Facilitate and Foster Connections Between Subject Matter, Prior Knowledge, and Students’ Lives

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As a result of facilitating connections between course subject matter and learners’ prior knowledge, students will feel empowered to form meaningful connections and transfer knowledge between course content and their diverse backgrounds. Through intentional instructional design, students can share and connect their past and future experiences and interests to specific learning outcomes.

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Specific Techniques

• Get to know learners’ interests and areas of expertise through surveys, reflective responses, or alternative methods
• Use a survey to ask students about their goals for the class and any prior experience with the content.
• Connect course content to real-world examples that are relevant to learners’ lives.
• Incorporate a variety of perspectives and voices within the curriculum based on what learners share.
• Integrate opportunities for learners to share their prior experiences and knowledge.
• Facilitate discussions on how learners’ personal experiences help them connect to the material.
• Develop assignments and activities that invite connections to learners’ experiences, communities, or personal contexts.
• Ask students to share their stories in small groups, listening sessions, or through written or video assignments.
• Create a space where students share what they hope to learn and how the content connects to their past, present, or future lives. The instructor should model this by sharing their own personal interests and career connections.
• Have students identify their top three values and share how those values support their success or how the class helps them live those values.

Overview

Facilitating connections between subject matter and learners’ prior knowledge is a DEI practice that helps students bridge course content with their diverse backgrounds. This approach meets learners where they are and allows them to build upon existing knowledge—the experiences that provide context for new information at the start of a topic.

While all learners benefit from this practice, it is especially impactful for those traditionally excluded from higher education. For example, first-generation students may not have had the same exposure to certain academic topics as their peers; providing opportunities to build these bridges is essential for their success (Hurtado, 2005).

How to Implement the Practice

Course Modality Considerations

Asynchronous

Synchronous