S5 E38: Creating Human-Centered Classrooms

In this inspiring episode about humanizing higher education classrooms, host Rachel Yoho speaks with George Mason University English instructor Eric Auld and Xiaoyu Gao (former instructor with George Mason's English department at time of recording) about practical, research-informed strategies for building authentic connections with students across modalities—from asynchronous online courses to face-to-face composition classrooms. Our guests share concrete activities they use in their own classrooms to build a conducive classroom culture, discuss the value of appropriate instructor vulnerability in fostering student trust, and explore how humanizing teaching can address contemporary challenges like AI in student writing and faculty mental health. Whether you teach required first-year composition courses or upper-level seminars, you'll discover actionable approaches to create learning environments where students see writing as process over product, develop their authentic voice, and feel genuinely supported. This conversation offers fresh perspectives on transforming mandatory courses from perceived obstacles into engaging experiences while reminding us that sustainable teaching requires putting on our own oxygen masks first—a timely message for faculty navigating the complexities of modern higher education.

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Rachel 0:08

Hello, and welcome to the Keystone Concepts in Teaching podcast. I'm your host, Rachel Yoho, and I'm very excited to be joined by two guests for this episode today. So I will let our guests introduce themselves.

Eric 0:22

My name is Eric Auld. I am an instructor in the Composition program in the English department at, George Mason University, and I have been teaching here since 2019.

Xiaoyu 0:34

Hello, everyone. I'm Xiaoyu. I'm also from the English Department. I teach both fully in-person courses and online synchronized courses. I focus on especially first years composition courses and some literature courses.

Rachel 0:50

Yeah, sounds great. Thank you both so much for joining us. So as we get started, I appreciate your brief introductions there, but let's talk a little bit more about the types of courses you teach and the modalities

Eric 1:03

Well, I primarily teach English 302, which is Advanced Composition. Now, this is for junior-ish level students who have some of their major courses already under their belt. So unlike English 101, where you come in and you are a freshman and you don't have much college experience under your belt, here you've explored some topics within your major. And so you have an idea of issues that you're interested in and topics you might be interested in exploring, and it's a research-heavy course. So you pick an issue, and you study it throughout the whole semester. So students have the ability to pick issues that they are most interested in within their major. So that gives them a bit of an advantage and, you know, coming in. And so they actually can look at something that they wanna study. It's not like they get assigned a topic and then they are forced to be stuck with that topic. They can pick it from the very beginning. And so the course is very research-heavy, but it's supposed to be a mainly critical thinking kind of course about research, about writing, about how they approach academic and non-academic inquiry within their fields. But primarily, it's centered around their own majors and how they're going to explore the rest of their college careers in that major as well as beyond in their professional careers

Rachel 2:37

Yeah, that's great.

Xiaoyu 2:38

My signature course i- English 101. I've been teaching English 101 for the past few years, and I have been working with all those freshman students. They're all fresh and bring in different perspective. And it is a mandatory course that everybody needs to take. But in this course, we are trying to build the most basic research skill and writing skill that they will carry for the rest of their academic or personal career.

Rachel 3:10

Yeah, excellent. So when we were talking about planning this episode, we wanted to talk about how we create a more open and honest sort of environment in teaching. And I think we have two great perspectives here with the levels and especially the type of courses that you each teach, you know, having that a little bit more ownership or having that a little bit more required sort of introductory level type of course. So to get us started, what does this mean to you? How do we create that more open and honest sort of environment in teaching?

Eric 3:45

Well, I think that a lot of times students go into the classroom, and especially for our courses which are mandatory, everybody at the university has to take them, there's a bit of a stigma with these courses that, you know, these are just required. It's a waste of time. I gotta come in, and I'm not really gonna learn anything. And so there's already kind of a bias against English 101 and English 302. And so I think creating this open and honest environment involves welcoming students in, and creating a place where students feel comfortable talking to instructors. A place where they feel like their instructor is actually a human being because they might see the instructor as this kind of gatekeeper to a grade that they have to get in order to move on. Kind of like the troll at the bridge, you know? They have to get the A, and they have to move on, but this is the obstacle that's in their way. We don't want them to think of it like that. We want them to realize that we are here. We are human beings just like you, and we are here to guide you. We're not here to be authoritative or punitive in any kind of way. We just want to share our knowledge with you and help guide you along the way so that you can leave the course and become successful both in your academic and professional career. So it's really about portraying ourselves as human beings, as opposed to authority figures

Xiaoyu 5:24

Mm-hmm. I completely agree with Eric. I feel like personally building that human connection is one of my core values. So it's essential at the very beginning of the semester to, like, build an open space where the students feel like they can express themselves and we can nurture the mutual trust and respect in the classroom

Rachel 5:49

Yeah, these are great, and these are certainly great goals to have not only in required courses, but in all courses, right? And across all different modalities. So, you know, we have a little bit of the abstract conversation, you know, some of our goals, some of the things that we want, that we try to build. So as a bit of a follow-up, how do you work to enact these types of goals in teaching? Like, what does the more of the logistical space look like, or what would you perhaps recommend from your own experience to some of our listeners?

Eric 6:22

Well, for the asynchronous courses that I teach, I think adding that human element is especially important because students are mostly behind a screen, and the only interaction that we get are students coming to office hours, which is, you know, not anything that's required. It's totally optional. So we do get a little bit of connection, but even then it's still over Zoom. So I think presenting yourself any way, presenting your face, creating videos, in any way that you can, and showing a bit of your personality as well. So for example, I have a bird, my cockatiel Figgy. I include him in videos sometimes. I have a little perch for him, and I'll You know, he'll be there, like, tweeting along as I am talking about the week's assignments or the goals for the week, the topics. And I usually get positive feedback saying, "Oh, I I love Figgy, and he's so charming," while still not distracting from the actual lessons of the course. And I think this helps people actually see, okay, well, this is, you know, if not fun, this is engaging in a way, and this is some course that maybe I didn't wanna take, but at least he's making it somewhat enjoyable. And I can see this guy as a human being. You know, not just somebody who is going to tell me whether I'm writing correctly or incorrectly or whatnot. It's somebody who is here to be a coach, be a guide, even when I'm behind a screen

Xiaoyu 8:03

I completely agree with Eric's points, like portray yourself as a human. Having that human connection is very important. And as I mentioned earlier, I would recommend to build it as early as possible so you can set up the norm and expectation in the classroom. A concrete example from myself is that for the first class of the semester, instead of reviewing the syllabus, I do a creative writing warming up exercise with them. So they are going to draw their own little human figures on the paper and have some drawing over there. And there are four questions I ask them. So basically the first question is, what are their identities, both professional and personal? And then the second question is, what's a turning point in their life? And the third question is, what inspire you to choose your current major or academic path? And the fourth question is, what's been one of the hardest challenge you have to push through? So, at the same time as I have the question, I also share my answers to those question. So at the same time they can see, oh, what, who I am as an instructor. For this semester, I shared about my challenge as an instructor because my grandpa passed away in China in December, and I was not able to get back to his funeral, so I was pretty sad. It was a pretty hard time. And after they listen, they feel like, oh, okay, you can admit fear, and you are like a human figure over here, and we can admit we have fear or confusion. So through those moment, we build the connection over there, right? We are able to ask you question. We can express ourself- selves to you. So through this process, through this practice, our connection is built.

Rachel 10:16

That's great. Thank you so much for sharing. Thank you for sharing that, and I'm sorry for your loss.

Eric 10:21

Yeah. I'm sorry, Xiaoyu, for your loss. Going off of that, I think it helps students have empathy for us. 'Cause there's a lot of research out there about students and for example, mental health. But there's not a lot about instructors and mental health. And so what you were talking about, Xiaoyu, made me think of this semester or last semester, I had a bit of some mental health troubles, and I let my students know that without getting into too much detail. And I just shared with them that, you know, "This is something I feel like I should let you know. I'm having a bit of some mental health trouble right now, and if I take longer to get things back to you or, you know, if I have to change the schedule a little bit because of that, I just want you to be patient and understand." And I got so many positive responses back from students who said it's really refreshing to be able to talk about those openly and honestly with an instructor. And I do have to remind them I'm not, you know, I'm not a therapist or anything, but I am able to point them in the right direction, such as counseling and psychological services or the Student Support and Advocacy Center. So I think presenting these kinds of things to show our humanity can also help students talk about things themselves and seek out the help that they need, so we can be a resource for that as well

Xiaoyu 11:55

Mm-hmm. Definitely. Thank you, Eric. I also receive after this activity, I also receive students' feedback. They told me they appreciate me being so vulnerable and authentic to them. So yeah, definitely agree with your point

Rachel 12:11

Yeah, absolutely, and thank you, Eric, for sharing that as well. I think here we see some really concrete examples. I mean, obviously, you know, for instructors sharing what you're comfortable with sharing, of course. But even some of those first-day activities. We've talked in other episodes of the podcast about-- The first day doesn't have to be syllabus day. We don't have to have students going the first day, the first week, and every single class they're taking is, "Let's go over every section of the syllabus," because, well, they're probably not gonna remember it anyway, right? Are we gonna remember five different versions of the exact same type of document? So when we do that, having those types of really engaging activities, and we kind of talk about it in that start as you want to go on, basically. Start the course from that engaging space, and I think here you both are really modeling that start in the way that you're humanizing the course, and I think that's really impactful and valuable here, not only the abstract, but how you demonstrate that, and how we can think about many different ways that we can demonstrate that in our courses and across modalities as well. And so one of the things that we can also talk about, other than, I guess I should also mention, in our previous season, in season four, we did have an episode on faculty mental health and Eric, you made a great point about how that's often discussed for students and really not nearly as much for faculty. So that might be a good episode to check out as well. But as we're continuing our conversation, one of the things, especially when we're talking about writing or even especially as we're talking about asynchronous courses or really at this point any course across pretty much any discipline, what do we want to talk about? What are we thinking about in terms of the added layer and complexity that AI or artificial intelligence brings into teaching and sort of this conversation as well?

Eric 14:04

Well, yeah, in composition this is definitely a hot topic, at the moment. But you're right, Rachel, it is in pretty much any discipline right now. I think that actually creating this open and honest environment where you humanize yourself can help combat this unethical AI usage because students will hopefully, you know, or they might feel more comfortable coming to you and being honest. And so let's say a student is struggling, they will come to you and say, "You know, I'm struggling. I might need some more time on this assignment," rather than feeling the pressure of trying to submit the assignment on time and not talking to you, not reaching out. And so they have a deadline, they wanna reach it, they wanna do well, and so what do they do? They turn to AI and they get an assignment completed before the deadline. Whereas if you model yourself as a compassionate, understanding human being who also has troubles and goes through things, goes through negativities in life, you can approach that person and say, I know you'll understand this. I know you'll understand where I'm coming from, so maybe we can talk more about this," rather than just having AI do it for them.

Xiaoyu 15:30

Yeah, definitely. I think I'm feeling complicated about AI. So what AI has pushed me to think is, like, what do we actually value in student writing, right? If we only value a polished product, the AI can produce something that looks, quote-unquote, perfect, right? So however, it will be emotionally flat, and it has a lack of unique voice, right? So in classroom, especially in writing classroom, I feel like I've been thinking about how to cooperate with student to nurture their own voice through writing and build that writing process gradually to build into their own authentic voice. That is very important. And actually, this semester, I tried to integrate some AI comparing activity in my classroom. So I had them to first make a poster of their own to advertise their own final project. So they made their own version of that product. Then I asked them to use AI to make a AI version of their final project. So it has a lot of feedback. Many of them say, "Oh, AI know how to use those visuals, make it more attractive." But at the same time, after we look over everybody's project, they find out there are a lot of similarities among the AI making product. Like, they seem perfect, they seem visually appealing. However, it seems like there is a lacking of unique voice. They are not very human over there. Yeah.

Rachel 17:25

These are great points, and I think, you know, in some of our other episodes, we've talked a little bit about writing as well. And here I think it kind of comes back to writing as a process. Like you were talking about the final product, the polished product, the everyone's stuff kind of looks the same product. But as we talk about this, we're talking about the process. We're talking about writing is part of the thinking, and thinking is part of the writing as we do this, and I think you both are demonstrating that really well because there's a lot of that humanizing element there. It's not just what is the product, but it's about the person who created the product and the story they're telling, even if it's not a story, right? No matter what type of product they create. And it just reminds me of some of the local DC radio stations have a little tagline in some of their stuff of "guaranteed human." Maybe I, I guess the point is maybe that it's not just AI selecting all the songs or something like that. But it does make me think about what this means, and I think this is really our point here, is that this is happening across different areas. Or I guess that's my point with that mention of the radio stations, is that this is happening across all different areas of where are the human elements and where are the value adds, and I think you both are really demonstrating that really well. And so, some of the things that we've discussed have been creating a classroom culture and how we construct that student-instructor relationship and hopefully see each other on both sides as real people. So as we do that, any other thoughts or any other insights that you would like to share that we haven't discussed so far?

Eric 19:04

I just wanted to add onto what you were talking about the process and the product. One thing I really enjoy about our program here at GMU is we really do emphasize process over product, and I think that does help with... You know, process is very human in itself because we're constantly evolving and constantly trying to improve, and I think that is more important than creating something perfect. And so students tend to worry especially students who don't consider themselves great writers. I always have students come in and they say, "Oh, I stink at writing." And I say, "I doubt that's true." So creating a process over a product is pretty humanizing in itself. Instead of students coming in and saying that I need to create the perfect product in order to get an A, if we show them that they can get that grade in a way that's process-based, then they will not be as inclined to use AI to create that kind of product or that perfect product. So it's more about improving, and really that's something that as human beings I think is beneficial in general, not just in academia. But we all wanna be better people, right?

Rachel 20:28

Yeah, I think that's such a great point because especially students coming from certain disciplines, there are disciplines that there are generally classes where there are just right and wrong answers, and more product-oriented. But even in those fields, we have, well, how did you get there? What are the thought process and all that? And so even showing how we enact that in many different disciplines, you know, what the thought processes are, how do we build that, what goes into this, is not just everything is yes or no, right or wrong, I think is a great point there.

Xiaoyu 21:01

Mm-hmm. And my final note is it is important to build a connection in classroom with students, right? But one cannot draw from an empty well, so please take care of yourself, both mentally and physically, before you can give and nurture students.

Rachel 21:21

Yeah, absolutely.

Eric 21:23

Yeah, exactly. It's like the metaphor if you're on a plane and there's an emergency and the oxygen masks come down, you have to put the mask over yourself before you can take care of others. So maintaining your own well mental health and physical health and emotional health is really important. And if students see that you're taking care of it and that you're focused on that, maybe they'll start focusing on their own health and their own choices. And I think becoming a role model is really important

Xiaoyu 21:53

Mm-hmm.

Rachel 21:54

Absolutely. I think our producer, Kelly Chandler, who was guest host on our faculty mental health episode used that, you know, put your own mask on first as well. So I think that's a really great thing for us to be thinking about. What does that look like personally? What does that look like in our department? What does that look like for our institutions? We can't support our students without supporting our faculty and our instructors across all different appointment types. So thank you so much to both of you for joining us. As we wrap up, I think our keystone concept here is obviously the humanizing element. How do we create those connections? How do we connect with students on the topics, connect our students to the topics that they might be thinking about, they might be writing about or exploring in our courses? And so we see that here. We have that in the added complexity of AI, but we also have that in just how do we interact with each other as people. You might often hear about the, for instance, like K12 students, children thinking that their teachers live in the schools, you know, things like that. We have elements of that even in higher education, right? That we're just the instructor, or especially in different modalities like asynchronous courses, that we're just a bot behind the screen or something like that. But we're creating those environments. We're humanizing the courses. We're creating learning environments where students explore and interact as well. So thank you both again so much for joining us. I really appreciate your time today.

Eric 23:17

Thank you for having us.

Xiaoyu 23:18

Yeah. Thank you, Rachel, for having us here.

Rachel 23:21

Yeah, absolutely. And so, please check out our episodes. We're posting every two weeks during the spring and fall semesters. And subscribe or listen on the website or your favorite podcast platform. So thank you so much.