GAINING UNDERSTANDING OF CAPITAL DISPARITY IN THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE CLASSROOM FROM A FACULTY PERSPECTIVE THROUGH ACTION RESEARCH

• Main Author: Heflin, David J.
• Format: Others
• Published: UKnowledge 2015
• Subjects: action research; capital; community college; faculty; Education; Higher Education; Teacher Education and Professional Development
• Online Access: http://uknowledge.uky.edu/epe_etds/35; http://uknowledge.uky.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1037&context=epe_etds

Positioned between the engagement rich secondary school and the highly social four-year institution, the community college has limited opportunities to connect with students. If community colleges are to meet challenges of providing access to education for students who have traditionally been underserved by higher education, and hold up to new measures of accountability in graduating students, two-year institutions must recognize that faculty-student engagements occurring in the classroom are crucial. Perception and appreciation of student’s capital by faculty through purposeful engagements grounded in theory provide opportunity for understanding capital disparity that exists in the community college classroom. Active participation of experienced faculty in an action research study was conducted and identified potential gaps of student-faculty interactions in the classroom, determined best-practice methods for increasing student-faculty interactions, incorporated identified best-practices in the classroom, and reflected upon their efficacy in improved student engagement. Sharing lessons learned by participants in an action research process with other practitioners, holds promise to increase our understanding of faculty funds of knowledge in the community college setting as well as processes that can be employed to help bring up capital and level out disparity.