Abstract
Inclusive teaching refers to pedagogical practices that support meaningful and accessible learning for students of all races, ethnicities, genders, socio-economic classes, sexualities, disability/ability statuses, religions, nationalities, ages, and military statuses. Teaching inclusively, in our view, entails leveraging the diverse strengths students and instructors bring to the classroom while recognizing how systems of power and privilege that play out in the classroom can be mitigated. This research takes at its starting point the following questions: How, if at all, are universities defining diversity presently and does this definition reflect reality? How successfully are universities facilitating conversations and policies of enhancing diversity in the classroom? More specifically, the focus here, how can instructional practices and curriculum design support educators in creating and consciously building course content for diverse student populations? To answer these questions, this research presents findings from a university wide student as well as faculty survey, proposes curriculum design innovations, and discusses institutional initiatives that consider teaching to diverse students as an integral part of curriculum design. As we argue in this article, inclusive teaching doesn’t occur automatically. It requires planning and promoting across a spectrum of teaching practices (from course design to assessment) with the aim of creating a learning environment that allows all students to engage, regardless of discipline and course content. In other words, there are methods of structuring inclusive education, that go beyond content and recognize that no education and learning is value free or that does not touch on the individual students perspectives and experiences.
Presenters
Jan LuedertAssociate Professor, Center for Curriculum and Instruction, City University of Seattle, Washington, United States Brittany Bing
Instructional Designer, Center for Curriculum and Instruction, City University of Seattle, Washington, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Designing Social Transformations
KEYWORDS
Diversity and Inclusion, Online Learning, Curriculum Design
