One Classroom at a Time: How Better Teaching Can Make College More Equitable

From the author of The Missing Course, an essential guide to pedagogy that serves all members of an ever more diverse undergraduate population. A century ago, a typical US college campus was a sanctuary of privilege, with white men of means constituting nearly the entire student population. Today, half of US undergraduates live at or near the poverty line, and universities are more diverse than ever. But teaching and curricula have not caught up, resulting in stark inequities. Black and Hispanic students graduate at lower rates than their white and Asian counterparts, economically insecure and disabled students face persistent disadvantages, and in STEM disciplines gender imbalances remain the norm. One Classroom at a Time provides practical, research-based recommendations for teachers and administrators who want to narrow such academic gaps. David Gooblar explains the psychological hardships facing many marginalized students—including stereotype threat and belonging uncertainty—and provides detailed remedies. This wide-ranging guide also offers advice for mitigating burdens of financial insecurity and designing classes that work for all students regardless of disabilities. The emphasis throughout is on helping instructors and administrators understand not just the principles of equitable pedagogy but also the reasoning; not just what works, but why it works. In the twenty-first century, college courses shouldn’t be built for imaginary students of yesteryear. One Classroom at a Time shows how we can tailor pedagogy to the students of today, so that all of them can secure the education and the success they deserve.

About the Author :
David Gooblar is Assistant Professor of English at the University of Iowa. He is the author of The Missing Course: Everything They Never Taught You about College Teaching.

Review :
Gooblar…takes readers on an insightful journey down the road of realignment as he addresses better teaching through the art of equitable pedagogy in the college classroom. The structures and practices of higher education have been largely unchanged for at least a century. But the students entering have become more varied, and they are often ill-served by the status quo. Do we just keep blaming the students? David Gooblar offers a resounding no. In this timely book, Gooblar provides practical ways to improve learning and a sense of belonging for everyone. If you follow even half the suggestions here, your classes will be more effective and enjoyable, for the instructor and the students alike. In our current moment, all too many colleges and universities are running away from ‘DEI’ work, as if diversity were not an empirical reality and equity and inclusion not ethical imperatives in higher education. Thankfully, David Gooblar has written a vital intervention, urging a return to the foundational principles of meaningful teaching and learning. One Classroom at a Time offers a wealth of ways, from specific strategies to overall mindsets, for us to shape a more just and sustainable future. This energizing and important work should find its way to every teacher’s bookshelf. As David Gooblar notes, the histories that accompany many students as they enter the classroom act like scar tissue—the remnants of active wounds. Unless we are aware of and tend to those scars, we risk perpetuating the harm. One Classroom at a Time engagingly provides both research-driven arguments for transforming instructional practices and hands-on, pragmatic suggestions for ways to go about effecting that transformation. At a time when there are serious threats to the ability of institutions to serve diverse populations, David Gooblar reminds us that there are no insurmountable barriers to the work of teaching the students who come before us in our classrooms. Helping students learn, regardless of their prior experience, is the work we are all called to do.