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Teaching and Curriculum

Creating Student Ready Rural Regional Institutions Leanne Avery*, Leanne Avery,

Tia Brown McNair and colleagues (2022) call for a paradigm shift in higher education—from focusing on what students lack to what educators can do to create inclusive, high-quality environments that promote continuous improvement. This shift moves away from seeking students who fit traditional notions of “college-ready” and toward meeting students where they are. This requires an intentional structure that supports students throughout their educational journey. Rural institutions often serve a significant population of first-generation college students and can strengthen student support by adopting a place-based approach that builds on the assets these students bring. Place-Based Pedagogies use the local context to situate learning of content (Avery & Kassam, 2011). This teaching approach centers hands-on, real-world learning to strengthen place-based connection and civic engagement, while welcoming the assets, cultural practices, and ways of knowing of both rural non-Indigenous and Indigenous communities. (Myers & Avery, In Review).

This presentation examines how to build on rural student assets through on-site learning experiences and develop infrastructures that support “positively place-bound” students in earning degrees while living and working in their communities. A contemporary example is offered to spark discussion.

The following questions will guide participants’ discussion: What assets do rural first-generation students bring? What support structures exist, and how can they be adapted? What pathways to degree completion exist on site or remotely? How can curricula build on rural student assets?

Participants begin by brainstorming ideas and then, in small teams, select one of the questions to develop a tangible work product for use at their home institutions.