The University of Nebraska’s strategic plan includes a strategy to “equip and incentivize instructors to instill in their pedagogy that every person, every interaction, and a diversity of ideas and perspectives matters”.

The November 1st Teaching and Learning Symposium at UNL will help instructors fulfil that ambition by analyzing teaching strategies through the lens of the UNL Course Demographics Suite. The Suite is a set of dashboards that allows reflection on the success of past pedagogical implementations using data unique to the courses of individual instructors. The dashboards show areas where an instructor might innovate with their pedagogy to achieve UNL’s aim of “reduced inequities in retention and graduation across student populations.”

The Course Demographics Suite allows instructors to examine demographic differences in their course letter grades, groups of assignments, or individual assignments. Instructors can examine their past courses, comparative courses across campus, or real-time examination of their own courses in progress. Data from across the institution tells a story in which students from different demographic backgrounds have different success rates. The Symposium will place instructors in small groups with other instructors who have used the dashboards to meet this and other teaching and learning challenges to work through practical strategies for change. Participants will join breakout groups centered on a question that’s relevant to them.
The UNL Course Demographics Suite can be a truly significant resource to show instructors where and how to better meet the needs of their students.