I think it's really, really important to know who's in your class. What proportion of first generation college students do you have? You can't just assume that they know these things. I used to treat some things that I would know about students in pretty binary ways. Now through the survey, it's like, well, let's define a little bit about what a commuter means. Are you 15 minutes down the road or do you drive two hours each way to get to your classes?
Todd Zakrajsek talks about how to grow a positive learning community on episode 444 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast.
Quotes from the episode
Community is what drives learning.
-Todd Zakrajsek
Students are not going to learn if they don’t believe they can learn.
-Todd Zakrajsek
My job is to help students be the best possible learners they can be.
-Todd Zakrajsek
It is important to know that everyone you meet can be fighting something at any given moment.
-Todd Zakrajsek