11.469 Urban Sociology in Theory and Practice comprised students from MIT and from the Boston University Metropolitan College Prison Education Program, and took place at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution in Norfolk. In this section, Justin Steil and Aditi Mehta share their insights about creating and sustaining a collaborative classroom environment.
"The course attracted socially aware and empathetic individuals from both institutions, making a discussion-based, collaborative learning environment particularly rewarding."
A focus in designing this course was integrating the two groups of students, and creating a space in which everyone felt that they had something to contribute and to learn. The course attracted socially aware and empathetic individuals from both institutions, making a discussion-based, collaborative learning environment particularly rewarding. On the first day of class, several of the incarcerated participants emphasized their concern that the MIT students would see them only as prisoners and not as fellow students. There was a need to establish trust among the class based on an appreciation of each student as an individual. As instructors, we worked to create an environment in which everyone felt safe to express themselves.
We began the first class by distributing two sets of twelve photographs to the MIT students and BU students. Each MIT student partnered with a BU student that received the matching image. We then asked the pairs to scrutinize their pictures together, identify social processes at work, and report back to their classmates. The various photos represented different themes that we were to cover throughout the semester, including the societal implications of industrialization and deindustrialization; the dynamics of urban political power; drivers of urban inequality; and racial, ethnic, and gender identities; among others. The images broke the ice; they served as a starting point for conversation between strangers. The activity helped cross-institution relationships form quickly, and those initial partnerships lasted throughout the entire semester.
Several of the assignments throughout the semester involved MIT and BU student collaboration. For example, each week an MIT student and BU student would present the assigned readings to the class, connect them to a current event, and lead a brief discussion. Since MIT and BU students could not communicate between meetings, these presentations were prepared weeks in advance during the classroom breaks, building rapport among the two groups.
During class discussions, we tried to remain cognizant of participation. Particular topics sometimes inspired more commentary from one set of students or another. When we observed an unevenness in conversations, we would intentionally try to tease out opinions from those who were quieter.
The real turning point in class discussions occurred mid-semester when we asked students to submit a reflection paper about the course. The prompt was:
How, if at all, has your understanding of inequality changed thus far through the course? How, if at all, has this learning environment enhanced your understanding of key sociological readings? Please draw on the readings and your class lecture notes as you write this essay.
The students gave us permission to pull excepts from their papers and we designed a lecture around the collected thoughts. This format allowed us to have raw and deeply personal discussions about the experience. For the first time, the class was explicit about the extreme differences in opportunity between the two groups and how that affects individual lives. Many of the BU students then felt compelled to talk more about their experiences in prison as they related to the urban sociology topics of the class. This marked a shift from the beginning of the course when BU students sought to leave behind their identity as prisoners in the classroom.
