Hello and Welcome
Hello and welcome to our Pedagogy of Equity course! We are happy you are here and looking forward to sharing this experience with you – Megan & Lisa
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) are important topics being addressed through multiple means here at Lansing Community College. Our Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI) …”envisions a college that is supportive of all perspectives, cultures, and differences. Our core values are evident through services, programs, and initiatives that ensure the creation and maintenance of a diverse and inclusive community that affirms diverse perspectives, attitudes, beliefs, and experiences.” The ODI provides resources that foster awareness as well as tools and experiences that promote global citizenship and a more inclusive campus.
The Center for Teaching Excellence aims to provide pedagogical approaches that are in alignment with our LCC DEI core values through sharing strategies, tools, and promising practices that promote inclusive and responsive teaching as well as ways to cultivate critical community in our classrooms and work environments. Pedagogy of Equity has been created with the spirit of the CTE mission, which is:
The mission of the Center for Teaching Excellence is to inspire and enable faculty to enhance teaching potential and effectiveness such that students are more likely to achieve the desired outcomes for success. The CTE uses a collaborative approach, building on faculty strengths, focusing on inclusive teaching and learning, and bringing faculty in contact with current, relevant, and innovative instructional practices and technology.
In preparation for this course, we were on a ‘mission’ to find useful information, tools and strategies to share with you. As you can imagine, we found so many amazing resources that it would be impossible to share everything in nine weeks. So, much of our preparation was sorting out which tools and strategies were supported by strong evidence of success, though we will share loads of other resources for your perusal at the end of this course. Pedagogy of Equity content, assignments, and assessments have been developed to provide participants opportunities to demonstrate their progress in and achievement of the course learning outcomes. That noted, we encourage participants to use this opportunity for self-exploration based on interests, teaching styles, and discipline.
There are many ways to design a course and we know that one size doesn’t fit all, so we encourage you to take ideas and experiences from this course and think about ways you can modify and apply them in your own teaching. With so much information at our fingertips, keep in mind that small changes have a big impact (you’ll probably see/hear us repeat this).
This course was designed in LCC’s Open Learning Lab (WordPress), while using D2L as a “landing page” where you will find announcements, submit some assignments, and view the grade book. All materials and other course information is in the WordPress site (if you’re reading this, you already know that *wink!) We expect that you will gain some valuable takeaways while making connections with your colleagues.
Megan Lin, Center for Teaching Excellence Director and Lisa Nienkark, English Professor, are your course facilitators. Our teaching experiences are varied, but we agree that we share commonalities in our teaching philosophies that include striving to be inclusive, open, and engaging educators. We both have backgrounds in education and combined teaching experience of more than 50 years, and many of those working with marginalized groups. While neither of us claims to be an “expert” in the field of DEI, we have actively sought professional development opportunities that support teaching practices that include and engage all.
If you’d like to know more about some of our professional development experiences as they pertain to DEI, keep reading : )
Below are some examples of the teaching and professional development that is specific to DEI in which Megan and Lisa have participated.
Megan
- Universal Design for Learning Trainer Certification, 2019
- Digital Pedagogy Conference (2019, 2020, 2021) including one-week courses in Digital Scholarship, Critical Digital Pedagogy, Critical Pedagogy and Storytelling (DEI is the basis of these conferences)
- LCC’s Accessibility Committee (now called Accessibility Committee for Quality Assurance/ACQA), 2018- present
- Association on Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD) Conference, 2018
- Past President of the MDEC (Michigan Developmental Education Consortium- now called NOSSmi National Organization for Student Success, Michigan chapter)
- ACE-ACUE Shared Equity Leadership Webinar, 2021
- Accessible Learning Conference, Michigan State University, 2020, 2021,2022
- ACE Women’s Network Michigan: Advancing Women in Higher Education Conferences, 2020, 2021,2022
- Board of Trustees of MDEC, (Michigan Developmental Education Consortium- now called NOSSmi National Organization for Student Success, Michigan chapter)
- Panelist topic “Implementing Equity in the Community College Setting” at Course Hero Education Summit, 2022
- Lansing Community College RISE (Re-framing Inclusion through Scholarship & Equity) Institute facilitators
- Reading Apprenticeship Grad course at West Ed, CA./
- LCC’s One Book and Beyond the Book over the last many years
- Safe Zone training
- Experience in working with and teaching ESOL populations
- Lead Faculty in the Developmental Ed area
- Michigan certified teacher
Lisa
- Digital Pedagogy Conference ( 2020, 2021) including one-week courses in:
- Safe Zone Trainer Certification
- Inclusion Advocate- Establishing Systemic Change
- VET (Veteran Ally Training) Vet Net
- Master’s Degrees include significant DEI course work
- Mentor in the Michigan Student Success Center
- Lansing Community College RISE (Re-framing Inclusion through Scholarship & Equity) Institute facilitators
- Reading Apprenticeship Grad course at West Ed, CA./
- LCC’s One Book and Beyond the Book over the last many years
- Safe Zone training
- Experience in working with and teaching ESOL populations
- Lead Faculty in the Developmental Ed area
- Michigan certified teacher
