My Blog

A 2022 Bestseller!

A 2022 Bestseller!

I am delighted to announce that What Inclusive Instructors Do (2021) was a 2022 Stylus Publishing bestseller! What an honor to disseminate our work broadly to instructors and educational developers across colleges, universities, and secondary schools. As noted in the book, “Being an inclusive educator 

Under Contract for Book 2!

Under Contract for Book 2!

I have brief update to share as we welcome in the new year! Our second book, tentatively titled, Advancing Inclusive Teaching, is now under contract with Stylus Publishing. The anticipated release date is 2024. This book will focus on the growth and development of inclusive 

Resource Packet: Measuring the Impact of Inclusive Teaching Efforts

Resource Packet: Measuring the Impact of Inclusive Teaching Efforts

During the 2022 Assessment Institute at IUPUI I presented the Faculty Development Track Keynote, “Inclusive Teaching: How Are We Measuring Impact?” 

To support instructors, department heads, and upper administration in their next steps after the Institute, I created the guidebook linked below as a companion resource to my talk. 

All are welcome to freely download and share this resource.

Measuring the Impact of Inclusive Teaching Efforts Resource Packet

 

Introducing The Inclusive Teaching Visualization Project!

Introducing The Inclusive Teaching Visualization Project!

As I’ve partnered with instructors on their efforts to make their learning experiences more equitable and welcoming, I’ve observed a clear need—more resources that visualize inclusive teaching practices and facilitate reflection on instruction. After a few years of deliberation, generous feedback from and the involvement 

The Role of Instructors in Student Mental Health:  What I Learned from a Student in Crisis

The Role of Instructors in Student Mental Health: What I Learned from a Student in Crisis

As an instructor I once had an experience where a learner taught me important lessons about student mental health. The situation occurred when I was least expecting it, as I was just about to begin teaching class in a lecture hall. I was reviewing my 

Mandatory Fail: How Course Grading Policies Can Exclude Learners

Mandatory Fail: How Course Grading Policies Can Exclude Learners

At one point in my life I took a class that had a mandatory fail policy. This meant that a line would be drawn below which certain cumulative grades would be designated as failing. Essentially, someone would fail. 

This policy was very challenging for me for many reasons. As a Black female it compounded the negative impacts of stereotype threat, the social stigma pressure I already felt to demonstrate my intelligence. The setup made it feel as if I was in competition with my peers and that my primary goal was to do better than them so that I would not be one of the “failures.” The focus of the class became less on learning and more on the actual grades received. The premise was that someone had to fail. What if everyone did relatively well? Did that mean that we could still fail with good grades? These were unknowns, and I did not want to risk finding out the answers too late. What were the goals of this policy, and how did they actually support the learning process? Unfortunately, none of this was communicated to the class so we were left to wonder. 

The mandatory fail policy threatened my sense of belonging in the class. I ultimately did not fail, but the experience turned me away from taking similar classes in a subject where I once felt very confident and had many achievements. Even if those future classes had different grading policies, it didn’t matter. The experience was not welcoming and had a profound and lasting impact on me as a learner. 

I share this personal story to highlight how the policies we create can impact our learners, and may have differential effects on students from groups that have been historically excluded in education. If we want to increase students’ sense of belonging and the diversity of our fields, we need to reevaluate our policies and ensure they are not, even if unintentionally, exclusionary. As I described on the Lecture Breakers podcast, undergoing the reflective process of asking “Which learners could be excluded?” when designing a course, an assignment, or using particular teaching practices can challenge us all to be more inclusive in our teaching. We may also benefit from asking this question in community with others who can help us identify any blindspots.

You’re Too Quiet: Why Student Engagement Is More Than Talking

You’re Too Quiet: Why Student Engagement Is More Than Talking

Those who interact with me on a regular basis would not likely call me a quiet person. However, earlier in my life, this was not the case. I was much quieter in many of my interactions as a student and as an early professional.   There 

Measuring Inclusion Efforts:  Tools for Assessment, Feedback, and Reflection

Measuring Inclusion Efforts: Tools for Assessment, Feedback, and Reflection

You might be interested in reflecting on or assessing your individual inclusive teaching efforts,  or have general questions about the climate of inclusion within your department or more broadly at your institution. You may want to know which tools already exist in the literature or 

The Elephant in the Room:  Tackling Personal Barriers to the Adoption of Inclusive Teaching

The Elephant in the Room: Tackling Personal Barriers to the Adoption of Inclusive Teaching

A variety of inclusive teaching resources exist including our book What Inclusive Instructors Do, but there is an elephant in the room. This elephant consists of the personal barriers that inhibit the adoption of inclusive teaching. In a study, my co-authors and I found that these barriers can include: lack of awareness, fear, unwillingness to change teaching practices, not feeling responsible, and challenges with facilitating inclusive student-student interactions. These were not the only barriers described by study participants. They also reported a variety of institutional barriers. Here we’ll address the personal ones. Each of these obstacles on their own or in combination can potentially hinder an instructor’s utilization of inclusive teaching practices.

In my experiences I have found that: The adoption of inclusive instruction often involves: (1) becoming aware of the elephant in the room, the personal barriers, (2) making a commitment to modify teaching practices, and (3) trusting processes that unfold after teaching inclusively.

Let’s consider each barrier one by one, unpacking these findings. 

Lack of awareness 

In the study, we found that this barrier can take on two forms: (1) not being aware of types of teaching practices that are inclusive, or (2) not recognizing that existing practices utilized are exclusionary or inequitable. I continue to observe that instructors who are dissatisfied with their current instructional practices and are willing to learn more about inclusive teaching are in better positions to overcome these barriers. As a case example,  an instructor who had been teaching for many years acknowledged their shortcomings with inclusive teaching during a workshop. This vulnerable act of self-disclosure was commendable. The instructor was also very aware that there were many things they did not know about being inclusive and were receptive to hearing recommendations from their colleagues newer to teaching. While I cannot speak as to whether this instructor moved forward on implementing inclusive teaching approaches following the workshop, what was clear was that they acknowledged the elephant in the room, sought to increase their awareness, and were open to change. For many, COVID-19 has revealed the need to teach inclusively given that inequities although there previously, have become more visible. Now is the ideal time to hold onto what has been learned and keep inclusion embedded within all future instruction. 

Fear

Instructors have shared feelings of guilt about something they could have done better while teaching because they care deeply about students. I have seen that being fearful in an anticipatory way can inhibit the adoption of inclusive teaching by holding instructors to a standstill. Reallocating this energy into a positive direction, not expecting perfectionism, and espousing a growth mindset has helped many move forward in their inclusive teaching efforts.  Also, taking small steps can be transformative, such as changing one thing in a course to advance inclusion, as well as informally observing the teaching of trusted colleagues who implement inclusive practices in their classes. There is no denying that we will likely make some mistakes, and we need to remind ourselves that we are not perfect and can always seek to do better. We are always growing as inclusive instructors.  

Unwillingness to change teaching practices 

For instructors who feel that their teaching practices are just fine or are not open to change, an important question to ask is what evidence they have that their instruction is working? For example, is it working for a diversity of learners? Reflection is critical here because sometimes we don’t know what we don’t know. Similar to above, implementing small changes in teaching practices has the potential to challenge these assumptions and lead to changes in mindset. 

Not wanting to take responsibility 

Another barrier we uncovered is around responsibility, particularly that the work of equity and inclusion is assumed to be housed in certain spaces that exclude learning environments. Yet, when I speak with students they express the significance of their instructors fostering welcoming environments in the classroom and the many positive impacts of such actions. The instructor can play a key role in promoting an inclusive environment in a course. 

Challenges with promoting inclusion in student-student interactions 

Often instructors acknowledge that they find inclusivity in student-student interactions difficult to navigate. The good news is that instructors need not have all of the answers here. I have seen so much good come from instructors co-creating classroom guidelines with their students early in the course to set the tone for inclusivity.  There are a number of other strategies for fostering welcoming environments described in our book. 

Reflecting on these barriers, what if we shift to asking the following questions?

  • Lack of awareness:  What steps can I take to learn more about inclusive teaching approaches and the diversity of my students?

 

  • Fear: How can I take risks in my teaching to advance equity and inclusion in the classroom? 

 

  • Unwillingness to change teaching practices: What different approaches can I try that have the potential to improve the inclusivity of my classroom? 

 

  • Not wanting to take responsibility: Do I hold any assumptions about my responsibility as an instructor to foster an inclusive environment?  If so, are these assumptions valid?

 

  • Challenges with promoting inclusion in student-student interactions: How can I partner with students to co-create inclusivity guidelines that we can all abide by as members of a learning community? 

 

There is an elephant in the room that needs to be addressed. Personal barriers need not to hinder us from building more inclusive classrooms.

 

Reference 

Addy, T.M., Reeves, P.M., Dube, D., Mitchell, K.A. (2021). What Really Matters for Instructors Implementing Equitable and Inclusive Teaching Approaches. To Improve the Academy, 40(1). DOI: https://doi.org/10.3998/tia.182

A Message of Encouragement to Educational Developer Colleagues: You’re an Anchor

A Message of Encouragement to Educational Developer Colleagues: You’re an Anchor

Like a drive in an unknown territory that has multiple detours, this season of higher education has involved taking different paths for the sake of academic continuity. One group of support staff playing an important role in these efforts is educational developers. As a fellow