{"id":20232,"date":"2024-10-17T12:41:25","date_gmt":"2024-10-17T19:41:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lumenlearning.com\/?p=20232"},"modified":"2025-12-04T09:41:00","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T17:41:00","slug":"makingspaceblog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lumenlearning.com\/makingspaceblog\/","title":{"rendered":"Making S.P.A.C.E. for Student Belonging: 5 Tips for Increasing Faculty and Staff Awareness and Agency"},"content":{"rendered":"

Foreword<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lumen Circles<\/a><\/span> are asynchronous faculty professional development experiences that use virtual learning communities to connect faculty with peers, helping them refine their expertise as student-centered educators. Grounded in evidence-based teaching practices and self-reflection, Lumen Circles are designed to benefit faculty members across disciplines and career stages.<\/p>\n

Dr. Iona Ringgold and Dr. Katherine Orlando participated in the Lumen Circles Belonging and Inclusive Teaching Fundamentals Circle<\/a><\/span>, where they embraced teaching strategies that foster engagement and belonging. The foundational knowledge gained through their Lumen Circles experience empowered them to extend these practices into their campus community, encouraging other faculty to engage in belonging work through their own learning collective.<\/p>\n

This blog shares their journey and the transformative impact Lumen Circles had on their work, demonstrating how Lumen Circles faculty professional development experiences can inspire meaningful change in higher education.<\/p>\n

Authors: Dr. Iona Ringgold and Dr. Katherine Orlando<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>At Towson University in Maryland, we have been applying what we learned during our time as Lumen Circle fellows to two different professional learning series for faculty and staff.\u00a0\u00a0The Lumen Circles program provided the foundational knowledge and collaborative environment that inspired us to create our own space to foster student belonging.\u00a0 With the support and framework provided by Lumen Circles, we established The Inclusive Teaching Collective\u2014a community aimed at engaging faculty and staff in enhancing students’ sense of belonging in their learning spaces.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>For this post, belonging will be defined as a subjective feeling of deep connection with social groups, physical places, and individual and collective experiences as a fundamental human need (Allen et al, 2021).\u202fOur approach to fostering belonging has been deeply influenced by the evidence-based practices and collaborative methods we learned through Lumen Circles. <\/span>Research shows that when higher education students do not feel a sense of belonging, this negatively impacts academic and social success, persistence, and mental health, and is especially true for students from marginalized groups (Davis, Hanzsek-Brill, Petzold, & Robinson, 2019; Gopalan & Brady, 2019). In contrast, Gopalan & Brady\u2019s (2019) findings suggested that a greater sense of belonging might have a positive longitudinal impact on academic performance and persistence and is protective for mental health in year three for undergraduate students.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Recent research findings reveal that professors are uniquely situated to advance social justice issues in higher education learning spaces (Liera & Dowd, 2019). However, some do not see themselves as agents of change regarding student belonging. In addition, some faculty may have different experiences based on the intersectionality of their own identities (Pittman & Tobin, 2022). In our work, we also found that many who are working on inclusive and affirming practices also seek support and new learning in these efforts.\u00a0 In addition, just saying that students \u201cbelong\u201d is not enough according to Walton (2021). Showing students through intentional conversations about learning and growth, modeling that belonging is a process, supporting students\u2019 diverse identities, letting students know that they are not alone, and allowing space for these exchanges is essential (Gopalan, Linden-Carmichael, Lanza, 2022; Walton, 2021).\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Illustrated

Belonging and Inclusive Teaching Fundamentals Lumen Circle: Circle Activities<\/p><\/div>\n

We created S.P.A.C.E.<\/strong> (Semester-Long Intensity, Participant and Identities-Centered, Awareness and Agency for Creating Cultures of Belonging, Collective Responsibility and Accountability, Engagement and Empowerment for Equity: Belonging Matters) to provide faculty with a supportive, collaborative environment focused on fostering student belonging.<\/p>\n

Here are our top 5 tips for increasing faculty agency and awareness to create inclusive spaces where students truly feel they belong. We\u2019ve also included powerful quotes from members of the Collective, sharing their personal experiences in this transformative journey.<\/p>\n

S<\/strong>emester-Long Intensity\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n

The members of the Collective committed to the project for an entire semester. Following the principles of the Lumen Circles<\/a><\/span> program, we created a semester-long commitment for the participants. Our series was based on the effective professional learning communities model of Lumen Circles. Lumen Circles are 9-week asynchronous virtual communities of practice with faculty peers and coaches engaging in weekly activities to explore, apply, and reflect on effective teaching practices.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n