Authors: Molly Harris and Laura Schmidli. Published on October 11, 2024.
Instructors want their students to learn, and inclusive teaching strategies can help! Although there are many ways to define inclusive teaching, there are common characteristics that can guide your teaching practice:
- Inclusive teaching creates a space where all students feel welcome and a sense of belonging, which can increase students’ motivation to learn.
- Inclusive teaching practices demonstrate that students’ experiences, knowledge, and growth are valuable. They help students feel like they have the potential to succeed.
- Inclusive teaching involves intentional design decisions. Teaching more inclusively is a process of incorporating new practices over time, as you, your students, and your teaching context change.
What new strategy might you try this semester to make your class more inclusive?
What’s Effective?
Choosing teaching strategies that are more inclusive can benefit all students, not just those from minoritized or marginalized backgrounds in higher education.
1. Make personal connections with students
Learn and use student names. Many instructors have strategies like learning student names in groupings, using photo rosters, or using NameCoach in Canvas to learn name pronunciations. “When instructors know their students’ names, students are more motivated, attend class more frequently, are more attentive during lectures, participate more actively, learn more, chat less, are less likely to hand in assignments late, and view their instructor more positively” (Moreu & Brauer, 2022). By using student names, an instructor also models good practice for students to use each other’s name. If your class is too large for learning and using names to feel reasonable, recent research suggests that simply greeting students regularly can create rapport without using names (Sandstrom, 2023).
Get to know your students. This is an essential part of making personal connections with students. Surveys at the start of the semester can help instructors better see student characteristics, even in large courses. Developing an understanding of your students’ backgrounds, identities, past course experiences, and needs can influence the choices you make later in your course. Starting the semester with an activity to get to know students also indicates to students that their experiences are important. In a 2021 study where instructors used the Who’s In Class? Form, even instructors who did not find the survey useful had students in their class report it as valuable (Addy et al., 2021). In smaller courses, in person activities can be effective instead of or in combination with a survey. The Course Demographics Report (available off campus via a WiscVPN login) can also help instructors see trends in enrollment for a specific course. Please review your responsibilities for protecting internal data and note that not all staff will have access to this data.
Show you value students as complete individuals beyond their academic performance. This can help students feel that they belong in the classroom and be more resilient in the face of challenges. A recent study revealed that two areas of concern for students from marginalized groups are instructors’ perception of their academic potential as limited, and instructors’ narrow vision of students based on academic achievement (Smith et al., 2022). Consider framing your assignment instructions and feedback with language that demonstrates that you expect your students to be able to learn and achieve. Try to acknowledge difficult situations during the semester and avoid making judgments of a student’s ability, effort, and character based on grades.
Incorporate student interests and goals into assignments. Consider how you might encourage students to bring their own interests into assignments and help students see course content as relevant to their lives. Explaining how students will be able to use the knowledge they learn in their class later in life is beneficial for all students, but will have the greatest impact for students from marginalized groups (Moreu & Brauer, 2022).
Guiding Questions
- How do you learn more about your students each semester? How does this information inform your teaching?
- Where might incorporating student interests into activities and assignment support your learning goals?
- What evidence will indicate that you’ve made connections with students?
L&S Instructor Example
Gwen Eudey, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Economics
What do you do? In my large economics lectures with discussion sections, I assign a weekly graded Discussion in Canvas that requires students to build on something we’ve done that week in class (e.g., add to a model, share a different piece of data or a citation that might either support or contradict something seen in class, etc.) The grading rubric specifies they must both find evidence and explain the relevance of the evidence. Students are grouped with their discussion section peers, so they can all look at the same thing together in their weekly in-person section meetings.
Why is it inclusive? How do students experience it? Students take pride in their posts, and it creates an opportunity for people with different interests, backgrounds, and perspectives to connect with the material from class. It also includes students who are less comfortable speaking in public.
How does it contribute to learning? As discussion section facilitators, Teaching Assistants quickly review each Discussion and use the posts to review course material and briefly talk about the kind of economic work being done in the area. The goal is for students with particular interests or points of view to contribute to content and broaden their perspective about what economists do and think about, while also encouraging higher-level analysis of course material for greater retention.
L&S Instructor Example
In 2024, Molly Harris and Jonathan Klein spoke with Professor Greg Downey on the L&S Exchange Podcast. He shared how course analytics can help instructors gain insight into the diversity present within classrooms. Listen starting at 17:18 in a new tab, or play the episode starting at 17:18 below.
2. Structure your course
Creating predictable structure for your course can help all students manage their expectations and understand how to be successful (Shane-Simpson et al., 2024). Your syllabus, your Canvas course, your class sessions, and your assignments are all opportunities to communicate structure for students.
Communicate structure within your syllabus and your Canvas course. Within your syllabus, including required information about how assessments will work, how grades will be calculated, and key dates and deadlines helps create certainty that students can prepare for and plan around (Hogan & Sathy, 2022). Outlining course policies in the syllabus can help manage student expectations about when and how to communicate with instructors, submit work (on time or late), and more. This information should match what students experience in Canvas, where you can add due dates to Assignments, organize course content into weekly Modules, present key grading information, and outline policies and expectations. You may also share recommendations for how much time students should spend on course work weekly. You may even solicit feedback from students, or track student progress, to help determine the best structure or pacing for future iterations of your course.
Provide structure during class sessions. Sharing objectives at the start and end of class, as well as summarizing key points periodically, are correlated with better student outcomes (Beaulieu et al., 2024). Consider sharing an agenda or using guided notes to help students direct their attention during class sessions. Structure also makes it easier to respond to students’ needs at the moment. For example, having activity instructions written ahead of time allows you to more easily and consistently share these instructions verbally and in writing, adapt the activity for a student with limited mobility, or pivot from a large group to smaller group activity.
Create structured assignments. Well-structured assignments will be easier for students to understand, plan for, and complete successfully. Reducing student uncertainty about the assignment’s instructions will reserve their time and attention for learning through completing the assignment. The TILT framework proposes a model and templates for specifying the purpose, task, and criteria for success for assignments. A 2016 study shows that students completing transparent assignments have increased confidence, sense of belonging, and metacognitive awareness of the skills they are developing (Winkelmes, 2019). In addition to making individual assignments more structured for students, assignments can be scaffolded across a semester to provide structured learning for students as well. This scaffolding of assignments into smaller sequential pieces is a common outcome for faculty who apply the TILT framework for the first time (Boye et al., 2019).
L&S Instructor Example
Jim Williams, Teaching Faculty, Computer Sciences
What do you do? In order to provide the best possible learning experience, we have tracked the amount of time students spend on weekly learning activities – for example through weekly pulse surveys, TopHat questions, and e-text analytics. These data sources include data that is automatically collected about students plus students’ own impressions of their workload. From this, we have gained insights and adjusted the pace of the material in the course to be more consistent week-to-week.
Why is it inclusive? How do students experience it? By providing a consistent workload, we aim to create a learning environment that is structured, supportive, and predictable. This is more accessible and equitable for all students, regardless of their backgrounds or circumstances.
How does it contribute to learning? Students can better plan their time and balance their other obligations, such as work or family responsibilities. This can reduce stress and anxiety, making it easier for students to engage with the material and succeed.
Tip: To learn more about creating transparent assignments, see the Transparent Assignments Template from TILT and the TILT Assignment Design Checklist.
Guiding Questions
- Where are the “pain points” in your course for students? How might structure help prevent student confusion?
- How do your regular weekly activities connect to and support each other? How do you communicate these connections to students?
- How do you provide structure to your class meetings? How do you communicate this structure to students?
3. Diversify your course materials
Consider the examples you incorporate into lectures or homework, the backgrounds and identities of the authors of readings you assign, and the types and formats of sources (e.g., scholarly articles, textbooks, podcasts, videos, etc.). Many students benefit from exposure to a wider variety of course materials in terms of both voice and format.
Provide multiple means of representation for different sensory and learning abilities. Because no single means of representing information will work for all students, it is important to provide students with options. A study of students across 10 Canadian universities found that students with and without documented disabilities received higher grades and perceived classes more positively when instructors provided content in multiple formats with multiple opportunities for engagement (Beaulieu et al., 2022). This means students had opportunities to engage with course content in written, audiovisual, graphical, and other formats throughout the semester.
Show diverse identities and perspectives in examples and materials. Examples you present during class as well as authors of readings you assign can communicate to students who the experts or role models are within your field. Students seeing their own identities represented among these role models can have positive impacts on student achievement and sense of belonging. Many students benefit from the increased pool of potential role models, but women and members of marginalized groups are most likely to benefit from seeing women or members of a marginalized group represented in class examples and reading lists (Moreu & Brauer, 2022).
Guiding Questions
- Where are there opportunities to provide course content or feedback to students in multiple formats, such as writing, audiovisual, graphical, or others? Could generative AI tools help you create this content more efficiently?
- Consider how you communicate about who the experts are in your field, including authors you assign and examples you use. Are there opportunities to include more perspectives? Are there opportunities for students to contribute examples?
L&S Instructor Example
Melanie Buhr-Lawler, Clinical Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders
What do you do? My course is fully online, and I provide multiple ways to access content to make the content easily accessible. I color-code my modules and syllabus to make them easy to follow. I create welcome videos that are closed-captioned to accompany the written instructions to course, modules, and assignments. I provide feedback on assignments in writing and via video. I use interactive learning tools to and offer options for different submission formats for assignments, such as via video or an infographic. I represent a wide variety of backgrounds and abilities in my images and examples.
Why is it inclusive? How do students experience it? I want the course to flow elegantly so students can focus on growth and learning rather than on trying to decipher my expectations. The course provides the students with different formats for receiving content and for completing assignments. It is representative of different abilities and backgrounds, and I strive to support my students as a group as well as individuals.
How does it contribute to learning? My course is the final class that Doctor of Audiology students take in their four-year graduate program. Over the years, I have adapted my content to focus on areas that students have identified they would like more focus on before graduation. For instance, I created online interactive clinical case scenarios to give more experience in specific clinical practices, and I update those each year based on student feedback. I also have adjusted the schedule of the course to be self-paced due to the students’ busy clinical schedules. I provide video and written feedback at regular intervals. I have students reflect on their projects and on those of their classmates.
Tip: Universal Design for Learning (UDL) provides Guidelines for Representation, which include examples and recommendations on providing multiple means of representing information.
4. Incorporate bounded flexibility
Incorporating flexibility into college classrooms is a student-centered approach that allows students to adapt learning to their unique needs and circumstances (Barua & Lockee, 2024). Providing this flexibility with specific boundaries preserves an instructor’s ability to manage a cohort of students.
Add bounded flexibility for assignment deadlines. Granting increased flexibility reduces the psychological distress associated with having rigid deadlines, which has been shown to benefit students with non-traditional schedules or mental health concerns (Moreu & Brauer, 2022). Providing the same deadline flexibility to all students by default, rather than requiring students to request flexibility in specific circumstances, can feel more fair to students and instructors and reduce the burden on an instructor to make ad hoc decisions in response to student requests. Incorporating flexibility with deadlines into your course may include instituting a grace period for late assignments or excusing a set number of absences. Keep in mind that that in many cases flexibility should have boundaries to help students develop skills with time management and self-regulated learning (Beaulieu et al., 2022).
Provide students choice within structured assignments. Introducing choice provides students with more agency in terms of directing their time and attention. Most often instructors determine the goals, process, and product of an assignment. For example, an instructor assigns a research paper and presentation, and schedules small components of this assignment throughout the semester. There is opportunity to introduce student choice into a research assignment in terms of the topic, format of the final product, technology used, and more. Incorporating choice into your course could also look like letting students drop the lowest assignment scores within a specific category. For example, if students can drop the lowest weekly quiz score they may choose to engage more deeply with units where they have more interest, less experience, or more time based on their schedule of other commitments.
Tip: Makeup exams can pose a particular challenge for instructors seeking to balance structure and flexibility. See our article Plan Flexible and Efficient Makeup Exams for tips about efficient and effective makeup exam strategies.
L&S Instructor Example
Morton Ann Gernsbacher, PhD, Vilas Research Professor & Sir Frederic Bartlett Professor of Psychology
What do you do? I operationalize deadline flexibility as the opportunity to turn in every assignment up to two weeks in advance and up to one week after the due date.
Why is it inclusive? How do students experience it? Flexible deadlines aid everyone: students with disabilities, students with chronic health conditions, students with religious conflicts, students with care-giving responsibilities and unpredictable work schedules, student athletes. Moreover, a deadline flexibility policy that does not depend on students having to disclose their trauma to instructors; that does not depend on students having to request extensions, which can be driven by a sense of entitlement and can be culturally driven (Calarco, 2014; Jack, 2016; Yee, 2016); and that does not depend on students being registered with disability services, which is more likely for more privileged students (California State Auditor, 2000; Griggins, 2005; Lerner, 2004; McGregor et al., 2016; Weis & Bittner, 2022), is not only more inclusive but also more equitable.
How does it contribute to learning? Flexible deadlines contribute to students’ learning by accommodating their varied circumstances and challenges and enabling them to prioritize their well-being and personal responsibilities without sacrificing their academic progress. A course-wide, universal deadline flexibility policy fosters an inclusive and equitable environment that supports students’ diverse needs, regardless of their disabilities, health conditions, religious conflicts, care-giving responsibilities, work schedules, or athletic commitments.
Guiding Questions
- Do you already provide flexibility with deadlines? Why or why not?
- What boundaries are important for you to place on flexibility you offer? Why are these boundaries important?
- Where are there opportunities to introduce student choice into your classroom?
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References & Further Reading
Addy, T. M., Mitchell, K. A., & Dube, D. (2021). A Tool to Advance Inclusive Teaching Efforts: The “Who’s in Class?” Form. Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education, 22(3), e00183-21. https://doi.org/10.1128/jmbe.00183-21
Beaulieu, C., Larose, S., Heilporn, G., Bureau, J. S., Cellard, C., Janosz, M., & Châteauvert, G. B. (2022). Does Inclusive Teaching Impact College Adjustment and Performance for Students with and without Disabilities? Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, 35(3), 229–246.
Boye, A., Tapp, S., Couch, J. N., Cox, R. D., & Santa, L. G. (2019). Faculty Voices and Perspectives on Transparent Assignment Design: FAQs for Implementation and Beyond. In Transparent Design in Higher Education Teaching and Leadership. Routledge.
California State Auditor. (2000). Standardized tests: Although some students may receive extra time on standardized tests that is not deserved, others may not be getting the assistance they need (pp. 2000–2108). California Bureau of State Audits.
Calarco, J. M. (2014). Coached for the classroom: Parents’ cultural transmission and children’s reproduction of educational inequalities. American Sociological Review, 79(5), 1015–1037. https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122414546931
Griggins, C. (2005). Dosing dilemmas: Are you rich and white or poor and black? The American Journal of Bioethics, 5, 55-57. https://doi.org/10.1080/15265160591002782
Hogan, K. A., & Sathy, V. (2022). Inclusive Teaching: Strategies for Promoting Equity in the College Classroom. West Virginia University Press. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/wisc/detail.action?docID=29288711
Jack, A. A. (2016). (No) harm in asking: Class, acquired cultural capital, and academic engagement at an elite university. Sociology of Education, 89(1), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038040715614913
Lerner, C. S. (2004). “Accommodations” for the learning disabled: A level playing field or affirmative action for elites? Vanderbilt Law Review, 57, 1043-1124.
McGregor, K. K., Langenfeld, N., Van Horne, S., Oleson, J., Anson, M., & Jacobson, W. (2016). The university experiences of students with learning disabilities. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 31, 90-102. https://doi.org/10.1111/ldrp.12102
Moreu, G., & Brauer, M. (2022). Inclusive Teaching Practices in Post-Secondary Education: What Instructors Can Do to Reduce the Achievement Gaps at U.S. Colleges. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 34(1), 170–182.
Sandstrom, G. M. (2023). Even minimal student-instructor interactions may increase enjoyment in the classroom: Preliminary evidence that greeting your students may have benefits even if you can’t remember their names. PLOS ONE, 18(8), e0288166. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0288166
Shane-Simpson, C., Obeid, R., & Prescher, M. (2024). Multimedia Characteristics, Student Relationships, and Teaching Behaviors Predict Perceptions of an Inclusive Classroom Across Course Delivery Format. Teaching of Psychology, 51(3), 298–308. https://doi.org/10.1177/00986283221117621
Smith, E. N., Yeager, D. S., Dweck, C. S., & Walton, G. M. (2022). An Organizing Framework for Teaching Practices that Can “Expand” the Self and Address Social Identity Concerns. Educational Psychology Review, 34(4), 2197–2219. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-022-09715-z
Weis, R., & Bittner, S. A. (2022). College students’ access to academic accommodations over time: Evidence of a Matthew Effect in higher education. Psychological Injury and Law, 15, 236-252. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12207-021-09429-7
Yee, A. (2016). The unwritten rules of engagement: Social class differences in undergraduates’ academic strategies. The Journal of Higher Education, 87(6), 831-858. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2016.11780889
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