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Inclusive Pedagogy

Inclusive pedagogy courses offered by the Office for Inclusive Strategy and Excellence

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.

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 to treat our students fairly, but students are not all the same. This online course, comprised of a series of micro-learning sessions, explores how students' unique circumstances matter in the classroom. Through nine mini-modules using case studies, short readings and information on campus resources, participants discover best practices that accommodate the variety of student experiences and circumstances to include first generation college, veteran status, and food insecurity, and how to bring all students into community. 

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.

Enroll in courses at the Professional Development Network site. Choose “Inclusive Practices” from the Topics menu for a list of relevant courses.

This handout, Preparing for the First Week of Class, offers recommendations for writing and using community guidelines and including statements of welcome, safety, and inclusion in the syllabus.

 

Learn more about the Inclusive Excellence in STEM initiative supported by a Howard Hughes Medical Institute grant.