Building Trust with Students Through Transparency

Words Matter, especially when it comes to students: Strategic communication is student success. In the world of higher education, strategic communication isn’t just a best practice, it’s a necessity. It is the connective tissue between departments, services, and most importantly students. The language we use in emails, on websites, in text messages, and even in hallway conversations can either build trust or create distance. When a student receives a message from their institution, they shouldn’t feel confused, anxious, or alone. They shouldn’t need a glossary to interpret it. They should feel seen, supported, and guided not processed. What this looks like in practice * Limiting acronyms and internal jargon that may be second nature to us but foreign to students * Replacing transactional tones with empathetic ones, especially in moments of stress such as financial aid holds, academic warnings, or appeals. * Anticipating where students might feel overwhelmed and proactively offering step by step guidance and reassurance. * Providing warm hand offs to real people, not just links, policies, or generic email addresses. * Offering solutions, even when the answer is “no.” It’s not just what we say; it’s how we assist students navigate next steps that matters. * And most importantly, communicating even the hardest messages with care, clarity, and respect. There is always a way to communicate with compassion. Even when the message involves denial, delay, or correction, we can lead with humanity. Students deserve transparency, but they also deserve encouragement, context, and direction. Every message is a moment of truth. A poorly worded financial aid notice, missed deadline reminder, or impersonal response can drive disconnection with the institution. But a thoughtful, student centered communication? That can change the entire trajectory of their experience. Strategic communication is student success. Let’s be intentional with our words, consistent with our support, and relentless in our mission to create welcoming, accessible, and responsive experiences for every student we serve.

Yesterday, a student in my class candidly shared with me some of their go-to AI resources. That openness was a big moment for me—not because of the tools themselves, but because it showed me that they felt comfortable enough to talk freely about how they’re using AI in their work. It’s a sign that the trust we’ve been building in the classroom is paying off. When students start sharing how they’re leveraging AI without hesitation, you know the atmosphere you’ve created supports real learning and growth. Trust is the cornerstone of effective AI integration. Here are five ways I’ve worked to cultivate that trust: Be Transparent About AI’s Role: I’m upfront about how AI fits into our learning goals. I set clear guidelines but also explain the reasoning behind them, so students see AI as a supportive tool, not a replacement for their thinking. Show Vulnerability: I let students know that I’m also figuring things out as we go. By being honest about the learning curve I’m experiencing, I encourage them to be open about their own challenges and discoveries. Encourage Real-Time Conversations: When students mention how they’ve used AI, I don’t just nod and move on—I dive in. We talk through what worked, what didn’t, and how they approached it. This normalizes AI use and turns it into a shared learning experience. Celebrate Their Process: Whether they successfully apply AI or run into challenges, I make sure to recognize their efforts. This reinforces that AI is a tool for growth and experimentation, not just a quick fix. Model Responsible AI Use: I regularly demonstrate how I incorporate AI in my own work. When students see me using AI thoughtfully, they’re more likely to adopt similar practices, knowing that the tools have a real, practical role in our classroom. In the end, trust allows AI to become more than just another tool—it becomes part of a larger dialogue about learning, creativity, and innovation. And when students trust the process, they engage with AI more confidently and effectively. Amanda Bickerstaff Aco Momcilovic Brian Schoch Christina B. 👨🏫🤖 "Dr. Greg" Loughnane Goutham Kurra Iulia Nandrea Mike Kentz Michael Spencer Milly Snelling Anna Mills David H.

My hot take for the day is that the best thing to do in response to genAI in the classroom has nothing to do with genAI. Instead, we should use any disruption to double down on building classroom communities full of trust and an embrace of the frictionful state of learning. 1. Learn students’ names: perhaps one of the highest ROI things you can do to create a foundation for community. 2. Foster metacognitive habits: help student reflect on what they're learning and how. You want to build independent, active learners instead of passive receivers of information. 3. Teach with transparency: don't hide the ball. Put your motivations and pedagogical decisions on the table. 4. Communicate explicit learning objectives: tell them the point of every assignment and what they're supposed to get out of it. 5. Make communication policies clear: tell them how to get a hold of you and set expectations for when they can expect a response. h/t to Robert Talbert for this one. 6. Create frameworks for feedback: help them understand how to give and receive feedback. I really like @kimballscott's framework of Radical Candor for this. 7. Double down on active learning: get them engage in the work of learning. This is fun and often looks a lot like play! Don't just talk at them but get them talking to you and to each other. 8. Encourage experimentation: iterative improvement and failure is the way. 9. Cultivate community: help them fully leverage the rich relational web that is in the background of every classroom. This is so often untapped. 10. Connect individually with each student: it might be challenging, but do your best to get to know each student as an individual person. Feeling like you're seen and that you belong matters. 11. Build shared responsibility for learning: teacher and student both have to bring something to the table for learning in the classroom to happen. Call this out explicitly and have a conversation about what everyone is bringing. 12. Get alongside students: try to avoid being in front all the time but get beside your students so that they see you are on their side and wanting them to succeed. 13. Model vulnerability: when you mess up, and you will, own it. Much easier for them to do it if they see it from you. 14. Reframe from "have to" to "get to": everybody has some level of agency in their choice to be in the classroom. Remind everyone of the opportunity and privilege it is to be in a classroom. 15. Trust your students: what if you gave your students the benefit of the doubt and trusted them until they gave you a reason to do otherwise. 16. Offer opportunities for failure and retries: learning happens when we try, fail, reflect, and try again. 17. Embrace friction: learning, like any worthwhile activity, is hard work. Instead of looking for a frictionless experience where we accomplish things without effort, encourage students to dig into the worthwhile challenge of learning something new and growing.