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Tip sheet for promoting inclusive learning

Note: the ideas below draw from the wisdom and experiences of numerous educators. They are offered as suggestions and invitations rather than as ‘rules to follow.’ Special thanks to colleagues at Middlebury College’s Center for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity, and the Center for Teaching, Research, and Learning for their contributions to this tip sheet.

  1. Strive for incremental changes and learning in your courses
  1. Consider establishing ground rules/ shared expectations/agreements with the class at the outset of a course. Document how the group wants to address hard interactions and awkward moments.
  1. Class Climate: across your courseintegrate and make explicit practices that demonstrate a commitment to value diversity and inclusiveness.
  1. Confirm that physical spaces, materials, equipment, and activities are accessible to all users.
  1. Consider having nameplates that can be used across the term of the course. Invite participants to call one another by the names they have offered. Preferred gender pronouns might also be included on the nameplates.
  1. Creating multiple opportunities for people to introduce themselves to other members of the class may help promote community and learning connections
  1. Encourage regular interaction between professor(s) and students, and among students.
  1. Provide printed materials early. As much as possible, provide printed materials in electronic format.
  1. Offer visual descriptions and interpretations of visual materials (such as photographs, maps, graphs, and illustrations)
  1. Mistakes will happen. This comes with risk taking. Learn from these and continue to grow.
  1. Ask for clarification or reframing of an idea or question offered rather than assume the full meaning or motivation of an expression; encourage others to do the same.
  2. Example: “I’m sorry, I’m not sure what you mean by [the term/reference/idea expressed]. Can you explain that?
  1. Example: “I’m not sure I’m following that point/idea/question. Can you say more?”
  1. Work with silence: space doesn’t always need to be filled with talking and silence sometimes may allow others to process more deeply and then contribute ideas.
  1. Try not to speak when your back is to the room (such as when you’re writing on a board). Model face-to-face communication.
  1. Make sure sources are in widely accessible formats
  2. Example: Films have captions; audio files have transcripts; websites and digital documents—like PDFs—comply with universal design principles
  1. Provide an explicit moment for students/audience members to examine a visual source before you begin talking about it (this includes text on PowerPoint slides, and images accompanying presentations/lectures/discussions).
  1. Separate the person from the issue or the statement: address and engage critically with the issues or ideas expressed rather than critique the human being who expressed the idea.
  1. Invite others to share alternate perspectives
  2. Note: Avoid calling on a specific student because of their perceived or actual identities. Resist assuming that someone is an expert on a subject because of their perceived or actual identities.
  1. Be honest: if you don’t know about something, don’t try to bluff.
  1. Welcome the expertise of others in the classroom
  1. Consider ways to gather feedback and assessment from students (on accessibility, engagement with issues of diversity, and inclusion)
  1. Consider and clarify terms you use.
  2. Example: words like ‘we’ suggest a universal experience but often silence or dismiss people who have different experiences/values/viewpoints.
  1. Example: define key vocabulary, mathematical expressions, and symbols, and consider alternate ways representations of the terms/concepts/symbols (such as images rather than text, or different words to complement symbols).
  1. Share how your own understandings and engagements with the issue(s) under consideration has/is evolving and the work you’ve done to come to this place of understanding.
  1. Assess the value and relevance of materials, including complementary visual aids; consider removing unnecessary or distracting components, saving time to engage more fully with the priority sources and topics.
  1. Model flexibility in teaching approaches, assessment, assignments, and interactions.
  2. Example: if the group is engaged in difficult conversation, don’t stop them. Sometimes this may be a more meaningful learning experience than the activities you had planned.
  1. Consider alternate ways knowledge can be conveyed [by you and by students]
  1. Attend to the pace of communication: rushing through information can create learning barriers.
  1. Keep a tips/reflection journal. Often great ideas for responses to awkward moments occur after that moment has passed. Document the idea—you might be able to use it next time.
  1. Examine your curricula and look for opportunities to integrate more diverse topics, scholars, and/or activities that encourage thoughtful engagement.
  1. Exchange ideas with colleagues from this workshop and across your college—keep the learning interactive and sustained.