Each fall, educators across colleges and universities are greeted by a class of new faces, wondering how they can be engaged, individually and collectively, in the common embrace of new concepts and information within a matter of a few short weeks.
The challenge of the new classroom can be heightened in a multicultural setting where there are differences among students in race, ethnicity, language, customs, and learning styles. Lawrence Technological University’s College of Business and Information Technology professors Matthew Cole, PhD, dean, and Jacqueline Stavros, DM, offer a strategic framework to guide educators through such challenges to strengthen pedagogical success.
Embracing Vulnerability
Cole and Stavros unwrap their approach in Chapter 3 (Vulnerability as a Catalyst to Growth Mindset) of the newly released book Cultivating Equitable and Inclusive Conversations in Higher Education.
Cole and Stavros advance four major points in their chapter:
- Embracing vulnerability fosters a safe and inclusive learning environment.
- Vulnerability encourages authentic self-expression and open dialogue.
- Educators modeling vulnerability can inspire students to take risks and engage deeply with course material.
- Creating a culture of vulnerability supports the development of a growth mindset among all participants.
Cultivating a Growth Mindset
At the center of the strategy is the need for educators to embrace vulnerability, which is understanding who an individual is, where they stand, and the obstacles they may encounter, to encourage a growth mindset amongst students.
A growth mindset—the belief that a person’s abilities and intelligence can be developed through effort, inspired teaching, and persistence—is a driving factor in personal progress; however, it is not always present, especially among students from challenging backgrounds, who may be confronted with a fixed mindset—the belief that abilities, intelligence, and talents cannot change. Through a series of vignettes, Cole and Stavros leveraged vulnerability to turn negative classroom situations into positive opportunities for students to collaborate, take intellectual risks, and embrace a growth mindset to confront challenges and improve academically. The two professors do this by successfully utilizing educational modules, goal setting, instructor personal stories, peer discussions, journal reflections, collaborative activities, dialogue, and role-playing activities with introductory student questionnaires, “Values/Vision/Mission with a Purpose” activity, generative questions, and a novel Name It/Flip It/Frame It recasting of challenges. The SOAR (strengths, opportunities, aspirations, results) approach to strategic thinking, planning, and leadership developed by Stavros is another key component of this classroom strategy to encourage students to accept a growth mindset.
Chapter 3 gives the educator a comprehensive, whole-semester classroom implementation plan, which Cole and Stavros use for their undergraduate business curriculum course, Principal of Management.
A Mission Rooted in Inclusion
“For Jackie and me, this is more than an academic exercise; we’ve lived this,” Cole said. Both professors have faced and overcome discrimination and marginalization in their own student years. Cole, a first-generation Jewish American, saw his public high school shift from a majority White to a majority Black population during his time as a student. Stavros was a first-generation college student and is a female with a multicultural background. Both are committed to empowering underrepresented voices and creating thriving learning environments. For them, the thoughts, words, and actions of all students matter.
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