What Is Inclusive Teaching & Learning?

 

In this video, Andrew Dell'Antonio, Professor, Butler School of Music; Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies, College of Fine Arts Links to an external site., shares a little about his journey in thinking about what inclusivity means and how he might incorporate inclusive teaching and learning strategies into his courses. Inspired by conversations with and writings by his colleague, Julie Minich Links to an external site. (Associate Professor, Center for Mexican American Studies), Andrew advocates for and models a pedagogical humility—an honoring of the expertise students bring with them into the classroom. Read the essay Links to an external site. written by Julie that inspired Andrew to rethink how instructors can make changes to the way they teach without sacrificing learning outcomes and expectations.

In this introductory space, you will explore:

Speaking of Pedagogical Humility...

As the co-creators of this resource, we have two very important things to share with you:

  1. We are not experts on all of these things.
  2. You will not be an expert in all of these things simply by engaging with the materials presented here.

We share this with you because we know from our own experience that at some point or another (and especially when talking about inclusivity and diversity), we all feel like we cannot or should not speak up, or get involved, or take risks because we think that we don't know enough, that we might say the wrong thing, or that we might make a mistake and offend someone. In fact, when we queried individuals across campus to contribute to this Canvas resource on inclusive teaching and learning, we heard a lot of similar sentiments:

 

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If any of these sentiments resonate with you, you're not alone.

Here's the good news: no matter how much we learn about inclusive teaching and learning practices, we will say the wrong thing now and again, and we will offend someone at some point. Why is this good news?

Inclusive teaching and learning is process-oriented. As instructors, our end goal in learning about inclusive practices is not about "getting it right," but rather about developing and refining a mindset. Like the rhizome image on the home page of this Canvas course, there is no "one way" or "right way" into this conversation, and there is no "accepted blueprint" for how to "do" inclusive teaching. Rather, there are some recommended strategies to support you as you carve out your own path, and a collection of resources to offer guidance at any point along the way.

What Will I Find in this Resource on Inclusive Teaching & Learning?

In this space, you will find a proactive framework and recommended strategies informed by Universal Design for Learning, Culturally Responsive Teaching Links to an external site., and evidence-based effective teaching to help you develop your own framework for thinking about inclusive teaching and learning. This collection of resources and materials is the result of an ongoing collaboration between the Faculty Innovation Center Links to an external site., UT Campus Partners, UT instructors, and UT students. Many of our UT Partners have provided hours of labor in reviewing early iterations and providing feedback that has helped our own Center (and the people within) reflect on and grow our own understandings of inclusivity in higher education.

As you move through the modules, you will find an organizational format inspired by and adapted from materials Links to an external site. created by our colleagues at Columbia University's Center for Teaching and Learning Links to an external site.:

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Like the model above, we focus on proactive approaches to thinking about inclusive strategies in your course design and in how you foster interactions with and among your students. While we recognize that we cannot offer everything about inclusivity in this online space, we offer this space as a hub in which you can learn about what inclusive teaching and learning resources exist in the broader UT environment: from colleagues in your own department, to students, to staff, to workshops you can attend (more than once) to connect with folks who are committed to transforming the culture of higher education into an equitable one for all individuals.

As you move throughout our modules, you will find curated and created resources that offer

  • Recommended practices
  • Instructor, student, and staff voices
  • Interactive case studies and worksheets
  • UT-specific data on student demographics
  • An interactive map of UT workshops and resources
  • A space to collaborate and share readings, materials, and ideas

We encourage you to consult with the folks who inspired and collaborated with us. Learn about the workshops and resources available to you around campus. Check out the brilliant Guide to Inclusive Teaching at Columbia Links to an external site., which presents five guiding principles to help you know where to start or where to keep learning. Make a consicous effort to try a new inclusive strategy (or two or three!) each semester using the University of Michigan's Center for Research on Learning and Teaching's check-list Links to an external site.. And of course, let the Faculty Innovation Center Links to an external site. know if you'd like a custom workshop or consultation.

Where Do I Start? On Definitions and Introspection

There are a lot of definitions of inclusivity. As you move throughout this Canvas course, you will encounter a diverse array of definitions and explanations from instructors, students, and staff. We hope that this space will support you in finding, creating, or revising a definition that is meaningful to you and to the choices you make as an instructor. To get us started, consider this working definition:

Inclusive teaching and learning is a mindset, a way of thinking that asks you how best to create opportunities for all students to connect with you, the course material, and each other.

As our colleagues at the Georgetown University Teaching Commons Links to an external site. remind us, inclusive teaching and learning also argues "that the social identities of both student and teacher have a direct impact on the learning experience...self-awareness is therefore an important point of entry into inclusive pedagogical practice." To promote increased self-awareness about the social identities we bring into our classrooms as instructors, complete the Social Identity Wheel worksheet and then answer the questions below (activity adapted from LSA Inclusive Teaching Initiative, University of Michigan Links to an external site.). This activity helps you identify and reflect on your own social identities, and to think about which identities may be more or less visible to others in certain contexts (meaning you may be treated in different ways depending upon the visibility of your social identity in certain contexts).

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Once you've completed the wheel, consider these questions:

  • What part of your identity do you think people notice first about you?
  • What part of your identity are you most comfortable sharing with other people?
  • What part of your identity are you least comfortable sharing with other people?
  • What part of your identity do you see having the most effect on your interactions with students?
  • What part of students’ identities do you most often see effecting their interactions with you?
  • What part of your identity do you see having the most effect on your interactions with co-workers/peers?
  • How might the classroom create barriers for students with particular identities?
  • How might the university of Texas at Austin create barriers for students with particular identities?

 

Remember, this is a journey, and there's no "one way" to start and no perfect blueprint for mastery. As Parker Palmer notes:

"After three decades of trying to learn my craft, every class comes down to this: my students and I, face to face, engaged in an ancient and exacting exchange called education. The techniques I have mastered do not disappear, but neither do they suffice. Face to face with my students, only one resource is at my immediate command: my identity, my selfhood, my sense of this “I” who teaches—without which I have no sense of the “Thou” who learns. Here is a secret hidden in plain sight: good teaching cannot be reduced to technique; good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher. In every class I teach, my ability to connect with my students, and to connect them with the subject, depends less on the methods I use than on the degree to which I know and trust my selfhood—and am willing to make it available and vulnerable in the service of learning." (selection from The Courage to Teach Links to an external site.).