Table of Contents
Quick Overview:
Before 9/29:
- Explore Unit 4 materials below (we suggest you jot down a few things that stand out to you)
- Add pertinent info to your Padlet for your portfolio
- Don’t forget to comment on your colleagues’ posts and padlets
- Entry Ticket: Be prepared to write in the chat- In Dr. Eric Mazure’s video (below) he presents an alternative to lecturing. What have you done (or will you do) instead of lecturing or to enhance lecturing?
- Class meets via Webex on 9/29 from 2-3pm JOIN ORT (Required)
We have explored Inclusion and how it encompasses UDL, Accessibility, Culturally Responsive Teaching, and Curriculum Globalization. This week, we are presenting you with strategies, tools and ideas from several colleges and universities who offer their inclusive-by-design pedagogical practices. Remember a small step can have a big impact.
Questions to keep in mind
ORT discussions, WordPress (WP) post comment sections, and your proposal and presentation will require contemplation, which the following questions can facilitate:
- Do you see aspects of UDL and Culturally Responsive teaching in the following materials?
- What have you already been doing (re: current topic)?
- What could you implement (re: current topic)?
- What barriers or challenges might prevent you from implementing (re: current topic)?
University of Indiana
Let’s begin with this reminder, which I took this straight from the University of Indiana website: “Data show that issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion can impact the ways in which students learn and thrive in college. For example, students’ lack of sense of belonging and community can affect their retention in classes, disciplines, and/or universities (Bello 2018; Booker 2016; Morrow and Ackerman 2012; Sidle and McReynolds 1999; Tinto 1998). Plus, when students are experiencing stereotype threat, it may affect their academic achievements (Griffin 2017; Meador 2018; Weber et al. 2018). Thankfully, there are steps instructors can take to improve sense of belonging, create community, and lessen stereotype threat (Phuong et al. 2017). Creating classrooms in which students can bring in their own backgrounds and viewpoints can create better learning. People learn better when they are able to connect classroom content to their own lives (National Research Council 2000). If students are not able to see themselves represented in the classroom, it may limit their ability to connect to culturally-specific references and examples in course material. Throughout these webpages, we’ll delve into specific topics and address the ways in which they can impact student learning, but also students’ abilities to enjoy and thrive in our classrooms…” See Sources Here
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago has a website developed by the Chicago Center for Teaching and is designed to be a resource for undergraduate and graduate professors who are committed to inclusive pedagogical practices. It’s vast and covers to many things, you may want to peruse the whole website when your schedule permits. For this week, I’ll highlight a few areas about strategies and practices that you might consider in your own teaching work.
NOTE: You will be able to access all written information as well as downloads from the Univ. of Chicago website, however, their videos require a university login. In any case, you will find a plethora of information even without the videos.
A good place to begin is by taking a bit of time to think about addressing climates and practices.
As we’ve talked about in class, the idea of making “big” changes to our teaching practices, curriculum and course design can feel overwhelming, so please keep in mind that even small changes are steps in the inclusive direction. There are so many things one “could” do, but perhaps begin with what resonates with you the most and reflect on the inclusive practices you already incorporate (because we all already do lots of engaging things, I know!!). Inclusive Pedagogy ideas from University of Chicago is a good place to begin exploring. They also, offer a bit more advanced strategies that you may want to explore as well.
Peralta Community College District
Peralta Community College District has a website about their equity initiative that you may be interested in checking out and you may find their Peralta-Online-Equity-Rubric-3.0-Oct-2020 a good resource for your own planning. They have an EXTENSIVE list of resources to support the development of their rubric, which I will put the link for at the bottom of this post. I don’t expect you to look at all those resources this week, but as I told you in class, I will be sharing a lot of resources with you. Please don’t feel overwhelmed- I’m just providing them in case you want to explore on your own in the future.
Dr. Eric Mazure, Harvard Physics Instructor
Recognizing that this Physics instructor, Dr. Eric Mazure, teaches at Harvard, he has learned (and now speaks about) how he converted from lecturing to using his class for Peer Instruction . Students get their first exposure to the content outside of class, answering homework questions. The questions they ask about the homework become the basis for his just-in-time lectures, which are interspersed with group discussion increases student learning. This may not be new information for you, but check out what he as to say in his video.
Peralta Community College District- Research Bibliography
Peralta Equity Rubric Research
Center for Urban Education at Southern California
The Center for Urban Education at Southern California’s Equity Toolkit is a starting point for examination of how we present and promote DEI principles in the classroom. In particular, several LCC faculty have used CUE’s syllabus review tool, which can be found here.
Dr. Martine Rife
As a part of her RISE project, Dr. Martine Rife reflected on her syllabus review using CUE tools.
Additionally, emerging practices for syllabi include
- The visual syllabus
- The liquid syllabus
- The comic syllabus
- Matthew Cheney and the Cruelty-Free Syllabi
- Sara Goldrick-Rab and Basic Needs Security and the Syllabus
In-Class Discussion
Activist Loretta J. Ross TED Talk quote
Supplemental Materials
Calling In and Calling Out Guide and an opposing viewpoint “Calling Out” or “In” is a Dangerous Distraction
I really enjoyed Martine Rife’s presentation about reviewing her syllabus. I’ve done the same although my focus was on “tone” – being kind, welcoming, and collaborative. There are other things I can be working on that Martine has pointed out. Even though we know many students don’t really read the syllabus, when we develop a syllabus with the same intentionality as Martine has described, it changes out mindset and practices thereby affecting students positively whether or not they read the syllabus.
just a simple edit – … it changes “our” mindset
I really enjoyed the syllabus and observation toolkit! These tools will not only help me to reflect on my practices but also my materials. I reflect on the idea of approach here. My students learning and understanding starts with my approach in all aspects. What messages am I sending? Am I conveying information in a way that my students understand and learn best? Have I given the proper consideration to background knowledge and experiences when developing my materials and and presentations?
I also enjoyed this presentation as well. I was surprised that a syllabus review means a full course review. I was expecting to just focus on the syllabus but this was so much more comprehensive.
I enjoyed the video from Dr. Eric Mazure, in which he discusses his realization that he was not as successful as he thought he was, in regards to his teaching strategies. I remember when I first started teaching at LCC (many, many, many, many, is that enough? years ago), and one of my students told me that I did such a better job of teaching than one of my colleagues (who had been teaching for years). I asked the student what they meant, and the response was that I just explained things better. I knew I wasn’t a better teacher, but in that moment, I understood that I was doing something different. The difference was that I was a new teacher of this content, so I was much closer to the student’s perception of what was being taught, then to my colleagues. At that time, I knew what they didn’t know, because I had recently been a student myself. I’ve noticed over the many, many, many years of teaching, that the gap between what I am teaching and what the students are bringing to the classroom has definitely gotten much wider. As a result of that experience with my student many, many, many years ago (are you tired of the many’s yet? :), I ask my students to tell me what they need, all the time. I ask, did I skip over something? Did I go too fast? What did I miss that you need to know? (I teach graphic design and software). This video was a great reminder of checking, really checking, for understanding, and to let students have an active role in the learning and teaching.
I agree, Susie. This gap does widen (I am now in the middle of my many, many’s haha) as one gets older, and I love your strategy of putting yourself back in that “student” mindset to gauge their understanding.
So Susie’s post started me thinking about my teaching when I started many, many, many…years ago (I’ll bet I’d have more ‘manys’ than her!). I remember vividly how I thought I’d lecture differently from how my professors had taught. As Susie (and Eric Mazur) have stated, I was closer to how students thought and felt, so I tried to fill as many gaps in my presentations as I could. I gave my students the tools and tricks I thought my professors had neglected to tell me. My students still didn’t do well! Then I came across the then groundbreaking research in physics education and found out that lectures are the least effective vehicle for teaching. That helped me “redesign” my lectures, which have become more and more interactive and more inquiry-oriented over time. My lectures and labs/investigations have now become more and more integrated as well. I have not presented a straight lecture in a long time, since the late 1980s and early 1990s actually! My lectures now have built in times when students work individually or in groups to derive parts of the lecture material themselves, to work on examples, to work on an investigation related to the “lecture” material, and so on. This has been challenging for some students, because they come to class expecting straight lectures and because they are not used to being asked to think, at least not in traditional lectures. I try to explain to them that it is only by engaging their minds and becoming active learners that they actually learn the material, not by the clearest lectures in the world! I am not sure how many of them buy that idea, but I have heard from many former students over the years about how they felt the analytic thinking tools that they acquired in my course was helpful to them, both in their coursework at the institutions they transferred to and later in their careers. I have even had a former student speak to my class about how he go his butt kicked in the course, trying to think and to figure things out, and how that was incredibly useful to him later on!
I love the idea of the “liquid” syllabus – why did we ever think syllabi should be set-in-stone contracts?! I understand that we need this for official purposes, but it really hinders our relationships with students! I think we could have both – here is the official course syllabus, but here is a much more accessible, ever-changing syllabus of our thinking throughout the course.
I also loved the resources on creating equity in online-only courses. I am going to use these tips in restructuring my courses a bit (for next semester/year). I am going to share them here, as I think they are useful for everyone:
1. Create a liquid syllabus
2. Adaptive teaching
3. Visually appealing and dynamic homepage
4. asynch video communication
5. asynch video discussions
6. Wisdom wall – my favorite strategy!!!!
****All of these are in Shaping the Futures of Learning in the Digital Age: Humanizing Online Teaching to Equitize Higher Education
I really liked the ‘”reviewing the syllabus”. I think a lot o fthe information helped me. One to ensure it is not “dark & gloomy” but try to be kind if I can. Not really sure on how to do it, but have to work on it via the words. Words are very powerful, expecially those written. Also because of the fact that I teach most of my classes online – that is most if not all communication “written word”, also it is a contract between me & the students, if the “contract” is not written properly it can lead to conflict. I am a lawyer and realize the effect of contracts
Larry Lewis
I think I”m wanting to “push back” a little bit about some of the alternative syllabi. Maybe I’m just set in my ways and need to do more thinking outside of that box everyone refers to these days, but when I was looking at some of the examples under “visual syllabus”, especially the “graphic syllabus” and “course map” types, I felt a little uneasy. Trying to look at these from the perspective of a student, I think that a student may find these very confusing, or at least not very practical or efficient in conveying clearly and easily the types of information the student usually wants to know most readily. The course map may have been a very interesting academic or intellectual exercise to put together, and may provide a nice analysis of the course, and no doubt the author is very proud of it, but I wonder if it was really put together or carried out for his edification or that of the student. Again, putting myself in the role of the student, I don’t think it is very practical or efficient to tell me the vital pieces of information of what work will I be expected to carry out and when, and what assessments will I have to take, and when must I complete them. Over the years of going through syllabi with students, I have found that they are most concerned with a handful of items, usually relating to the expectations that will be places on them in the class. Most often, students are just interested in the “basics” – what do they need to do and when do they need to do it. This would include things such as what the mandatory readings will be (or, more importantly to most, what part of those will be “fair game: on a test), what assignments must be completed for credit and how much are they worth, what will the exams/assessments be like, what are the due dates for assignments and tests, and how will the final grades be determined, etc. I’m not sure I could readily or easily, or even “visually” extract those pieces of information from that complex network of interconnected lines and “bubbles”. Or the example of a syllabus presented by Linda Nllson. All I could readily get out of that is that somewhere around the middle of the class, during week ‘V”, there seems to be a midterm. Personally, I wouldn’t even use that type of week indicator, since that assumes all your students are familiar with Roman numerals. I think these types of syllabi may indeed be more visually interesting, or maybe even less “humdrum” or boring, but I’m not sure that allow students to easily extract the information that is most important to them.