Instructors are responsible for creating safe and inclusive classrooms. This responsibility requires careful consideration of multiple factors, including the syllabus, course content, class preparation, their own classroom behavior, and their knowledge of students’ backgrounds. The resources in this section provide concrete strategies to address these factors and improve the learning climate for all students.
- GS767: College Teaching, Diverse Learners and Contentious Issues
Taught in The Graduate School's Certificate in College Teaching program, this course prepares PhD students to employ a wide-range of approaches, techniques, and pedagogical practices that speak to the diversity of learners in the university classroom; to learn about current issues surrounding diversity and contentious issues in the classroom; and, to explore the possibilities and limitations of engaging diversity.
- Creating Inclusive College Classrooms
Published by the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching at the University of Michigan. This article addresses five aspects that have a crucial influence on the inclusivity of a classroom: 1) the course content; 2) the teacher’s prior assumptions and awareness of potential multicultural issues in classroom situations; 3) planning of class sessions, including the ways students are grouped for learning; 4) the teacher’s knowledge about the diverse backgrounds of students; 5) the teacher’s decisions, comments, and behaviors during the process of teaching.
- Teaching for Inclusion: Diversity in the College Classroom
This book by the Center for Teaching and Learning staff at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill presents a broad variety of teaching strategies to foster a diverse classroom, and also includes student evaluations and comments provided by individuals from diverse backgrounds.
- Teaching in Racially Diverse College Classrooms
A “Tip Sheet” by the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning at Harvard University, which provides helpful suggestions for instructors as to how to best prepare for a multicultural classroom.
- Incorporating Diversity into a Course
A short overview from the Cornell University Center for Teaching Excellence that provides a set of questions to guide instructors toward inclusive curriculum design.