This session includes multiple presentations. Timestamps are indicated in parentheses so you can forward to the presentation you want to view.
Innovating the development of teacher leaders with a focus on anti-racism and social justice (00:00)
Presented by Marisela Cervantes, Chuck Flores, and Albert Jones, California State University, Los Angeles
The Sal Castro Academy for Urban Teacher Leaders is an innovative teacher training program developed at the Charter College of Education at California State University, Los Angeles. Sal Castro was a teacher and is among the university’s most distinguished alumni. In 1968, he marched alongside his Mexican American students on the Eastside of Los Angeles to demand fair and equitable educational opportunities through their public schools. These protests became known as the East L.A. Blowouts and inspired a generation of activism and social change that spread across the country. The Sal Castro Academy for Urban Teacher Leaders capitalizes on this history to transform teacher leadership development through a modern curriculum that interweaves Ethnic Studies and Community-Based Activism. The program launched in 2021, with a two-year grant and the generous support of alumni, eager to see themselves reflected in the work of the university. To amplify the effect of the program in the community, teacher participants receive stipends to conduct anti-racist activities with their students during the school year.
Student support towards student wellbeing and success: collaboration with the data analytics team (18:53)
Presented by Ida Jeannette Meyer, University of Pretoria–Mamelodi Campus
In 2019 the University of Pretoria (Mamelodi campus) developed a data analytics system, the Mamelodi Referral System (M-RS), to assist student support. The timing was perfect since the COVID-19 pandemic and consequent lockdown in 2020 prevented students from direct face-to-face access to their FSAs.
Firstly, the M-RS enabled the FSAs to know which students were struggling even before they failed. The process entails that lecturers refer, in real-time, possible cases to the FSA team. Students who were inactive for a week or who had missed a formal assessment were immediately referred or students who communicated with lecturers that they experienced problems (both wellbeing and academically related) were also referred. The FSA team could then contact the student to identify the problem and provide the student with specific assistance.
Secondly, the data analytics team also developed a priority list according to filters that the FSA team and the data analytics team created together. In the beginning (2020) the filters were COVID-19 related (students without data, devices, electricity, etc). Currently there are filters such as returning students; late registered students; students with a mark under 50% for a semester test; students who missed a week’s activities; etc.
Thirdly, a policy was drawn up of the type of assistance that the FSA team should give to students according to their risk factor which was filtered into groups according to their marks per core module.
Lastly, in 2021 a student self-referral option was added on the M-RS through a direct email to the FSA team that was developed by the two teams (FSA and data analytics team).
These actions ensured that the needs of the students were identified early in the year. To develop the graduate attributes of students, synchronous online workshops were developed and presented to address the students’ identified academic and non-academic needs. Topics and individual work focused on both academic development and personal wellbeing and development.
The Mamelodi campus does not have any senior students and therefore the FSA team fulfills this role. First-generation students, students from rural areas – combined with them being first years – are unsure who to ask for assistance. The M-RS assisted the Faculty Student Advisors in reaching out to the students as individuals with empathy and humility. These preventative and holistic measures through collaboration with the data analytics team were found to be much more effective in student success and wellbeing.