Perhaps you’re wondering: What could I have done differently, or what do I do next?
In a story this week, in which I explore student-conduct problems in campus classrooms, I talked to Jody Greene and Ross Maxwell at the University of California at Santa Cruz. The two have seen more faculty members come to them with stories of students’ behavioral issues, often seeking help only after things had spun out of control.
In response, Greene, associate campus provost for academic success, and Maxwell, deputy director of the Office of Student Conduct and Conflict Education, put together a workshop for faculty members to help them design appropriate classroom boundaries, on the idea that it’s easier to prevent a problem than manage one in the moment.
Greene, who used to head the campus teaching center, would regularly meet with instructors who needed help in figuring out how to manage aggressive or provocative behaviors. One concern that often tripped them up was the fear that they might be accused of not being caring or flexible enough with their students. Students, too, sometimes used those terms to push back against course policies.
“I often see students using the language of ‘You need to be flexible and you need to be more caring,’ which I think they’ve picked up from an institutional discourse that we are flexible and we are caring. And we are,” Greene said. “But people like me have warned for a long time that the discourse of flexibility will eventually come back to bite us.”
That’s how Greene ended up settling on the idea of helping people set appropriate boundaries: “Because honestly, in talking with these faculty members, they had felt responsibility for this far beyond what they should have been taking responsibility for.”
One faculty member I spoke with, who asked to remain anonymous because she has not secured tenure, said that she had been overwhelmed by students’ many demands. Nobody has been threatening, but the strain of the individual challenges has been exhausting, as was the fear of what might happen if she stood her ground. She thought the shift toward students’ feeling comfortable asking for more support is a positive one over all; the problem comes when they continue to push even after she explains her reason for saying no.
One student, for example, challenged her refusal to extend a deadline in front of the entire class, even after she explained that it was low-stakes and the student could make up the work in another way. Others have asked her to scale back the amount of required reading, saying that other professors don’t assign nearly as much. “I feel like if I don’t do it for them, there’s a lot of risk for me professionally,” the faculty member said. “They’ll write things about how I’m a tyrant in student evaluations because I gave three readings a week.”
Certain words, too, she said, might trigger an inquiry. If students complain that she was disrespectful of those who need accommodations, that might lead a supervisor to ask about her policies, even when what the students actually wanted was a one-day extension on a quiz they hadn’t studied for. She never actually had a problem, she said, in accommodating students with learning disabilities.
It doesn’t help, she noted, when some colleagues tell her it’s just easier to acquiesce to difficult students. She was glad, as a result, of Greene’s support in setting reasonable boundaries. She also appreciated that such challenges are being discussed more publicly on campus.
The Santa Cruz workshop centers on the idea that boundaries support learning. Sticking to deadlines, for example, enables instructors to give timely feedback and students to stay on track. Classroom codes of conduct clarify social norms and expectations. Professors can build flexibility into their course design, such as dropping the lowest test grade or allowing a certain number of absences. But instructors should not feel pressured to negotiate requests on an ad-hoc basis, Greene said.
In the story I also talk to administrators and teaching experts on other campuses, and discuss how the workshop at Santa Cruz aligns with a larger movement toward transparent course design. In short, explaining both what you’re expecting of students and why you think it’s beneficial to their learning can go a long way toward setting healthy classroom boundaries.
I spoke to one Santa Cruz faculty member who had done just that, after nearly burning herself out one semester into her time there. Marcela Alfaro-Córdoba, an assistant teaching professor in statistics, said she now has more balance in her life, and her students are clearer about her expectations and policies.
“The new generation understands reasons, but they don’t understand rules,” said Alfaro-Córdoba. “When you put your rules into a context, some of them are really thankful for it. But authority just for the sake of authority this generation really hates.”
I have several questions for readers after reporting this story:
Have you seen an increase in student-conduct problems, and, if so, why do you think that is?
Have you sought help from colleagues, your campus teaching center, or your student-conduct office? How did that go?
If you resolved conduct problems on your own, what did you do?
Write to me at beth.mcmurtrie@chronicle.com. I’d like to hear your story.
Teaching alongside ChatGPT
What has your fall semester been like now that ChatGPT and other generative-AI tools are ubiquitous? Are students using them responsibly? Is cheating with AI on the rise? Have you redesigned your assignments and assessments to either promote or mitigate AI use? Are you talking with colleagues about the issues it raises for teaching and learning?
Whether you love the new tools, hate them, or fall somewhere in between, we want to hear from you. Please fill out this Google form, and, with your permission, your experiences may appear in a story we plan to publish later this fall.
ICYMI
- The University of Maine system has created first-year research seminars as a way to build a sense of belonging, writes our Kelly Field in this Chronicle story.
- Anna Conway and Thomas J. Tobin tackle the lack of training for adjunct instructors in this opinion piece in Inside Higher Ed.
- In this Chronicle advice piece Flower Darby explains how to teach with AI tools in ways that meet faculty concerns about ethics and equity.
Thanks for reading Teaching. If you have suggestions or ideas, please feel free to email us at beckie.supiano@chronicle.com or beth.mcmurtrie@chronicle.com.
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— Beth
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