Inclusive teaching

Towson University, USA

Collaborative professional learning communities for instructors and staff to better understand and integrate Universal Design for Learning (UDL) practices across the university.

• Community of Practice that is guided by faculty coaches and supported by in-house expertise and supplemented with UDL workshops and training.
• Leverages collaborative reflections with colleagues to improve UDL practices in the classroom.
• Provides Instructors with just-in-time support.
• Includes toolkits and resources to support Instructors in implementing UDL in their course.

Concordia University

As part of Concordia’s commitment to the Indigenous Directions Action Plan, the hub provides Indigenous evidence-based research, resources, and workshops for instructors to “re-frame their curriculum and pedagogical practices in ways that promote critical discourse, analysis and integration of Indigenous Peoples’ diverse intellectual, cultural, agricultural, and scientific knowledge systems”.

• Provides practical strategies to decolonize and indigenize courses or programs.
• Includes Pîkiskwêtân (Let’s Talk) — an “Indigenous learning series for instructors and staff to gain a better understanding of First Nations, Métis and Inuit realities and the implications of reconciliation, decolonization and indigenization on higher education”.

University of Michigan, USA

A comprehensive website that centralizes resources to support instructors in incorporating more inclusive teaching methods in their classrooms. 

• Provides videotaped simulations of activities, teaching demonstrations, and video testimonials from students and faculty on inclusive teaching.
• Curated list of activities and resources to promote inclusion in different classroom settings such as online courses, large in-person courses, STEM courses, etc.
• Curated resources for practicing anti-racism and developing anti-racist pedagogy.

La Trobe University, Australia

A mandatory, non-credit, Indigenous online learning component for all first-year students to increase their awareness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and build their knowledge of Indigenous issues and perspectives. The learning module is also available to staff.

• Integrates Indigenous voices and perspectives into the virtual classroom. 
• Exposes all students to Indigenous issues and perspectives.
• Enhances students’ cultural understanding to engage respectfully and effectively in an intercultural context.
• Completion of the online module appears on the student’s transcript.
• More than twenty thousand students have completed it.

Columbia University, USA

Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) offered for free to instructors by ColumbiaX to “explore the principles of inclusive teaching and learn how to apply them in their classroom to support diverse learners”.

Allows instructors to:

• "Identify their assumptions about students and how these assumptions impact teaching practices.
• Develop an awareness of critical self-reflection and its value in teaching diverse learners.
• Define the key components that impact inclusive classrooms.
• Apply inclusive teaching strategies in individual teaching contexts.
• Identify resources needed to continually improve inclusive teaching practice."

FoFA, Concordia University

Intensive short-term programs designed to provide learners from diverse professional and academic backgrounds an opportunity to develop concrete, marketable skills that enable them to work in sectors that are experiencing rapid growth.

• Provides mature learners “who are not currently in a position to undertake a traditional bachelor of fine arts degree” access to university courses in the artistic fields. 
• Offers individuals an opportunity to transition to a new career via an accelerated university program. 
• Exemplifies “how universities can respond quickly to crises in professional sectors” and make education accessible to people “throughout their lives, no matter what their background”. 
• Developed in response to Quebec’s PARAF program aimed at upskilling or reskilling unemployed adults. 
• Programs selection based on meeting immediate industry needs.

College of the Canyons, USA

Digital textbooks are available for FREE to students to reduce their educational costs. Many instructors have chosen to use textbooks created using Open Educational Resources (OER) content in their classrooms.

• Supports instructors in finding and developing OERs.
• Lists classes that use Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) textbooks so students can verify if their class section is a ZTC textbook course. 
• Offers printed versions of the ZTC textbooks at the bookstore for a fee.