As a tenure-track Early Childhood Education faculty member at Western Oregon University (WOU), I served a largely non-traditional and underrepresented population of students. My early childhood teacher education students were largely transfer students, first-gen, bilingual, student-parents, working adults, and experienced teachers. Together with the Early Childhood faculty team at WOU, we served this population of students through a variety of supportive strategies including:
- hybrid and online coursework that could be taken around their work day, including Saturday classes
- intensive advising, especially front-end when evaluating and aligning transfer coursework
- cohort models to support the teaming and social aspect of learning
- video sharing of their classroom teaching, providing peer feedback through micro-teaching
- Practicum Seminar using a peer-supported problem-solving process
- Student teaching in one's own classroom
We also worked together to develop additional programs to support non-traditional students focused on early childhood, eventually leading to a variety of academic programs:
- BS in Early Childhood Studies (non-licensure)
- BAS in Early Childhood Studies (an upside down degree)
- M.S.Ed. in Early Childhood Education
- Early Childhood Minor
- Early Childhood Certificate (leading to license Specialization)
- Infant and Toddler Certificate
