Culturally Responsive Teaching & Constructivist Learning Practices: a Post-Secondary Literacy Program’s Response to COVID-19

Abstract

This article identifies both the need for post-secondary developmental literacy programs in addition to long-standing, historical resistance to them. COVID-19, in the present, has arguably been the largest threat to this midwestern university's post-secondary literacy program, compelling it to make structural and pedagogical adjustments to support its racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse populations. With the purpose of making coursework immediately more relevant and applicable, the course was separated into meta-majors: the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and general studies. These authors discuss how these new courses paired literacy strategies and metacognitive techniques to improve student performance with coursework for classes within their major in real-time, with ongoing support of a literacy expert. The authors define specific culturally responsive teaching and constructivist learning practices they infused into their new course design and assignments.