With the rise of online and hybrid class modalities during the COVID-19 pandemic, along with the recent increase of anti-racist initiatives in the U.S., inclusivity and access are important topics in education today. While there are numerous possible solutions to a lack of equity in college classrooms, facilitating a more student-centered classroom is at least one effective way of making sure all students are being heard and accommodated. Student-centered learning can be applied not only to classroom layout and class-time activities, both of which are discussed more frequently in preexisting research, but also to the actual assignments students complete. While pedagogical best practices and teaching philosophies in higher education have changed over time, the idea of the strong academic essay has remained relatively the same. Students are taught to write essays using Standard American English (SAE) and, moreover, scholarly language. This is understandable, as SAE is the common dialect in the professional world within the U.S., but this can be an inequitable lesson to teach, as students speak a wide variety of dialects and also have diverse learning styles. The purpose of this Capstone Project is not to villainize the academic essay or Standard American English but, instead, to emphasize that marginalized dialects, cultures, and identities should not be demeaned in how academic writing is taught, and in fact can be assets to the ways we approach teaching and learning in the academy.
Dialogical pedagogy and student-centered learning are useful methods in cultivating an inclusive, equitable classroom environment and also in improving student learning. As critical thinking should remain a priority in college courses, creative assignments that focus on purpose over punctuation may prove more effective than an academic essay in some cases, especially for students who must learn a new language to meet the expectations of the academic essay. As a woman of color who attended a small school with a predominantly White population, I appreciate the opportunities I received during my undergraduate studies to read diverse authors and to write in alternative, innovative ways. While English is my first language, my way of thinking and speaking still differs from the ways of other students who speak English, as each student has faced different experiences that shape their methods of communication. This is not to say that professors who assign more traditional writing assignments are incorrect in their pedagogical strategies. Rather, student-centered learning and creative assignments cannot look the same for every discipline and every group of students; these pedagogical practices require periodical reevaluation and adaptation. There are also varying degrees of student-centered learning, as a professor may choose to allow students to propose modifications to assignment guidelines while another professor may provide the option for students to write their own assignment guidelines. I invite educators to think about how they might add more flexibility to assignment guidelines and allow students to experiment with innovative forms of expressing critical thought.
Exploding Pedagogy 