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Creating a Welcoming Learning Environment

Written by tlc

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Create Inclusive Learning Environments

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First Published:
June 3, 2025

 

Creating a welcoming classroom climate supports motivation, focus, and student participation. Research across higher education and the health sciences shows that students are more likely to engage and persist when the learning environment includes respectful relationships, clear expectations, and visible support structures. Faculty also report greater satisfaction and teaching effectiveness in environments where students are connected, responsive, and able to interact openly with their instructors and peers.

These environments are shaped through intentional planning, small routines, and ongoing reflection. In health sciences education, where learners often navigate high-stakes content and demanding environments, a welcoming classroom can be the foundation for both academic success and professional development.

  
Use the comments section below to let us know your ideas about creating a welcoming learning environment.

  • Strengthens engagement and motivation: Students who experience a welcoming learning climate are more likely to participate, ask questions, and engage in deeper learning tasks.

  • Improves Learning Outcomes in Health Professions: Interventions to enhance learning environments in health professions education have been shown to reduce burnout, support identity development, and improve collaboration.

    • Gruppen, L., Irby, D. M., Durning, S. J., & Maggio, L. A. (2018). Interventions designed to improve the learning environment in the health professions [Version 1] MedEdPublish, 7:211. https://doi.org/10.15694/mep.2018.0000211.1

  • Supports Institutional and Programmatic Goals: A welcoming climate improves academic persistence and aligns with institutional priorities for student success and workforce readiness.

  1. Set Expectations Early and Revisit Them: Use a syllabus, orientation activity, or classroom agreements to communicate expectations for communication, participation, and respect. Share what you are doing and why you are doing it with your learners to get student buy-in.

  2. Work proactively using a Universal Design for Learning approach: design course materials, activities, and assessments with flexibility from the start. Use UDL principles to provide multiple ways for students to access content, engage with material, and demonstrate learning. This anticipatory approach minimizes barriers and supports a broader range of learners without requiring one-size-fits-all solutions. Evaluate your course materials for accessibility.

  3. Build Opportunities for Interaction: encourage student engagement through pair-and-share, group problem-solving, or discussion protocols. These structures can help students ease into participation. Be mindful of some of the threats to learning and some of the proactive ways to address them.

  4. Connect with your students: Get to know your students by using icebreakers, anonymous surveys, and games. Using names also fosters a sense of connection. Consider tools like NameCoach to learn the correct pronunciation of your learner’s names.

  5. Organize your course to support students: create predictable routines (begin class with a consistent warm-up, end with a reflection prompt), or maintain a rhythm of reminders to provide structure and security. Incorporate Open Educational Resources (OERs) to reduce cost.

  6. Model Curiosity and Approachability: When instructors show enthusiasm and openness, students feel more comfortable sharing ideas and taking academic risks. Forster open discourse and communication.