Supporting Working-Class First-Gen Students: A 2-Pronged Approach

Handouts & Information

• Teaching First-Gen Students
  This is the most important guide for teaching first-gen students, written by OWU’s First-Gen scholar, Paul Dean, based on his book, Class Cultures and Social Mobility.
• Metacognitive Reflections: Improving Student Engagement
  This is a practical guide for boosting student engagement.
• End-of-Class Reflections
  This guide enhances student learning through emotion-oriented cognitive and metacognitive reflection prompts.
• TILT Framework
  This is a comprehensive guide that covers the TILT Framework, helping educators structure assignments around Purpose, Skills, Knowledge, Tasks, and Success Criteria.
• Student Attendance & Engagement  

Articles

• First-Generation Students’ Reported Outcomes From a Self-Regulated Learning Course
  This case study explores how participation in a self-regulated learning course helps first-generation students increase metacognition, adopt effective academic strategies, and define meaningful success.
• Closing the Social Class Achievement Gap for First-Generation Students
  This study demonstrates a strategy to help close the social class achievement gap and improve retention for first-generation students.
• Sense of Belonging and Student Engagement
  This daily diary study examines how moment-to-moment fluctuations in sense of belonging impact emotional and behavioral engagement in first-gen students. 
• A Brief Social-Belonging Intervention Improves Academic and Health Outcomes of Minority Students
  This study demonstrates how a brief social-belonging intervention during the students’ college transition raises minority students’ GPAs, halves the achievement gap, and improves long-term health and well-being. 
• From Inclusive to Equitable Pedagogy
  This article presents a framework for designing classroom assignments and learning activities that directly target structural inequalities like academic inequities, resource disadvantages, and cultural discrimination.
• Building Up or Drilling Down?
  This article discusses how structuring curriculum and assessments around overarching core ideas rather than disconnected topics helps students build a coherent framework of knowledge. 
• Growth Mindset Messages from Instructors Improve Academic Performance Among First-Generation Students
  This study demonstrates how instructor growth-mindset emails sent after exams improve overall course performance and eliminate the achievement gap for first-generation students by increasing online material engagement.