Dr. Adam Barragato from the University of Michigan and Dr. Natasha Watkins from Purdue University presented a session entitled “Exploring Students’ Perceptions of Learning Partnerships within a Diversity Course” at the 2020 Lilly Conference online. They described a study that was part of Barragato’s dissertation conducted in the class that Watkins teaches. I had heard about learning partnerships yet was unclear about what they were. Barragato had a learning partnerships model diagram from Baxter, Magolda, and King 2004. In learning partnerships instructors are coaches both challenging and supporting learners. The goal of learning partnerships is to develop self-authorship. Watkins described how partnerships are messy, and students explore and reflect on this process if we provide a space/time for this. Watkins teaches a family diversity course for a range of different disciplines and levels. Barragato evaluated how students perceived the partnership practices through surveys, classroom observations, instructor interviews, and student focus groups. Watkins brought guests into the classroom and had community members sharing diverse ideas. The panelists represented different identities and lived experiences including class, racial identity, and age. Another partnership practice was creating a safe space to talk about identity: Watkins shared lived experience and identities. Affective abstract examples were used to engage with course concepts without instigating vulnerability and preconceived notions. For example, students paired up, received different amounts of Skittles in a cup, and used them to live with a given budget. The fourth partnership practice was bringing passion and professionalism to the classroom: Watkins shared professional and Facebook photos to share passion authentically and being transparent in helping learners understand how they can be successful in the course.
The presenters shared the challenges of how we frame identity in the classroom. They shared a slide with images of water and oil to symbolize describing separate and secure identities and an amorphous group of colored play dough for conglomerate and connected identities. I love that slide to help students understand that their identities are not separate and not necessarily secure. They mentioned that “students want to share how their identities shaped who they are only if it’s safe and it’s encouraged.” Barragato mentioned that another challenge was helping students pick up on caring clues: letting students know that you recognize this is challenging. Interestingly, Barragato found that students had images of high school teachers that were caring. The last challenge they described was overcoming signal interference: let’s not miss out on the messages from students that can help improve the learning experience. Barragato mentioned the perception of misalignment between teaching and assessment.
Barragato and Watkins summarized the key observations from their study. They suggested bringing “life experts” to leverage affective learning outcomes, acknowledging identity and lived experiences, finding ways to bring big ideas to life through simulations, and be your authentic self! I enjoyed this session and the message that partnerships require trust, humility, and authenticity! Also, the collaboration between Barragato and Watkins was so fruitful and meaningful for both of them! I think that beyond their study, it helped both presenters be more authentic and communicate more effectively with students and… partners. This, in turn strengthened partnerships during difficult times and allowed space for difficult and important conversations. Creating an environment for these conversations and to promote integrity is an opportunity. For this, we need to listen to our students and graduate teaching assistants (Barragato called them “course consultants”) and to overcome signal interference to continuously improve.
