By Kaori Hirano
Enhancing Inclusive Instruction centers student opinions in making the classroom more inclusive. Over 300 students were surveyed from a variety of backgrounds and school types to make their final recommendations. The full book is available online for free, if you want to read it yourself. Otherwise, here are some of the key points of chapter 2, which focuses on inclusive course design, pulled directly from the book!
- Maximizes student engagement
- The first assignment should allow for high engagement and require little new content knowledge. This helps boost student confidence and motivation from the very beginning.
- Peer teaching and peer review can actively engage students with each other and the learning process. Working with peers also builds communication, critical-thinking, and collaboration skills.
- Group work provides further opportunities for building teamwork skills. It’s important to ensure students are rotating roles to create equal distributions of work. Ensuring adequate support for students’ varying needs by setting clear group work guidelines from the beginning is also a key part of using group work for inclusive learning.
- Course content respects student time
- Self-pacing allows students to work at their own pace to reach a suggested and final deadline with lower levels of anxiety. Having multiple attempts at assignments also removes the pressure to have something perfect on the first try. Flexible deadlines help strengthen students’ views of their academic abilities and intellectual capabilities as they are more in control of their learning.
- Building in brain breaks, which are short pauses in activity, improves learning and attention. Breaks may be movement focused, like stretching or yoga, or mentally based, like mindfulness or playing a game.
- Clear structure for success
- An inclusive syllabus is learning-focused, organized around big questions and themes, integrates Universal Design for Learning, uses inclusive and motivating language, contains supportive course policies, and embeds accessible design.
- Personalization
- Individual student choice is centered in inclusive classrooms. All students are supported when considering individual needs. This may look like offering agency or choice in assignments. Increasing personalized learning opportunities allows students to take ownership of their learning rather than focusing on professor-prescribed goals and methods.
- Awareness of student needs comes in many forms. It may include statements about why a student may be unable to attend class, participate in the learning environment, or complete assignments for various reasons, such as religious observances, disability, or mental health. Being proactively aware of student needs empowers students to not choose between their school life and respecting other parts of their identities.
- Encourages student feedback
- Regularly seeking student feedback to ensure the course remains responsive to and supportive of their learning. Feedback leads to a more inclusive classroom when making changes in the current classroom and future classrooms.
- Diverse materials with real-world relevance
- The inclusion of scholars from a variety of backgrounds and perspectives allows historically underrepresented students to feel more included in the course. It is important that many communities and identities, those visible like race and invisible like disability, are included as academic works that contain value and can be critiqued.
- Students also benefit from diverse forms of instruction and assignments. Having variety in assessments can support deeper engagement with the material. Students can apply their learning to topics relevant to their current interests and future careers. Connecting learning to the real-world through applied problem sets or encouraging reflection about course content’s effects in real life increases students’ ability to transfer knowledge beyond the classroom.
- Course format
- Adaptability to in-person, hybrid, and online formats accommodates student preferences and logistical challenges. Learning outcomes in any format can be maximized when the instructor is aware of the strengths and weaknesses of their teaching method. More experimentation with flexible hybrid models may remove barriers for students with transportation needs or disabilities that make it difficult to get to class.