This post is the third installment in a series on how to implement the principles of critical pedagogy with digital tools. For more information, please see previous installments in this series. The author wishes to thank ATS instructional designers Joe Olivier and Cheryl Walker for valuable suggestions that improved this piece.
A key tenet of critical pedagogy as it is currently practiced is compassionate pedagogy. In this post, we shall examine what compassionate pedagogy does (and does not) entail, as well as simple and easily implemented methods by which you can integrate the principles of compassionate pedagogy into your classroom praxis.
What Is Compassionate Pedagogy?
At its heart, compassionate pedagogy is an educational praxis that takes into consideration the physical and emotional well-being of both students and instructors. It entails a fundamentally cooperative, rather than adversarial, relationship between instructors and students, with each group extending understanding and care to the other.
As a faculty member or instructor, you may be wondering how you can best apply this approach to your students. Some broad considerations to keep in mind are:
- Students have different backgrounds and needs. A “one size fits all” approach to pedagogy runs the risk of ignoring the individuality of students and even leaving some of them behind.
- Circumstances outside the classroom matter. Difficulties such as food insecurity, housing insecurity, or lack of reliable internet access can impede students’ success in your course.
- Flexibility is important. A rigid approach to pedagogy leaves little room to adjust your approach when students are overwhelmed or otherwise in need of help.
What Is Compassionate Pedagogy Not?
It should be stressed at the outset that compassionate pedagogy does not mean either of the following:
- Reducing academic rigor. A compassionate course is not the same as an easy course. It means, instead, that students are not kept from success in the subject matter of your course by circumstances beyond their control.
- Making you a counselor or therapist. It is not your responsibility to take on a mental health professional’s role. Instead, you should know how to lend a sympathetic ear and how to direct students toward personnel and resources who can best help them.
Simple Steps You Can Take Now
Fundamentally rethinking your course to incorporate compassionate pedagogy can be time-consuming. Fortunately, there are a number of simple steps you can take to help make your course more flexible and welcoming. These are discussed below.
Syllabus Steps
Your syllabus is the charter document of your course. Consider incorporating the following suggestions to help ease your students’ anxieties.
- Set out your approach on Day One. Make sure that your students know you are aware of the issues they may be facing. Stress that they should reach out to you without delay when they find themselves in difficulties.
- Make clear how to reach you. How should your students get in touch with you? Email? Phone? How quickly will you respond by each method? (You might give a typical response time, such as two business days.) What are your office hours? (Note that the term “office hours” may be confusing or opaque to some students, so you might consider using a different term such as “drop-in hours”.) All of this should be clearly communicated by your syllabus.
- List resources for students. These may include counseling resources, writing centers, tutors, and so on. Give as much information for each resource as you can, such as phone numbers, hours of operation, email or website addresses, etc. In a digital Canvas syllabus, these can be clickable links. You might also consider building a Canvas page with an ample list of resources. When you copy your Canvas site for reuse in future quarters, you can copy this page to avoid reinventing the wheel.
Assessment Design
When setting up assessments with Canvas, there are ways for you to maximize flexibility so that students have multiple avenues for submitting their work and need not feel overwhelming pressure over grades.
- Allow multiple submission types on Canvas Assignments. When a Canvas Assignment is of type Online Submission, you can allow multiple methods of submission: Text Entry, Website URL, Media Recordings, Student Annotation, and File Uploads. The more options you allow, the more flexibility your students will have, and the more fully you can achieve the principles of universal design for learning (UDL). You can also increase the ease of submitting your assignment by not limiting the file extensions permissible for File Uploads (e.g. not restricting uploads to .docx or .pdf).
- Use Canvas to give extensions when appropriate. You can use the Assign To functionality supplied with each Canvas Assignment to give particular students or groups of students later due dates, if need be. You can also manually adjust submission status in the Gradebook; for example, if a student submitted an assignment late but there are extenuating circumstances, you can change their submission status to On Time.
- Give additional attempts on Quizzes. There are a number of reasons why you might wish to give students additional quiz attempts. Students with unreliable internet access may experience difficulties while completing Canvas Quizzes. Alternatively, you may wish to use multiple quiz attempts as a learning opportunity. Whatever the case may be, you can manually unlock extra attempts to allow your students to retake the quiz as necessary.
- Use Assignment Groups to drop low grades. Canvas Assignment Groups allow you to set rules such that a given number of low (or high) scores are not counted in grade calculations. You can use these rules to give students breathing room. For example, you might create an Assignment Group of nine weekly writing assignments and set a rule that only the seven highest will be counted, so that students need not panic if they are unable to complete all nine.
- Leverage Poll Everywhere for classroom “temperature checks”. In difficult times, students may find it hard to concentrate on coursework. They (and you) are likely to experience heightened levels of anxiety in the wake of local, national, or global crises. You might consider using Poll Everywhere, the University’s instant polling system, for quick “temperature checks,” asking students how they are doing and what concerns are uppermost in their minds. You can then adjust your pedagogical approach accordingly.
Announcements and Communication
Few strategies are as vital to successful pedagogy as keeping the lines of communication open between you and your students. Canvas and other tools make it straightforward to communicate clearly and effectively.
- Leverage Canvas Announcements. Canvas Announcements are a robust system for reaching all students in your Canvas course site, or specific sections. You can attach files, schedule announcements for later posting, and even record video announcements. Canvas Announcements are also pinned at the top of your Canvas syllabus page, so that they are readily available for students to view. Using Announcements, you can ensure that your students are kept informed about upcoming events, changes to course policies, opportunities for extra credit or make-up work, and so on.
- Use Ed Discussion to supplement office hours. Ed Discussion is a powerful tool for Q&A and other forms of course discussion. Faculty at the University of Chicago have leveraged it with success as a homework help tool, allowing students to ask questions and get assistance from instructors, TAs, and peers at times when traditional office hours may not be available. Ed Discussion is integrated with Canvas, and ATS personnel can help you to get started if you wish to employ it in your course.
Conclusion
Compassionate pedagogy need not be difficult to implement, nor does it need to be a barrier to academic rigor. Through the judicious use of Canvas and other digital tools, you can help to build a sense of community among your students, alleviate the pressure they may feel due to the many stressors of student life, and point them toward help when they need it, thereby contributing to a healthier and more successful course.
Further Resources and Getting Help
For more tips on inclusive and compassionate pedagogy, check out UChicago’s Inclusive Pedagogy site.
If you would like to learn more about compassionate pedagogy and how to implement it, we encourage you to reach out to us. You can drop by our office hours (both virtual and in-person during academic quarters), come to one of our online workshops, or book a consultation with an instructional designer.
