Lessons Learned: Teaching and Learning Academy Workshop to Promote Asset-based Mindset among STEM Faculty

This lessons learned paper describes the strategies in planning, organizing, and delivering a Teaching and Learning Academy Workshop that focused on bridging the cultural and perception gap between faculty and students in math and engineering classrooms. Grounded in Yosso’s Community Cultural Wealth model, the workshop was designed to engage participants in a sequence of reflective and conversational activities that allowed the faculty to connect their own educational experiences with their expectation towards the students, and recognize the strength of the students in terms of their cultural wealth in Aspirational, Linguistic, Family, Social, Navigational, and Resistance forms. The workshop received overwhelmingly positive feedback from the participants from both math and engineering departments. The success of the workshop provided preliminary yet promising answers as to how to change faculty perceptions so they are ready to “meet students where they are,” which is a critical step towards the establishment of a learner-centered culture. The authors will present the paper in lightning talk format to engage the audience in an in-depth conversation following a short introduction.