Teaching Specific Student Populations

Successful teaching today requires attention to the diverse needs of our students. Teaching Specific Student Populations provides eye-opening perspectives and practical solutions to make learning more impactful and environments more respectful and inclusive.

Aside from a universal aversion to early morning classes, students can hardly be considered a homogeneous group.

They’re diverse in so many respects-culturally, generationally, in their backgrounds, in their abilities, in their identity.

Those differences often bring with them different learning styles and needs. Meeting these students where they’re most comfortable, and where they learn best, is something every educator can strive to do.

Teaching Specific Student Populations can help. This 10-hour in-depth Online Course looks at the unique challenges of educating student groups including:

• First-year students: What can be done in the design, facilitation, and assessment of a course to foster the skills and mindsets necessary for success in first-year students?
• First generation students: What challenges exist for first generation students? What support structures can you create to help them succeed?
• Generation Z: How do you keep learning relevant for a digital generation? What are their weaknesses? Their strengths? Their values? What motivates them to learn?
• Gender-variant students: How can you stay abreast of changing pronouns and other terminology? How do you navigate issues of gender identity versus sexual identity? What if you make mistakes? What are the Title IX implications for your classroom environment?
• Neurodiverse students: How can you create an engaging experience for students of all abilities? What are the effective ways to manage social anxiety and cognition? What are the impacts of movement and visual tools on learning? What is the value of predictability?
• Culturally diverse students: How do cultural differences impact teacher-student relations…classroom participation…interpersonal dynamics…integrity and ethics?
• Professional-track students: How do you teach professionalism? What are the methods for cultivating good communication skills, etiquette, personal presentation, and other aspects of professional behavior? And how do you measure it?
• Adult learners: How can you truly advance the careers and lives of adult learners? What is the importance of adult learners to universities What should you know about the complex lives of adult learners?

Teaching Student Specific Populations explores these and many other important questions in detail, over roughly ten hours of instruction, delivered in modular form.

Individuals can take the course at their own pace, and access it 24/7 from virtually any device. Learning communities can work through the program together as part of departmental or institution-wide faculty development initiatives.

A variety of supplemental materials support the course content, including full transcripts, recommended readings, handouts, and links to helpful online resources. In addition, learning checks throughout the course keep participants on track, and a final check leads to a certificate of completion.

Learning Goals

At the conclusion of Teaching Specific Student Populations, participants will be able to:

• Articulate the generational and cultural differences present in the classroom
• Utilize key facilitation techniques that foster higher education skills necessary for collegiate classroom success
• Develop learning tools relevant to Gen Z students
• Implement specific classroom strategies to better support first-generation college students
• Create an environment of respect for gender-variant students
• Design meaningful learning experiences for neurodiverse students
• Recognize and adapt to cultural differences among international students
• Teach and assess professionalism in professional-track students
• Be equipped with evidence that will enable you to advance the learning needs of adult learners within your universities

Successful teaching today requires attention to the diverse needs of our students. Teaching Specific Student Populations provides eye-opening perspectives and practical solutions to make learning more impactful and environments more respectful and inclusive. Add it to your professional-development library!