{"id":633,"date":"2024-10-03T15:37:06","date_gmt":"2024-10-03T15:37:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/being-first\/?page_id=633"},"modified":"2025-02-24T17:06:50","modified_gmt":"2025-02-24T17:06:50","slug":"course-structure-and-instructor-responsiveness-matter","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/being-first\/course-structure-and-instructor-responsiveness-matter\/","title":{"rendered":"Course Structure and Instructor Responsiveness Matter"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-837 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/being-first\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1165\/2024\/10\/Responsiveness_Otis.png\" alt=\"for me personally, I have a lot of balancing with work and family life, and I really want them [instructors] to understand that when they provide flexibility how much it's appreciated. Otis\" width=\"2240\" height=\"1260\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/being-first\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1165\/2024\/10\/Responsiveness_Otis.png 2240w, https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/being-first\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1165\/2024\/10\/Responsiveness_Otis-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/being-first\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1165\/2024\/10\/Responsiveness_Otis-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/being-first\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1165\/2024\/10\/Responsiveness_Otis-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/being-first\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1165\/2024\/10\/Responsiveness_Otis-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/being-first\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1165\/2024\/10\/Responsiveness_Otis-2048x1152.png 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2240px) 100vw, 2240px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Courses are often designed with an assumption that learners have the privilege of solely focusing on their academic coursework. But\u2014along with many other learners\u2014first-generation learners are often balancing work, family, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">and<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> college. This reality requires that many first-generation learners do a lot of planning in advance and expend constant effort balancing competing priorities (Estafan, 2023). You can provide clearly structured and guided pathways to success in your course, which will act to mitigate these systemic disadvantages. This transparency may also help to counteract <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/being-first\/in-the-classroom\/navigating-college-can-be-confusing-and-isolating\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">the hidden curriculum <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">so students don\u2019t have to expend time and energy on guessing what is expected of them. Even when students are able to plan in advance, they may need to navigate competing priorities and unforeseen circumstances. Providing flexibility within the structure of your course helps <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">first-generation learners, and all learners, manage these challenges and can help them succeed in your course.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Here are some ways you can build structure and flexibility into your courses.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Strategies<\/strong><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Courses are often designed with an assumption that learners have the privilege of solely focusing on their academic coursework. But\u2014along with many other learners\u2014first-generation learners are often balancing work, family, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/being-first\/course-structure-and-instructor-responsiveness-matter\/\" class=\"\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3267,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-633","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Course Structure and Instructor Responsiveness Matter - Being First: Teaching First-Generation Learners<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/being-first\/course-structure-and-instructor-responsiveness-matter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Course Structure and Instructor Responsiveness Matter - Being First: Teaching First-Generation Learners\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Courses are often designed with an assumption that learners have the privilege of solely focusing on their academic coursework. But\u2014along with many other learners\u2014first-generation learners are often balancing work, family, &hellip; Read More\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/being-first\/course-structure-and-instructor-responsiveness-matter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Being First: Teaching First-Generation Learners\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-24T17:06:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/being-first\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1165\/2024\/10\/Responsiveness_Otis.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/being-first\/course-structure-and-instructor-responsiveness-matter\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/being-first\/course-structure-and-instructor-responsiveness-matter\/\",\"name\":\"Course Structure and Instructor Responsiveness Matter - Being First: Teaching First-Generation Learners\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/being-first\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/being-first\/course-structure-and-instructor-responsiveness-matter\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/being-first\/course-structure-and-instructor-responsiveness-matter\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/being-first\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1165\/2024\/10\/Responsiveness_Otis.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-10-03T15:37:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-24T17:06:50+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/being-first\/course-structure-and-instructor-responsiveness-matter\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/being-first\/course-structure-and-instructor-responsiveness-matter\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/being-first\/course-structure-and-instructor-responsiveness-matter\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/being-first\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1165\/2024\/10\/Responsiveness_Otis.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/being-first\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1165\/2024\/10\/Responsiveness_Otis.png\",\"width\":2240,\"height\":1260,\"caption\":\"for me personally, I have a lot of balancing with work and family life, and I really want them [instructors] to understand that when they provide flexibility how much it's appreciated. 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