Fostering critical hope in a sociology families course (SOCI 200) through equitable, diverse and inclusive student-faculty collaboration

Cohort March 2022: Faculty of Arts – Oral Robinson, Serena Pong, Rohil Sharma

Project background

Critical hope has been variously defined as the agentic ability to evaluate one’s environment through a lens of equity and justice to enact change (Duncan- Andrade et al., 2008; Grain, 2022). The current Student as Partners project is a collaboration between Oral Robinson (Sociology Faculty), Serena Pong (Linguistic student) and Rohil Sharma (Sociology student). It seeks to redesign a Sociology of the Families course with the implementation of a critical hope perspective.

Project details

The goal is to make the course more equitable, diverse and inclusive for the hundreds of students taking it each year. The project entails:

  • Selecting and adapting inclusive pedagogies and learning techniques to provide students the opportunity to engage with their positionality; and
  • Helping students develop critical hope perspectives, with a broader objective to decolonize educational experiences and empower students to work toward social justice.

Transformative and inclusive pedagogies have been shown to be associated with increased engagement/motivation/ownership for learning (Mezirow, 1990). Our course redesign takes advantage of these benefits through the implementation of critical hope praxes (Bozalek et al, 2014; Friere, 1970; Mezirow, 1990) to draw on the different experiences of learners and spark their agentic powers. By attending to critical hope, we are working to empower students to develop a better sense of community through enhanced peer relationships and increased understanding of their learning process (metacognitive learning, self-evaluation, and self-awareness) (Cook-Sather, Bovill & Felten, 2014). We have employed strategies such as emotive writing, role-plays, group work and content creation to unleash these possibilities for our students. Because of the diverse student base in the course, the impact of the project will be far-reaching across faculty and discipline.

Testimonials

Working on this project has been an exciting opportunity for me, as an undergraduate student, to participate in research with a clear, immediate real-world impact and to gain experience in designing learning activities and assessments. The experience has been immensely helpful in my preparations to become a teacher. The most rewarding part was creating the “Experiences of Critical Hope” term project and getting to see it implemented in the course. I am proud to contribute to students’ learning experiences at UBC.

— Serena Pong (Student)

Collaborating with Serena and Rohil on this project has been a transformational experience for me. It was refreshing to witness and engage with the creativity of my student partners. Their research, suggestions and perspectives helped redesign the course better than I could have done alone. Working together with student partners has affirmed my belief that undergraduate students should be given the opportunity to help shape their courses. For me, the experience itself has been a moment of critical hope, and I will continue partnering with students to build inclusive, equitable and diverse courses.

— Oral Robinson (Faculty)

The Students as Partners initiative has been an empowering experience. I am honoured to work collegially with a professor and a fellow student to help shape UBC’s educational landscape. I feel lucky to be afforded this rare opportunity of assuming the role of an educator while being a student. Through ad hoc mentorship and exposure to professorial pedagogy, I have been able to lend my undergraduate perspective to course design, which has ultimately fostered an understanding that will serve me in my academic career and beyond.

— Rohil Sharma (Student)