Communicating Difference Matters through Inclusive Pedagogy

1. Communicating Difference Matters through Inclusive Pedagogy Utah State University September 15, 2010 Brenda J. Allen Brenda.J.Allen@ucdenver.edu University of Colorado Denver

2. Goal Explore communication processes that facilitate and foster engaged, active learning among diverse students

3. Overview • Clarify concepts • Justify need • Outline strategies and techniques • Identify challenges and barriers • Explore next steps • Q&A

4. Communicating • Processes of sharing meaning • Verbal • Nonverbal • Various media • Varying contexts

5. Difference Matters

6. Differences that Matter • Gender • Race/ethnicity • Age • Social class • Religion • Ability • Sexual orientation • Nationality

7. Why Difference Matters • Population trends and projections • Social movements and activism • Hot topic • Potential for positive change

8. What is inclusion?

9. Inclusion Process of helping people feel like valued members of a group or community

10. Inclusive Classrooms . . .instructors and students create and sustain an environment where everyone feels safe, supported, and encouraged to express her or his views and concerns. Shari Saunders and Diana KardiaUniversity of Michigan Center for Research on Learning and Teaching

11. (Why) Does inclusive pedagogy matter?

12. Factors of Inclusion • Teaching philosophy • Faculty identities • Student identities • Knowledge of students • Classroom interaction • Assignments • Curriculum • Course content

13. Strategies for Communicating Inclusion • Engage in self reflexivity (see, for example, Harvard Implicit Association Tests https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/demo/takeatest.html) • Evaluate course content • Create and maintain a climate of inclusion

14. Evaluate Content • Whose voices, perspectives, and scholarship are being represented? • How are perspectives and experiences of various groups being represented?

15. Create an inclusive classroom climate • Establish guidelines for interacting • Maintain the role of facilitator • Monitor your nonverbal behaviors • Show respect for all students • Vary instructional techniques

16. The secret of education lies in respecting the pupil. Ralph Waldo Emerson

17. Challenges?

18. Recommendations for Faculty • Identify best practices • Identify, request, create, accrue, share RESOURCES • Work within your sphere of influence • Develop mutual mentoring relationships • Collaborate with teaching assistants to revise curriculum and pedagogy • Experiment with pedagogy • Be patient and persistent *Williams, D. (2008). Beyond the diversity crisis model: Developing a decentralized diversity planning and implementation process. Planning in Higher Education, 36 (2), 27-41.

19. Resources • Creating Inclusive College Classrooms University of Michigan http://www.crlt.umich.edu/gsis/P3_1.php • Multicultural Pavilion http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/ • Teaching for Inclusion UNC Chapel Hill http://cfe.unc.edu/pdfs/TeachforInclusion.pdf • Diversity and Complexity in the Classroom UC Berkeley http://teaching.berkeley.edu/bgd/diversity.html

20. Who dares to teach must never cease to learn. John Cotton Dana