GVSU Faculty prepare for first-year students through Strong Start Teaching Institute

As a first-generation college student, Eliza MacDonald, a senior affiliate faculty member who teaches athletic training, understands the challenges of transitioning from high school to college.

Students need to find new ways to study, are often farther away from family than they have ever been and are being given a lot of new information at once. She remembers it can feel overwhelming.

“I don't forget that, and I don't want other people to feel that way,” she said. “I want to try to help them out the best I can, so I try to put myself in their shoes.”

Seeking to help first-year students make the transition to college, MacDonald participated in the Strong Start Teaching Institute. Offered through GVSU's Pew Faculty Teaching and Learning Center (FTLC) , the Institute provides GVSU faculty with strategies on increasing classroom accessibility targeted toward first year students.

MacDonald, who is in her 15th year of teaching at Grand Valley, used her previous experience and the Strong Start training to shape her courses to fit the unique nature of each class.

She provides purposeful and structured group work for her students to encourage interaction. She surveys her students to determine if the course will feature more lectures or group discussion based on comfort levels and student engagement.

“That's going to dictate how I would teach the course,” MacDonald said. “I like to know what careers they want to go into so I can make it applicable.”

Faculty members who go through the Institute are given information on ways to effectively communicate expectations and reflect on how instructors can help make their classroom more accessible to students.

“The wonderful thing about the Institute is that we engaged with evidence-based practices that have been shown to directly impact student success,” said Christine Rener, director of the Pew FTLC and vice provost for instructional development and innovation at GVSU.

The Institute is designed to explore learning strategies that will assist them in finding success during their time at Grand Valley. Faculty were challenged to consider new ways to write syllabi to better accommodate a student who may not have experienced a collegiate-level syllabus before. Faculty were also encouraged to share information on resources available on campus throughout the semester.

Tess Armstrong, associate professor of Movement Science, said remembering to think back to what it felt like to be a first-year college student is a vital component of the Strong Start Teaching Institute.

Armstrong has refreshed her syllabi and has committed to finding creative ways to share resources with her students.

“Having the opportunity to ask 'what do our students need, now?' is so helpful,” Armstrong said.

She instructs many classes designed for future physical education teachers. Often, Armstrong's courses can challenge a student’s understanding of various interpersonal dynamics. To help her students better understand these dynamics, Armstrong invites campus resource leaders, such as DL McKinney, director of the Milton E. Ford LGBTQ Resource Center, to speak in her class.

By inviting these leaders to class, Armstrong can bring an informed voice to the topic, introduce a campus resource some first-year students may not know much about and place a face to that resource as well.

Craig Hulst, a senior affiliate professor with GVSU's Writing Department, said the Institute helped remind him to focus on the students as a year-over-year turnover with new needs and experiences.

“The students that I had 25 years ago are not the students of today,” said Hulst. “I have to continuously try to understand the students and meet them where they are.”

While the Institute is designed to assist first-year students, Rener said GVSU faculty have found success in implementing some of the principles in their upper-level courses as well.

“It is important to have a space to build community among faculty, to take the time to share strategies, to help one another refine assignments and encourage one another to try new approaches,” Rener said.