The inspired and inspiring faculty leading this work demonstrate the importance of providing culturally-responsive education for technicians and others. All educators can benefit from the faculty development modules and webinars being produced by this project in collaboration with industry. Let's work together to get this right!

"Money." No truer challenge than this. I like the acronym CREATE! The use of cultural knowledge takes the solution to the individuals. Fantastic! I voted!!

Thank you! This is really critical work and under-examined in the mainstream educational institutions. First Gen college-going students are often not differentiated in supportive ways. I would love to learn more about your model of students and graduates creating resources for professors to use when supporting first generation students. I would love to know where are some of these going to be available for broader use? Also curious if you have connected with the First2 project out of West Virginia that is funded through the NSF INCLUDES program. Some really interesting opportunities might exist to collaborate!

The idea of gaining information from faculty who were first generation college students is very good.  They can describe the help that they could have used.  How can this be translated in to college-wide programs.  Are you determining the crucial activities that faculty can realistically do in class to help first generation students overcome the institutional barriers and personal issues to succeed?  What needs to be done so that the crucial activities can realistically become part of the college environment?      

This important work is being done with our collaborators, the Center for Broadening Participation in STEM at Arizona State University that includes Caroline VanIngen-Dunn,  Cynthia Pickering,  Dr. Mara Lopez, and Dr. Megan O'Donnell; Mentor Connect at Florence Darlington Technical College, that includes Elaine Craft, Rick Roberts and Pam Silvers; and the extended colleague network at Westchester Community College, that includes Juan Rodriguez, Sarah Belknap, Dr. Vanessa Morest, and Dr. Raymond Houston!  

Subject matter experts for this project include Dr. Melissa Salazar, Escala Educational Services; Ed Conway, Director of the Learning Center at Con Edison; Dr. Amy Prevost, Wisconsin Center for Education Research UW-Madison; Dr. Jane Dong, California State University (LA); Dr. Diego Tibaquira, Miami Dade College; Dr. Elena Ortiz, Phoenix College (AZ); and Dr. Inez Moore, Riverside Community College (CA).

Awesome. Message? Yes. Helping change the narrative can begin by sharing our own journeys story. Having the conversation with colleagues about how we can change our students experience and understanding of what a STEM career is for them. Speaking to students about STEM career opportunities? No. Leading them through the institutional maze, championing them, mentoring, and inspiring them to the commencement ceremony. Yes. 

Si se puede!

Yes we can.
One life, yours. Helping one life, theirs. 
👍😇🙏 👏🎉👏🎉

How true when the statements here we can relate. The facts presented here are accurate. It is truly an all encompassing journey and learning how to navigate the system can be even more challenging than taking and successfully completing classes.

Thank you for addressing the challenges that first-generation students face through training created by first-generation graduates turned professors/instructors! This is a much needed resource. One of the major challenges that exists is navigating higher education processes for enrollment, financial aid, etc. I am curious- do you have any plans for training administrators who can help eliminate some of the unintentional systemic barriers that create difficulty for first-gen students and their families? Also, are you working with parents of first-gen students?

Great program! Much needed!

Interesting to use faculty who were first-generation to modify programs to be more inclusive of first-generation students.  Important work!

I was inspired by this video.  I am a first generation college student and can totally relate.  Juan's story of the differences in his experience vs. his son's experience is so moving.  Any instructor could learn from this video

Very inspiring!  Culturally responsive teaching represented by first generation students who are now part of the institutional fabric.  Your approach is so important to a change process that promotes assets-based teaching and learning and brings together the key players who can make that happen.  I will be interested to learn the outcomes and how your efforts have impacted other faculty, institutional policies, teaching processes, and student success.  Thank you.  

Elaine and team, this is wonderful! What an important project and an inspiring, moving video. Thank you for your work!

Thank you for your inspirational video and discussions. I really enjoyed listening to your stories. Usually, changes to remove barriers for students seem so monumental that it is difficult to know where to start. What first steps can you offer to a community college to begin the process of removing these barriers for students so that the process is feasible and results are shorter term?

Thanks for your work. It is wonderful and necessary. I hope it spreads. 

Elaine,

this is an exciting project. We are planning to develop tools and insights from our work in the National Institute for Adult Education and Online Learning that may be helpful to you.

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The message you provide about changing mindsets is a great one!  I'd be interested in knowing how faculty respond to the training.  Students are a wonderful resource to help their peers succeed.  CAHSI helps students help other students as well.

Thank you, Rosa. Participating faculty have just begun implementing culturally responsive strategies, and the reaction from their students has heightened their enthusiasm for embracing this approach. For example, instructors are finding that students who never engaged in class discussion now speak up. The project will have faculty development modules and results to share in the coming months. Stay tuned!

You may find our work on creating the Equity Systems Change Compass relevant to your efforts.  The tool is designed to  begin with a central equity question that is vital to the stakeholders.  The tool supports change makers  through the complexities of thinking about both systems and their impacts on the real people involved, while also centering those same people purposefully in reconstructing systems of equity and opportunity in STEM fields. You can find more on our video site.  The publication and the tool will be published in several weeks and available at stelar.edc.org.  In the coming months, we will also be developing a resource guide to facilitate use of the tool to help communities of practice move through difficult converstions to actions.  

Thanks! The struggles of being first generation are real. And so many people will tell you how they did it twenty years ago but much has changed...especially the cost, which makes the stakes even higher.

What I love about our project is that the lead faculty are so passionate about the work because they have been there. Thank you for your comment!

Hi Elaine, Sarah, Juan, and Laurie, 

thanks for this very personal video! Waiting for our burger and fries order at a restaurant close to the San Diego convention center during AERA, a women started talking to my colleague and I, asking if the conference (we had the name tags around our necks) was about helping first generation students succeed. She shared her story with us, how she and a group of friends didn't go to university because they didn't have anyone telling them about their options, how to apply, that there are programs, courses, support... And how she encourages her niece to "break the circle", trying to help her as much as she can. We were so moved to learn about her story and I really appreciate learning a little bit about yours and your work!

What is one strategy or example of how you bring in your own experience, your own story to make your students learning experience culturally responsive? 

Thank you!

Sarah, thank you for your comments. Immediately useful strategies have been shared via webinars on this topic that are currently available at www.Mentor-Connect.org. Click on Resources, then webinars. Use “HSI” search word to access - Webinar: Culturally Responsive Technician Education : Asset or Deficit Models (produced spring 2022) and Webinar: Culturally Responsive Instruction at HSIs- Strategies that Work (produced spring 2021).