Supporting Faculty to Develop Culturally Inclusive Syllabi

Project Lead: Lucia Alcalá and Maritza Lozano

SUMMARY

At CSUF, a majority of introductory courses show the highest GPA gaps between triple opportunity students – First-gen, from Under-represented backgrounds, and Pell recipients – and traditional students, impacting new students’ sense of belonging, academic well-being, and retention. The goal of this project is to identify implicit barriers that might work against triple opportunity students’ learning experiences in these introductory courses. Our focus is on instruction and curriculum, two often overlooked mechanisms that can increase students’ sense of belonging and academic engagement. We will conduct an analysis of the introductory course syllabi where triple opportunity students experience the greatest gaps. The analysis will help us pinpoint curricular challenges to the development of culturally inclusive and equity minded instruction.

ANTICIPATED OUTCOMES

The syllabi analysis will inform our development of an assessment tool that will be piloted by 15 faculty members for further refinement. Because faculty mediate academic engagement and student success through course design and ongoing instructional engagement, our aim is to work with faculty to support their use of the assessment tool to revise their course syllabi towards a culturally inclusive approach that can benefit not only triple-opportunity students, but all first-year students on campus.

We anticipate three main outcomes:

• Syllabi analysis on class content, format, types of assessments, and classroom policies;
• Develop and pilot an assessment tool that can be shared with faculty members teaching the targeted introductory courses. Support faculty members in identifying potential biases and barriers in their syllabi and modify an aspect of their syllabi according to the “Cultural Strengths framework;” and
• Understand the challenges and barriers faculty face while creating a culturally inclusive syllabus to inform policy changes.

 

IMPACT ON GI2025

Our project advances GI2025 goals by enacting the long-term policies recommended by the leadership team of this initiative. These include targeted analysis of course syllabi to identify potential implicit barriers to the early retention of triple opportunity students. Creating specific guidelines to purposefully design activities that foster students’ learning and sense of belonging to campus, being reflected in the course content and forms of assessment.