New resource will support inclusive teaching and learning
In response to discussions with students and instructors at McMaster, the MacPherson Institute and the Equity and Inclusion Office have launched a new resource to help foster more inclusive approaches in the classroom. The new Inclusive Teaching and Learning Resources website offers a variety of resources, links and tools that instructors can use to support building inclusive teaching and learning spaces.
“This resource page will provide educators with valuable support and strategies to create inclusive learning environments where students of all identities and backgrounds can thrive,” says Aasiya Satia, Educational Developer in Anti-Racist Pedagogies at the MacPherson Institute.
“We hope this resource will serve as an initial step through which instructors begin to engage with equitable and inclusive teaching practices.”
The website offers resources related to four themes of inclusive practice: anti-racist pedagogies, decolonization, accessibility and assessment and grading. Students and instructors have identified a need for more support in navigating contentious discussions in the classroom, considering diverse curriculum that fits both educational goals and professional realities, and emphasizing an accessibility-driven approach to content delivery.
“With the increasing diversity of our student and teaching population, it is important to recognize and support both students and instructors with tools that respond to their needs,” said Renata Hall, Manager of Inclusion and Anti-Racism Programs in the Equity and Inclusion Office. “We are hoping that folks test it with their student bodies to see if it is translating into a more accessible and equitable learning environment through light censusing or narrative feedback. We hope in collecting that feedback, we can use it to better inform the page as it grows and to continue to provide instructors with further resources that are rooted in what their students need.”
The project team is hopeful that the resources within the website could promote longer-term pedagogical strategies that have a direct impact on learners in their classrooms, but also by shifting the broader culture of teaching and learning at McMaster where this knowledge of inclusive practices and approaches can be embedded and shared between colleagues, within faculties and across disciplines.
“Decision makers within post-secondary institutions can also benefit from this knowledge so that they can establish inclusive teaching and learning strategies, visions and values that are transformative in all areas of their work,” said Satia.
“This could be one building block of a larger vision of inclusion, belonging and success for learners of all identities.”
The aggregated list of resources was developed by Aasiya Satia, Educational Developer in Anti-Racist Pedagogies at the MacPherson Institute and Renata Hall, Manager of Inclusion and Anti-Racism Programs in the Equity and Inclusion Office with additional contributions from Carrie McMullin, Jen Faubert and Devon Mordell from the MacPherson Institute.
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