Overview

Scientific Purpose of the Study
Santa Fe College's Quality Enhancement Plan, "Equity-Minded Education, Uniting for College Success," is a collegewide action research study to determine the impact of equity-minded education practices on overall Â鶹ԭ´´ student success and retention rates, narrowing equity gaps between our diverse student populations and improving student engagement and satisfaction with the College. Equity-minded education practices refer to ways faculty, staff, and other professionals examine academic performance gaps and implement pedagogical and other changes that increase access to similar outcomes among diverse student populations. Specific equity-minded education practices that will be studied are inclusive teaching, transparency, and sense of belonging using strategies as developed, respectively, by the ,  , and the .

Describe the Research Methodology in Non-Technical Language: (Explain what will be done with or to the research participant.)
Santa Fe College academic departments will develop proposals for action research focused on closing equity gaps using equity-minded teaching skills and techniques acquired from training in transparent assignments (TiLT), student sense of belonging (SEP), or Designing Learner-Centered and Equitable Courses (ACUE). Specific research methodology will be determined by the academic department and may include aggregated and anonymized course success and retention data, field notes and researcher observations, surveys, questionnaires, interviews, and/or samples of assignments and coursework. Departmental action research projects (DARPs) may be implemented in select courses, disciplines, or on a department-wide level, as determined by the academic department.

The PI, Co-Investigator, Professional Development Leads from participating departments, and CTLE Faculty Fellows will review and evaluate DARP proposals prior to implementation using the attached rubric (see Appendix A). Proposals deemed "not yet acceptable" will be returned to the academic department for revision and resubmission.

Describe Potential Benefits
We anticipate implementation of equity-minded teaching skills and techniques may result in overall improvement in course success and retention and in narrowing equity gaps between diverse populations. Further, we anticipate implementation may result in greater aggregate student engagement and satisfaction with the College.

Describe Potential Risks (If risk of physical, psychological or economic harm may be involved, describe the steps taken to protect participant.)
There are no potential risks foreseen to any of the study participants.

Describe How Participant(s) Will Be Recruited
All students enrolled at Santa Fe College, 18-years and older, will serve as the study population. Students enrolled in sections implementing equity-minded teaching skills and techniques will serve as the experimental group. Students enrolled in other sections will serve as a control group.

General information about the study will be publicized through typical communications means used by the College, including the Student-Life published "This Week @ Santa Fe" newsletter, tabling events such as Club Rush and Â鶹ԭ´´ Resource Fair at New Student Orientation, and announcements to Student Senate and Â鶹ԭ´´ student organizations. Additionally, students registering for Â鶹ԭ´´ courses each academic year will be provided information about the study, including a link to this IRB.

Maximum Number of Participants (to be approached with consent)
All students enrolled at Santa Fe College, 18-years and up.

Age Range of Participants
18-up

Amount of Compensation/course credit
None

Describe the Informed Consent Process
Students registering for Â鶹ԭ´´ courses will be provided information about the study, including a link to this IRB, and prompted each academic year to consent or to not consent to data collection on their academic performance and experiences at the College. A pop-up will appear each time a student successfully registers for a class until a response is registered for the academic year. Once the student has responded, either opt in or opt out, the pop up will not reappear until the next academic year. The student will have ability to alter their response in eSantaFe via the My Information, Authorizations screen.

Professors will access their students' responses in eStaff via the Academic Instructor portal to identify students whose data should be collected for research purposes. Professors will remind students of the research study and their ability to opt in / opt out through information in the course syllabus and in a course announcement at the start of each semester.