As we strive to support the learning and success of all our students, we can serve our mission by reflecting on our courses and teaching practices, while learning new strategies for making our classes more inclusive. Today I’d like to share a few resources to support you in your work to make your classes inclusive and welcoming to all students.
The Association of Colleges and University Educators (ACUE) has created an Inclusive Teaching Practices Toolkit. I like ACUE’s training products because they are created by leading experts in the field and they offer practical and accessible practices you can use to improve your teaching today. This toolkit is organized around ten key practices, with a focus on diversity, building community, and accessibility.
The course syllabus is a key way that we communicate our values and classroom norms to students. The Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California has created an Equity-minded Syllabus Review Guide. This free resource guides faculty through an in-depth reflection on their syllabus to identify ways in which it promotes equity in education and ways in which it can be improved to better serve all students. The process is fairly quick and can lead to some good improvements in course syllabi for the fall.
The Center for Research on Learning and Teaching at the University of Michigan has created a helpful reflection activity that helps faculty to reflect on their teaching practices with reference to five principles of inclusive teaching: critical engagement of difference, academic belonging, transparency, structured interactions, and flexibility.
