The DFW Project

The Challenge and Teaching Resources

NHS is exploring ways to decrease course D, F, and W (DFW) rates. This year, the Undergraduate Student Success Committee (UGSS) was charged with identifying a college goal for DFW rates—and we have been ambitious. The goal by the end of AY 2026-2027 is to have DFW rates lower than 20% in all 100-200 level individual courses and lower than 15% in all 300-400 level individual courses. We are also targeting cross-section variability in courses with multiple sections with a goal of lower than 5% variability. We chose 20% for our introductory courses to align our expectations with UNC’s F2F retention target of 80%. The NHS Fall 2022 retention rate was 73.6%.  You can check out the DFW detail report in Power BI and the course equity disparities in the Equity Action Dashboards. You can also pull data for your course from Insight (report ACD117).   

We know that reducing the DFW rate is a multifaceted challenge and of course, in smaller courses, the rate can fluctuate easily. However, if you teach a course with high historic DFW rates, we invite you to engage with the UGSS committee, the STEM-IEC, and the MAST Institute to explore the next steps. We will be offering opportunities to engage throughout the Spring and Summer to explore approaches and practices and provide support.   

As a starting point, we compiled a set of resources based on the work of the folks involved in the Teaching Academy for Instructors of Gateway Courses, a funded GART grant. In their work, participants identified the topics below for discussion. We have pulled most of the approaches and practices presented from HHMI-funded IETS program materials and from CETL 

We encourage you to explore one or two of the topics with an eye to making a change or two in your course. None of the approaches requires a total course redesign but are rather tweaks that can have powerful impacts on your students.    

• It's the middle of the semester, what can I do? 

  Gather student Feedback. Just before Spring Break is a perfect time to ask students how the semester is going. CETL has some resources to help including a short form, a long-form, and tips for students. Once you have the feedback check out the resources below, or reach out to nhsstudentsuccess@unco.edu to discuss challenges and approaches. 

  Use CANVAS to reach out to students who are struggling. The learning management system allows you to reach out to groups of students who may have struggled on an exam to offer encouragement and additional resources, congratulate and encourage students who have done well on an assignment, connect with curiosity to students who have not handed in an assignment—and many other scenarios.  Here is a short how-to video and tips from CANVAS.  The New Analytics also automates messages to a group of students or an individual student. It’s powerful for students to hear from us. 

  • • What resources should you offer?  

  • • • Tutoring Services Links 

  • • • • Tutorial Services have a video about the available resources.   
        • Nighttime drop-in schedule (and list of tutors) 
        • Schedule an appointment for tutoring (page down) 
        • SI Information 

  • • • Here is a link to the campus resource list 
      • Connect students to their Academic Advisor. Students can find their advisors name in Ursa under the Student tab - Register for Classes - Student Information.  

  Complete progress reports as soon as possible. Each semester Stephanie Torres, Assistant Vice President for Student Academic Success sends emails requesting feedback with the goal of supporting students in our classes. Responding to the request quickly enables our Academic Advisors to offer support sooner. 
  
  

  Use some of the 33 Simple Strategies we discussed this time last year.  

• Connecting with “students who…” through CANVAS.   

  The learning management system allows you to reach out to groups of students who may have struggled on an exam to offer encouragement and additional resources, congratulate and encourage students who have done well on an assignment, connect with curiosity to students who have not handed in an assignment—and many other scenarios.  Here is a short how-to video and tips from CANVAS.  The New Analytics also automates messages to a group of students or an individual student. It’s powerful for students to hear from us. 

  For additional CANVAS tips and tricks from UNC’s Instructional Design and Development, you can subscribe to their YouTube channel 

• Consider your approach to assessment

  Thinking about changing your assessment plan might be daunting but let’s take a look at some approaches and resources that could be helpful and low stakes.   

  Focusing on learning.   When we think about assessment, what we are concerned about is whether our students have learned the material. With the goal of learning in mind, you could consider implementing some of the following: 

  • To reflect the concept of learning over time, consider having the first exam worth fewer points than other exams throughout the semester. This approach provides students with an opportunity to learn how we as instructors test and explore how their study habits align with our expectations. 
  • Have your first exam/major graded project due early in the semester—by, or before, week four if possible. This approach also demystifies our expectations and provides time for students to adjust and adapt their study habits.  
  • If you have a comprehensive final, consider allowing the students who score higher on questions related to a specific module than they did in a unit exam to replace those scores. A direct reflection, and celebration, of learning over the semester. 
  • Scaffold the course with formative as well as summative assessments to allow students to monitor their progress.  The linked article contains seven recommendations for formative assessments. 
  • Give yourself permission to grade fewer things. We know feedback is essential, so consider having some assessments be peer-graded using distributed rubrics. This approach empowers students on many levels and demystifies the grading process for them.  Here are some steps to learn more and get started.   
  • Group testing incorporates a group component into the traditionally individual test. Grades are a combination of individual and group scores. The overall concept is that students learn during the group element of the test and peer-to-peer collaboration is encouraged.  Here are some steps to learn more and get started 
  • Use exam wrappers. This is a metacognitive approach that asks students to review their performance (and the instructor's feedback) with an eye toward adapting their future learning.  

  There are many other approaches that you might consider. Check out the CETL blog, Let’s Talk About Grading 

  How is your Assessment Philosophy reflected in your course?  How do your current assessment practices align with your philosophy for learning?  Take a look at the assessment philosophy worksheet and based on a scale of 1-5 (with 1 = weak and 5 = strong) explore the value you place on each statement when considering student assessment.​ Now take a look at your current assessment plan and practices and consider the same statements.  Do your values and practices align? Did you have any ah-ha moments? Perhaps you are considering making some changes.  If so, jump to Exploring Blooms 

  Using Blooms  Many of us have heard of Bloom's Taxonomy, but have we thought about it in terms of our assessment practices?   Start by exploring the connection between the taxonomy and your classroom activities.  The six Bloom’s taxonomies (remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating) are in bold just below the blue line. Notice that the blue line steps up towards the right as the outcomes and skills in the framework become more complex and abstract. The information below the blue line are examples of each taxonomy.  Above the line are classroom activities that correspond with each Bloom’s level 

  Thinking about your course, where would you place their classroom activities on the Bloom’s ladder?   Next, take out your assessment plan for the course. Where do your assessment practices fall on the ladder?  Consider how your classroom practices align with your assessments. Finally, take a look at one of your exams. Where do your questions fall on the ladder and are they aligned with the experiences your students have in the classroom?  Disconnects or lack of alignment are opportunities for change.  

  Revised Anderson et. al (2001) A Taxonomy of learning and assessing: A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives. New York NY 

• Course policies

  If you have a policy, put it in writing. Being transparent plays a huge role in demystifying the college process and ensures all students have the same cultural capital—they all know how to be successful. Inside Higher Education has a good read on the topic. Perhaps also helpful is a discussion of why policies fail to promote better learning decisions. A few additional ideas to consider: 

  • If the policy is in writing, know that some of your students, especially first-generation students, will not ask for an exception, while others will—so if you might be flexible, consider changing the wording of the policy.  
  • Consider due dates and times. If you have a due date on a Friday at 5 pm and will not look at the materials submitted until the beginning of the following week, consider changing the date.   
  • Policies can be viewed as a way to introduce students to the real world, but often the implications of the policy are more impactful on the success of a student in our courses than you or I would face. For example, if we are late on an important assignment because of a life challenge, we are likely to be given an extension rather than facing disciplinary action or a job loss (a zero often leads to failing the course). To spark additional ideas, here are resources on designing flexibility in policies and the fairness of late policies. 
  • The approach of having a dropped exam is a practice of equalness rather than equality. There is a difference between students missing/not doing well on an exam because the bus didn’t show up that morning or a loved one died, compared to a student who didn’t study appropriately or decided to concentrate on another course knowing they could drop a score.  

   

• Encouraging mistakes as part of the learning process 

  Making mistakes is an essential part of the learning process for students, but students often equate mistakes with failure resulting in anxiety about not belonging in the course or at the university. How can you create a mistake-friendly classroom?  

  • Encourage rough draft thinking. By describing rough draft thinking as a time to consider initial solutions, make mistakes, ask questions, and revise without consideration of failure, you can highlight that learning takes time and create an environment that encourages mistakes (aka learning). 
  • Encourage students to exchange “I don’t know” with “I’m here to learn.”  It’s a powerful idea! 
  • Use think-pair-share activities to allow group responses—'we think’ rather than ‘I think.’ It takes off some pressure. Remember that this approach is more powerful if you give students a minute or two to jot down ideas individually before the discussions start. 
  • Highlight your own mistakes. 
  • Embrace the power of yet; it’s a little word with a big impact. Check out this Forbes article on using the power of yet to encourage learning and growth. 

• Changing language around office (student) hours 

  The idea of office hours can be confusing for students. Is it time that faculty are working in our offices? Make it clear that this time is for students to come to your office and ask questions, get advice, etc. Consider rebranding to Student Hours for clarity. You could also help students understand what they can expect in student (office) hours and how to come prepared. Check out these resources for some good ideas: 

  • • Cornell University Learning Strategies Center 
    • The College Raptor  
    • College Confidential 

• Make changes to your syllabus

  The syllabus provides students with a first impression of us as educators, and based on this document, students often make assumptions about how willing we are to provide opportunities and resources for them to gain the knowledge and skills they need and whether we care about their development as a student, a scholar, and human beings.  I know that’s a lot of pressure on one document!  But it does provide us with an opportunity to make small changes that can have a large impact on student success. Depending on how much time you have available to dig in, you can make changes related to academic success, academic care, or connection.  We have a workbook to guide you through the process.  If you have an hour or two here are six specific steps you can take 

  (1) Identify and eliminate or explain jargon. We use a lot of jargon in academe. Take some time to read through your syllabus through the lens of a student and then eliminate the jargon or add explanations to help students learn the language (aka jargon) of academe.  Here are some examples of things to look for, and we are sure you’ll find more! 

  • Instead of listing course meeting times as T/R, explain the “R”: this course meets on Tuesdays(T) and Thursdays (R). We also suggest the same approach for MWF classes and state explicitly if attendance in a lab section is also required. 

  • The idea of office hours can be confusing for students. Is it time that faculty are in our office working? Make it clear that this time is for students to come to your office and ask questions, get advice, etc. Consider rebranding to Student Hours. You could also help students understand what they can expect in student (office) hours and how to come prepared. Check out these resources for some good ideas: 
    • • Cornell University Learning Strategies Center 
      • The College Raptor  
      • College Confidential 
  • The syllabus can be confusing. What is it? Why is it important? You may even have overheard colleagues lament about students not referring to the syllabus for answers to their questions. But do we explain the relevance of the document to our students? Of course, you can do this verbally as you discuss the syllabus in class, but also consider providing a brief explanation about the importance of the syllabus in the syllabus. 
  • Other terms that might require additional explanation include comprehensive exam, learning objectives, weighted grade, and credit hours. 

   (2) Think about tone. By underlining, bolding, and italicizing words in our syllabus, we hope to convey something important— but this formatting approach can also be considered aggressive and even condescending— but certainly not friendly. Some refer to it as academic shouting. Richard J. Harnish and K. Robert Bridges built on the work of many others when they explored the impact of the tone of a syllabus on student success (6). Their work supported the hypothesis that a syllabus written in a friendly, rather than unfriendly, tone evoked perceptions of the instructor being warmer, more approachable, and more motivated to teach the course. Here’s an example from one of our workshop participants: “Attendance is Mandatory! There is no such thing as an excused absence. Up to 90% of your grade will be based on your participation in activities that take place in class.” Consider what a student's first impression might be of the professor and of the class in general after reading this statement. The workshop participant reworded their policy as follows: "Attendance: we will spend much of our time in class working together on activities. Your participation in the activities weighs heavily on your grade (it’s worth 90%), so to be successful, you need to come to class. I have listed other tips for success on page 3 of the syllabus." The revised statement is warm, collaborative, and explains the reason for the policy. Look through your syllabus and pay special attention to the text where you have underlined, bolded, and/or italicized words. How might you reword these sections to communicate your care for students and which is more reflective of you as an instructor and your course in general? Taking a look at required policy statements is also a good idea, and while we cannot change the working, you could add a preamble. 

  (3) Tell the students something about you as a person and a professor. Consider adding a welcome statement to your syllabus. It’s a great way of introducing yourself to the students and creating a partnership for success. Here is an example from a workshop participant who was teaching an introductory freshman course: “Congratulations -you made it to college and to your first biology course! This is an amazing accomplishment and you should be proud that you are here. I am excited that I have the privilege to work with you as we start this journey together. I love biology (perhaps a bit too much) and can’t wait to share with you how fascinating the study of living things really is. My goal for you is that by the end of this course you will be a successful college student and well on your way to becoming a great scientist. I am here to help so please let me know what I can do on my end to make this goal a reality." To help students, you can also: 

  • • List your pronouns (and include them when you introduce yourself at the beginning of the semester). My Pronouns is a good resource for additional information on pronouns.  Also, if students tell you their pronouns try to use them. 
    • Don’t assume that students know to call you Dr. and not Mr., Mrs., or Ms. Include a short statement in your syllabus that lets students know how to address you. 

   (4) Help students understand what it takes to be successful in your course. To help students succeed be explicit and transparent about what it takes to be successful. If there are rules, write them down.  For example, provide information about what students need to do before, during, and after class, explain the time commitment associated with the course, and explain how to study effectively. Below is an example taken from a participant’s reconsidered syllabus.   

  

  (5) Normalize struggle and provide information about how to get help. Many of our students connect struggling with not belonging in our class and perhaps even not belonging on campus. Adding statements in your syllabus that normalize struggle can be very powerful. For example: “Please keep in mind that we will be learning a lot of new information and addressing some novel concepts throughout the semester—and at times you are likely to struggle. Know that this is normal and even expected! But please don't struggle unproductively; use your fellow learners as a resource, reach out to me for help (come to my student hours), and use the tutoring services on campus. Tutoring is free and there are multiple ways to learn from your fellow bears.” Providing information about the where and when associated with each campus resource and whether the resource is free for students would be a good follow-up statement. Many of our participants have added a separate section to their syllabus to address the question “what should I do if I need help?” Consider what information you can provide for your students. 

  (6) Formattingandorganization. Finally, consider how you have organized your syllabus and how to help students identify important information. For example: 

  • • Use color and add images to help orient a student to important information. 
    • Upfront items that are important to student success. For example, highlight the resources students are required to purchase 
    • If your syllabus is lengthy, consider adding a table of content so that students can easily find relevant sections and answers to their questions. 

• Encouraging the development of study habits 

  Students may not (yet) have effective study habits. Here are a few ideas to help 

  • Use exam wrappers. This is a metacognitive approach that asks students to review their performance (and the instructor's feedback) with an eye toward adapting their future learning. 
  • Share these six strategies for effective learning with students to facilitate study habits 
  • Share these good study habits with students 
  • Have students explore test-taking strategies ,time management skills, and learn how to build better flash cards. 
  • Walk students through the rubrics for projects. Consider sharing examples of previous student work (with permission) and have the students use the rubrics to assign grades in an early iteration of a project. This process demystifies what constitutes a good submission and helps students understand expectations.
  • Did you know tutors also explore study habits with students? Highlight the resources available on campus for students and normalize the use of these resources as a normal part of the learning process; making use of these resources makes sense for anyone who wants to succeed.  ASU also has a nice website that includes more information and a video of students sharing their experiences both of which could help frame a discussion with students. 

  Tutoring Services Links (remind students tutoring is free--its something they had to pay for in high school)

  • Tutorial Services have a video about the available resources.   
  • Nighttime drop-in schedule (and list of tutors) 
  • Schedule an appointment for tutoring (page down) 
  •  SI Information 

• Facilitating student engagement 

  Have high expectations for all students.  Jake Klipsch discusses the concept in his Ted Talk, The Reality we Create:  Expectations and Education. The #1 influence on a student is the teacher’s estimate of their ability to achieve​. The student’s personal belief is the second major influence. Ways to communicate high expectations include the following from The Helpful Professor. 

  • • Teaching about growth mindsets 
    • Focusing on effort, not excellence 
    • Asking students to try again. 
    • Expressing unconditional positive regard. 
    • Setting achievable but difficult tasks in the zone of proximal development 
    • Identifying causes of poor-quality work. 
    • Be a role model. 
    • Only praising behaviors that are praiseworthy. 
    • Showing your expectations by providing examples. 
    • Avoiding using gimmicks as incentives. 
    • Asking open-ended questions. 
    • Giving detailed feedback.
    • Being consistent. 

  Use Guided Though Provoking Questions.Provide students with sentence starters developed by Dr King as a tool for critical thinking.  There are also sentence starters aligned with Bloom’s Taxonomy.  Source King A, Inquiry as a tool in Critical Thinking in C.F Halpern and Associates (eds) Changing College Classrooms: New Teaching and Learning Strategies for an Increasingly Complex World. San Francisco:  Jossey-Bass, 1994  

  Encouragerough draft thinking. By describing rough draft thinking as a time to consider initial solutions, make mistakes, ask questions, and revise without consideration of failure, you can highlight that learning takes time and create an environment that encourages mistakes (aka learning). 

  Try to solicit responses from more students. If you hear from the same few students multiple times, use a line like, “Let’s hear from someone we haven’t heard from yet” or you can mention physical spaces of the room like, “Let’s hear from someone by the windows.”​ You can also try waiting a little longer before calling on someone—the wait is uncomfortable at first, but the approach is effective.  It’s always a god idea to make sure students know they can pass. Normalize a response such as “I’m here to learn” rather than “I don’t’ know.” 

  Usethink-pair-shareactivities to allow group responses—'we think’ rather than ‘I think.’ It takes off some pressure. Remember that this approach is more powerful if you give students a minute or two to jot down ideas individually before the discussions start. Establish Connection with your students. Students are more likely to want to engage in class if they feel a connection with their instructor. One way you can facilitate these connections is to arrive to class early to chat with students. ​ You can do this by standing at the door and greeting each student. If you have a large class, you can physically place yourself at different areas around the room different days to chat with students sitting in that area.   

  Pay attention to whom you ask follow-up questions. ​ Ask follow-up questions to women or students of color on a regular basis.  Use students’ names when you call on them. 

  Introduce Group Norms. If you have students working in groups, have them create group norms through a team charter. Having students take on specific roles in a group is also effective—just make sure students rotate roles. 

• Gather student feedback 

  Curious what you can do differently?  Ask the students. CETL has mid-semester check  information including a short form, a long-form, and tips for students  

Coordinating Multiple Sections of a Course

Aligning content and expectations across course sections is challenging, but essential for student success. The goal is for students to have the same experience and likelihood of success across all sections of a course. In some of our courses, there is currently significant variation across sections.  Below are some starting points for discussion.  You’ll notice the overarching theme is one of alignment.

Syllabus. Best practice is to have a single syllabus for all sections of the course. It does not necessarily need to read the same, but very similar information should be provided for all students.  

Course Content. The content covered should be the same in all sections of the course, and the pace at which the content is covered needs to be aligned. If the content covered and/or pace are out of sync, it’s difficult for students to access help through tutoring or SI.  

CANVAS.  An easy way to have consistency in CANVAS shells is to use the UNC Templates and design the course in a development shell which is then applied to each section. More from IDD.  

Course Outcomes. Departments should agree on appropriate course outcomes, especially when a course is part of a sequence. They should be consistent in all sections of the course. 

Assessments. A few ideas about aligning assessments. 

• The types of assignments (projects, homework, exams, etc.) need to be consistent across sections. 
• The percentage of the grade allocated to each type of assignment should be the same. 
• The expectations for each type of assignment need to be very similar. 
• • Instructors can align exams by applying Bloom’s to questions or using common exams/questions. Whether exams are open notes or closed book should also be consistent.
  • For projects, agreeing on a rubric provides consistency across sections. 
  • For quizzes and homework, make sure grading norms are consistent across sections.
  • Aligning the expectations is especially important where teaching assistants are the instructors of record. It’s a good idea to have a coordinator* check in across sections early in the semester to identify challenges with grading.
  • Consistency with plus/minus grading 

 Policies. Policies such as late work, what happens if a student misses exams, whether attendance is required, etc. should be aligned across sections.  The policies should be in writing, equitable, and flexible (as described above), and consistently applied.