Inclusive Pedagogy

Bettina Love writes, “Antiracist teaching is not just about acknowledging that racism exists, but consciously committing to the struggle of fighting for racial justice” (p. 54, 2019). This session is for faculty, particularly White faculty, who want to deeply consider the impacts and dynamics of race in the classroom. The session lets us hear directly from students, gives an evidence-based overview of BIPOC student experiences, examines how well-meaning instructors bring racism into the classroom, and offers strategies for building racial literacy and teaching towards racial justice, regardless of your discipline.

Research shows that a positive classroom climate favorably impacts students’ persistence, channels energies toward learning, and engenders emotions that advance learning. One of the first steps toward creating a positive classroom climate is establishing community guidelines with your students. This session workshops the process of writing and communicating guidelines that foster community and accountability among students. 

By the end of the session participants will have a draft of community guidelines to add to a course syllabus.

Students’ beliefs about learning and intelligence influence their ability to persist in academic disciplines where they encounter difficulty. Students who view intelligence as innate, and failure as a threat to their identity are more likely to panic, give up, or cheat when the work is harder than anticipated. Students from groups stereotyped on the basis of social identity experience stress when asked to perform challenging tasks that converge with stereotypes about their group, and as a consequence, may underperform.  Professors can counter the effects of stereotype threat and a fixed view of intelligence by fostering a growth mindset.  A growth mindset affirms that intelligence is malleable, learning is effortful, and failure can prompt development. By the end of this session, participants will have proven strategies for reducing stereotype threat that can be implemented in their courses.

We want our students to grapple with challenging and controversial topics, but are we prepared to facilitate discussions when these topics evoke strong opinion and emotional response? 

By the end of this session participants will learn proactive strategies for creating classroom environments that foster dialogue. Participants will practice using tools that reduce tension, promote engagement, and develop critical communication skills.  Recommended prerequisite: Fostering an Inclusive Classroom Environment

This course was developed for First Year Experience faculty who want to engage their students in conversations about underrepresentation of traditionally marginalized populations in STEM disciplines. The course provides a curriculum for the conversations, including discussion questions, data, and videos of students sharing their experiences.

We want to treat our students equitably, but students are not all the same. This online course, comprised of a series of micro-learning sessions, explores how student identities matter in the classroom. Through nine mini-modules using case studies, short readings and information on campus resources, participants discover equitable practices that accommodate the diversity of student identities related to ability, socioeconomic status, veteran status, religion, and gender identity and expression. This course has sections for classroom instructors and academic advisors.

This year-long cohort course introduces participants to the core principles of inclusive pedagogy: facilitating respect and hospitality for all, creating an environment where everyone learns, and fostering cultural competence.  Part One guides participants through an inclusive teaching rubric with specific standards for measuring how inclusive one’s teaching may be. Participants use the rubric to assess their current efforts, as well as develop and implement a concrete plan of action to be implemented in the spring semester. Part Two engages participants in implementing their plan of action, which includes professional development experiences that build capacity for inclusive teaching, as well as a year-end self-assessment. Participants earn an Inclusive Excellence digital badge upon successful completion of the course.

The term, neurodiversity, widely attributed to the sociologist Judy Singer in the 1990s but more likely emerging from the online, self-advocacy movement of autistic people, refers to neurological differences —like autism, ADHD, or dyslexia—that should be normalized and respected in learners. This course introduces the concept in relation to the social model of disability and explores how we can go beyond accommodations to make the academic classroom more inclusive of and hospitable to neurodivergent learners.

Implicit bias is pervasive. We all carry biases rooted in assumptions formed over time, yet these biases may not align with our professed values of fairness and equity. We know that implicit bias has real-world effects. How then can we reduce its influence in our teaching, advising, and assessing of students? The session provides steps for managing / reducing implicit bias on both personal and organizational levels. Participants also have time to review their processes for assessing students and make revisions where needed in order to increase the potential for consistent and equitable interactions with all students

By the end of the session: Participants will have guidelines for reflecting upon and re-associating implicit biases they may bring to the classroom.