Creating and Sustaining a Culture of Inclusion in the Classroom, Department and University

Presentation Transcript

9th Annual Niagara University International Conference on Teaching and Learning

Plenary Session I

Dr. Mathew L. Ouellett

January 13, 2010

Niagara University, January 2010

Where I’m from…

Respond to the following four sentence stems;

I am from (familiar physical items – sights, sounds, smells, feels, geography)
I am from (familiar foods)
I am from (familiar sayings)
I am from (familiar people)

Niagara Univeristy, January 2010

Transformative Learning

Helps students see gaps / limitations in current knowledge / perspective
Opportunities to explore / articulate underlying assumptions
Opportunities for critical self-reflection
Critical disclosure with peers and instructor to explore alternative ideas and approaches
Experience(s) testing / applying new perspectives

Brief Write

What differences have you noticed in your students’ cultural and individual learning styles, communication and interaction styles?

Interdisciplinary Approaches to

Inclusive Teaching

When core content (cognitive) and process (affective) goals are diversity related, effective teachers:

Disclose attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors
Create a climate of trust and no defensiveness, so that participants can examine and change/grow
Provide students with conceptual organizers, models, and frameworks that encourage self-reflection and analysis
Design opportunities to try out and practice new patterns of thought and behavior via experimentation, practice, and application.

Adams, M.,& Love. B. (2005 ). Teaching with a Social Justice Perspective: A Model for Faculty Seminars across Academic Disciplines In M. Ouellett (Ed.) Teaching Inclusively: Essays on Course, Department and Institutional Diversity Initiatives. Stillwater, OK: New Forums Press.

Taking Stock

What is currently going well in your courses related to integrating intellectual and emotional engagement with controversial topics?
What are some of the current challenges in your courses related to integrating intellectual and emotional engagement with controversial topics?

Five Pedagogical Challenges

Balancing cognitive and emotional components of learning process
Acknowledging and supporting the personal, while illuminating the systemic
Attending to social relations within the classroom
Utilizing reflection and experience as tools for student-centered learning
Valuing awareness, personal growth, and change as outcomes of the learning process

Adams, M., & Love. B. (2005). Teaching with a Social Justice Perspective: A Model for Faculty Seminars across Academic Disciplines In M. Ouellett (Ed.) Teaching Inclusively: Essays on Course, Department and Institutional Diversity Initiatives. Stillwater, OK: New Forums Press.

3 Key Questions for Course Design

What do you want students to know?
What do you want students to be able to do?
What do you want students to value?

6 Dimensions of learning goals

Foundational knowledge
Application
Integration
Caring (to become engaged)
The human dimension (e.g., “real world” apps)
Learning how to learn - self reflection and assessment

Fink, L. D., & Fink, A. K. (2009). Designing Courses for Significant Learning: Voices of experience. New directions for teaching and learning, No. 119. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Sample diversity goals

Cultivating a respect for diverse perspectives
Developing an ability and willingness to work effectively in diverse groups
Have a heightened awareness of and sensitivity to … {gender, class, race issues}
Learn to identify and reject narrow / oppositional thinking that reduces issues to only two sides (right/wrong, us/them)
Learn to stay engaged in intergroup dialogues

Sample diversity goals

Cultivating a respect for diverse perspectives
Developing an ability and willingness to work effectively in diverse groups
Have a heightened awareness of and sensitivity to … {gender, class, race issues}
Learn to identify and reject narrow / oppositional thinking that reduces issues to only two sides (right/wrong, us/them)
Learn to stay engaged in intergroup dialogues

Attributes

Indentify specific, important learning goals for the assignment
Create a meaningful task or problem that corresponds to those goals
Balance the time/effort required of students with the priority of the goal (realistic & challenging)
Provide prompts (clear directions & expectations, models, checklists)

Habits of the mind

Ability to work independently
Set personal goals
Persevere
Organize
Be clear and accurate
Visualize
Be curious
Be open minded to new ideas

Cognitive

Demonstrate knowledge and understanding regarding the impact of culture on behavior
Understand the history and contributions of various cultural groups
Understand relationships among economics, power and oppression
Understand that different groups may have different perspectives on the same event.

Affective

Appreciate and value how one’s identity and heritage shape world view and perspective
Recognize their own and others’ biases and understand their impact
Develop a stronger self-identity, self concept, and sense of self-efficacy related to diversity issues
Adopt attitudes supportive of a democratic society

Kinesthetic (behavioral)

Engage in critical thinking, analysis, and problem-solving about social issues
Effectively participate in sustained intergroup dialogues
Effectively participate in sustained intragroup dialogues

Multicultural Course Design

Integration, not tokenism
Diverse perspectives
Clarity that these perspectives are worth studying (and why), not simply included because of identity
Placement – mindful that diversity topics are not last (this implies they are optional or additive)
Process is as important as content – and should be evaluated accordingly

Inclusive Strategies

Present information in at least 2 formats
Give students as many learning resources as possible (PPT slides, rubrics, models, scaffolds)
Provide background information (why is this topic important?)
Build in flexibility (graphic calendars, choices)
Go digital (website, electronic versions)
Less is better (highlight key ideas, models)

Teacher SelfAwareness

Pedagogy

CourseContent

StudentDiversity

Multicultural Course Design Model

Diversity and Learning

Marchesani, L., & Adams, M. (1992). Dynamics of diversity in the teaching-learning process: A faculty development model for analysis and action. In M. Adams (Ed.), Promoting diversity in the college classroom: Innovative responses for the curriculum, faculty, and institutions (Vol. 52, ). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Significant Learning Experiences

What are some of the Challenges?

Students’ prior knowledge

E.g., “common sense” beliefs that may be unjustified

Sometimes these moments are unplanned/unexpected ones

Inclusive Strategies

Present information in at least 2 formats
Give students as many learning resources as possible (PPT slides, rubrics, models, scaffolds)
Provide background information (why is this topic important?)
Build in flexibility (graphic calendars, choices)
Go digital (website, electronic versions)
Less is better (highlight key ideas, models)

Attributes, continued

Activities should prepare for and provide practice for assessments
Provide equitable opportunities and multiple modes of expression
Offer scaffolds (break out large, complex, high risk tasks into smaller, lower risk opportunities)

Inclusive Assessment Strategies

Build practice into assessments by moving from low to high stakes efforts
Break down large, high stakes projects into smaller components
Make models available
Create 2 or more assessment choices for students to choose from (presentations, papers, videos, case studies, photo essays, videos)

Inclusive Assessment Strategies

Involve students in building assessment strategies and rubrics
Alternate between “hard” and “soft” options:

Hard option: everyone does the same thing and pretty much provides the same answer
Soft option: students have latitude / choices to complete the assignment. Completed assignments may vary considerably according to their interests

Getting the Rubber to hit the Road…

Sample Activities

Pedagogical strategies

Exercises

Syllabus Review

Learning goals
State Expectations (civility, disabilities)

Process and Content will count

Activities / Assignments / Due dates
Resource Materials (texts, articles, videos, etc)
Assessment Processes are Explicit

Formative
summative

Further strategies…

Use a flow chart at the beginning of class (highlighting connections, flow and order)
Seek personal experiences of students with the subject / topic and then integrate those experiences into the course
Ask students to develop their own definitions of key topics, questions and abstracts
Use assistive technology (e.g., closed captioning)

Prior Knowledge Survey

Have never heard of this
Have heard of it, but never really knew what it meant
Have hear of it and could have explained it once, but not now
Can recall what I means and explain it in general terms, but cannot explain how it applies to broader concepts
Can recall what it means and can apply it

Houston, T. (2009). Teaching What You Don’t Know. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University.

Preparing students to engage

Encourage students to define their points of entry
Welcome diverse perspectives
Focus on civil dialogue, not consensus (Consider whether you really need to come to an agreement)
Model risk-taking
Value and reward growth and development

Discussion Preparation

Take a Stand Activity
Ask students to identify how they contribute to the dynamics of discussions
Assign a label to the 4 corners of the room

Talks a lot
Waits until I have something important to say
Mostly listens
Devil’s advocate – challenges / criticizes

Have students choose their corner & discuss

Houston, T. (2009). Teaching What You Don’t Know. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University.

10 – 7 – 5 : A Brief Writing Exercise

Identify ten critical choices you have made in your life that have shaped your attitude about race and racism.
List seven events that have affected the course of your life on the subjects of race and racism.
And, name five people who have profoundly affected the course of your life as you live in our racialized society and describe how.

Hot Moments

Build discussions around questions
Begin with low-risk opportunities and build toward high-risk ones.
Model asking for clarification in a non-judgmental manner
Normalize emotions in the classroom
Depersonalize controversial topics

Warren, L. Managing Hot Moments in the Classroom. Downloaded August 14, 2003 from from http://bokcenter.fas.harvard.edu/docs/hotmoments.html

Texts

Do the texts represent the contributions of diverse people to the discipline (e.g., women, People of Color, persons with disabilities, LGBT people)
Do the graphics, photographs and images present representative images?
Do the examples, applications, and illustrations to see if they extend to diverse communities, too?

Climate / Interaction

Office hours (1:1, dyad/triads, small groups)
Normalize help seeking behaviors
Help students to get to know each other by engaging them together in significant, meaningful tasks
Engage students

Personal questions (who are you?)
Motivation questions (prior and future interests?)
Experience questions (how is the class going?)

Further Resources

Adams, M., Bell, L., Griffin, P. (2007). Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice. New York: Routledge. (second edition)

Burgstahler, S., & Cory, R. (2008). Universal Design in Higher Education: From Principles to Practice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education.

Morey, A. & Kitano, M. K. (1997). Multicultural Course Transformation in Higher Education: A Broader Truth. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Ouellett, M. L. (Ed.) (2005). Teaching Inclusively: Resources for Course, Department & Institutional Change in Higher Education. Stillwater, OK: New Forums Press.

Suskie, L. (2004). Assessing Student Learning: A Common Sense guide. Bolton, MA: Anker.

The academy is not paradise. But learning is a place where paradise can be created. The classroom, with all its limitations, remains a location of possibility. In that field of possibility we have the opportunity to labor for freedom, to demand of ourselves and our comrades, an openness of mind and heart that allows us to face reality even as we collectively imagine ways to move beyond boundaries, to transgress. This is education as the practice of freedom.

Bell hooks, 1994