never saw a Latina represented in a positive role. Come to think about it, I never saw one represented in any role.

Did these messages affect my academic choices? Absolutely. I gravitated to the discipline of Ethnic Studies, an area in which I felt safe. But to be clear, I am happy where I am today. After all, I have a full-time, tenured position in Ethnic Studies. Yet, I often wonder what could have been. These formative messages I received are examples of microaggressions.

Lifelong Dangers of Microaggressions

Microaggressions can be overt, covert, and/or unintentional. Either way, messages can inflict injury or insult. Microaggressions communicate realities, definitions and expectations. Yet, many folks resist understanding or accepting microaggressions because many feel identifying microagressions creates victims and fuels the ideas of liberal college professors

The question I’d like to pose here is, “Is it wrong to provide students with a space to ‘call out’ hurtful statements?” My Ethnic Studies degree inspires me to scream, “No!” Students who are aware and confident in airing their grievances are a sign of progress. But are institutions listening or instigating?

Institutions of higher education must practice vigilance in day-to-day instructor-student and student-student interactions. Providing safe spaces encourages trust, mutual respect and authentic care. These are essential to student success, especially since most of our students have lives that are very different from ours. Here is why enabling a safe space is key to students lifelong success.

Imposter Syndrome and Stereotype Threat

Many community college students are confronted by two dangerous, alienating forces that are augmented with microaggressions: the “imposter syndrome” and the “stereotype threat.”

Symptoms of the imposter syndrome are feeling like one does not belong, is undeserving, unaccomplished, and not welcomed in a college setting. Do you remember feeling dumb in a group setting because everyone around you made you feel less than? If not, you’re lucky. If you have, it probably still haunts you.

The stereotype threat is the debilitating feeling one gets from the constant fear of playing into a stereotype about people from one’s identity group. Remember feeling like you represented your whole community and your failure would make them look bad? Well, the fear of this self-fulfilling prophesy can cause extreme anxiety.

How can instructors strive toward a safe learning space in an online environment?

Creating Expectations for a More Inclusive Online Learning Environment

Some might say that an online environment may create a virtual veil free from racial and gender identities. After all, there is no face-to-face contact and students can be careful about what they write in discussion forums. Let’s call it impression management. It’s a social media behavior. However, from the instructor’s vantage point, it is vital to establish a safe space zone for all learners. So I have some recommendations that are ever-evolving but can inspire a start:

  1. Establish an anti-microaggression netiquette. Don’t enable a tone deaf ear to microaggressions. Instead, do some research and identify examples of it in pop culture, curate some engaging articles defining microagressions, and create a mandatory “Welcome Ice Breaker Check-In Assignment.” Have students authenticate themselves in the class (a good idea for a future blog post). Know that you, the instructor, have your own implicit biases and may not be able to identify a manifested microaggression. From the very beginning of the course, encourage your students to inform you when they feel a microaggression went undetected or was ignored.
  2. Do not misinterpret poor participation in group work. Communicate with all students individually and ask them about their experiences accessing the project’s information and communicating with their group members. Establish clear directions and expectations.
    Follow the breadcrumbs. If you discover evidence of a microaggression in a discussion forum, read all previous comments. Aggressors may be repeated offenders and might enable others to continue the offense. Understanding the factors that surrounded the microaggression helps evaluate the next steps strategically rather than reacting emotionally.
  3. Lean on your peers. Accept and understand that all instructors struggle with the line between freedom of expression and confronting offensive content. So instructors need to keep reaching out to colleagues, research and maybe even constructing classroom climate surveys to explore how to reduce the proliferation of macro-level prejudices through microaggressions.
  4. Add meaning. As you begin to learn about your student population, be aggressive with your academic discipline and include content, data, images and/or narratives representing all of your students as genuine and essential stakeholders of the course. One story, data set, or image can inspire success or enable empathy.

Do you have a suggestion to add to this list? Or a reflection to share about how micro aggressions have affected you? I warmly invite you to leave a reply below to keep the conversation going!

Community Ground Rules

From the first moment a student accesses your course, the tone is set. Your course homepage, syllabus and other "getting started" materials play key roles in the how your students begin to relate to their experience in your online class. Setting an inviting and supportive tone is especially important in supporting the success of our first-generation college students and other underserved groups, who are more likely to feel self-doubt and exhibit engagement apprehension in academic environments. Including a set of Community Ground Rules in your course syllabus is a great way to communicate that your students will be valued participants in a learning community and articulate what that means.

Below is a set of sample Community Ground Rules I have used in my online classes. They are included in my book, Best Practices for Teaching with Emerging Technologies, and I have shared them in the Public Domain, which means you are free to re-use and adapt them in your own class without permission or attribution. Do you have modifications to share? Please share your ideas in a comment at the bottom of the page!

Sample Community Ground Rules

A community is a group of individuals who work together to support a common goal or interest. In this online class, we work together to support the successful achievement of our learning outcomes. In an effort to ensure our community develops, thrives and sustains throughout our time together, the following ground rules will be in effect at all times.

  1. Treat contributions made by other members of the class with respect.
  2. Reach out and help when you see the need. And ask for help when you need it.
  3. Have patience and a sense of humor with technology. There will be hiccups, expect them.
  4. Keep an open mind. If you’re feeling reluctant, that’s ok. Take it one step at a time and look at this as an opportunity to learn something new.
  5. Contribute regularly to collaborative activities to ensure other members of the community have ample opportunity to read/listen, reflect, and respond to your ideas.
  6. Respect the diverse opinions and viewpoints of each member of our community. Differences allow us to learn and grow together.
  7. Understand that communications shared through text have a higher likelihood of being misinterpreted than the spoken word. Therefore, when you type a thought or a comment, read it carefully before you submit it. If you question the way it is worded, read it out loud to yourself. If you still question the way it’s phrased, rewrite it.
  8. Contribute regularly to group dialogue, including blog posts and replies. The contributions of each individual play a role in the collective strength and diversity of our community.
  9. Members of our community are restricted to enrolled members of our class, in an effort to maintain a safe, trustworthy discussion environment. [If students will be engaging in interactions in the public web, note those activities here (and in other parts of your course where those activities are explained) to ensure they know who their audience is before they contribute. Learning to share appropriately in the public web is an important component of developing of digital citizenship and it’s your job to ensure students are clear about who has access to their work.]
  10. All image and video content shared within this community will reflect acceptable academic standards. You are expected to use discretion and, if asked, you will be expected to demonstrate how your content supports the theme of our community: “[enter a description of the community’s theme here].”
  11. Any community member has the ability to create a new discussion forum in our course. However, the individual who creates the forum immediately takes on the responsibility of moderating it. This means you have committed to regularly responding to new comments and greeting new members of the forum.
  12. If, at any time, you feel that any of these ground rules have been violated by a member of our community, you are encouraged to bring your concern directly and immediately to [enter your name], our community leader. Clearly identify which ground rule has been violated and include specific evidence of the violation in your email. Your concerns will be addressed promptly with careful consideration in an individualized manner.

These Sample Community Ground Rules by Michelle Pacansky-Brock are shared in the Public Domain and may be re-used and adapted without permission or attribution.

Introduction to Humanizing Online Learning

In this @ONE webinar archive,Michelle Pacansky-Brock examines why humanized online learning is critical to closing equity gaps in the California Community College system. Michelle discusses how faculty can cultivate presence, empathy, and awareness to achieve humanized online facilitation.

 

Nudging Students with Your Human Touch

In this @ONE webinar archive, Fabiola Torres, Ethnic Studies Instructor at Glendale Community College, asks, "We all need a nudge sometimes, right?" Nudges are an important part of supporting the success of our online students. And when you use video to infuse your nudges with your human presence, students are more likely to trust you and less likely to drop your class. Fabiola will demonstrate why it’s important not be perfect, but to be human!