The Kossen Center for Teaching & Learning encourages all MUW faculty to address diversity and inclusion in their classrooms and in the wider campus community. Benefits for instructors who practice inclusive teaching include connecting and engaging with a variety of students, improved classroom participation from students who feel comfortable and connected to course materials, and feeling better prepared to manage difficult conversations. Inclusive classrooms, both face-to-face and virtual, create a sense of belonging for all MUW students and helps to create a university environment which:
- Ensures that students of underrepresented populations have the support they need to be academically successful.
- Builds relationships and develops multicultural skills with members from diverse backgrounds.
- Enhances students’ ability to participate in a pluralistic, interdependent global community.
- Increases the participation of students from historically underrepresented identities in campus life.1
Inclusive practices can also reduce the impact of stereotype threat, which happens when a student fears confirming a negative stereotype about one or more of their personal identity groups. Stereotype threat has been shown to increase academic anxiety and reduce academic performance.
Kossen Center staff have compiled the following resources to assist faculty in creating a more inclusive class. Please contact is if you would like further assistance with diversity and inclusion practices or have further resources to suggest.
General Inclusion Resources Universal Design/ADA Syllabus Design
Managing Difficult Conversations in the Classroom Resources for Diverse Faculty
General Inclusion Resources
- Diversity and Inclusion in the College Classroom (Faculty Focus, many topics)
- Diversity in the Classroom (UCLA, report and strategies)
- Inclusive Teaching Resources & Strategies (U. of Michigan)
- Inclusive Teaching Resources (St. Louis U.)
- Inclusive Teaching Checklist (U. of Calgary)
- Project Implicit
- Diversity Issues for the Instructor: Identifying Your Own Attitudes
- Teaching Diversity (U. of Wisconsin-Whitewater)
- Teaching Tolerance (K-12 focused, but still potentially helpful)
- Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning Inclusion Resource List
- AAC&U’s Diversity & Democracy periodical
- Instructor Strategies to Reduce Stereotype Threat (Washington U. in St. Louis)
- Student Mental Health Conditions Toolkit (tips for online and face-to-face students, UHI)
- Supporting Students Facing Mental Health Challenges (U. of Michigan)
- Campus Pride
- MUW SafeZone Training
- Teaching Beyond the Gender Binary in the University Classroom (Vanderbilt U.)
- Talking About Pronouns in the Workplace
Universal Design for Learning and ADA Accommodations
- MUW Student Accessibility & Accommodations Procedures
- Accessibility & Usability Resource Site (AURS), Quality Matters (excellent free course on all UDL/ADA needs)
- UDL On Campus
- UDL Video Resources
- UDL Audio Resources
- UDL Image Resources
- UDL Text Resources
- UDL Web Conferencing Resources
- Creating Accessible Open Educational Resources (OER)
- Universal Design for Learning and Digital Accessibility: Compatible partners or conflicted marriage?Universal Design for Learning and Digital Accessibility: Compatible partners or conflicted marriage?
- Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and TechnologyDisabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology
- Universal Design & AccessibilityUniversal Design & Accessibility
Syllabus Design
- Accessible Syllabus
- Features of an Inclusive Syllabus (St. Louis U)
- Universal Design for Learning Syllabus Design
Managing Difficult Conversations in the Classroom
- Difficult Dialogues (Vanderbilt U.)
- Teaching in Times of Crisis (Vanderbilt U.)
- Guidelines for Discussing Incidents of Hate, Bias, and Discrimination (U. of Michigan)
- Guidelines for Discussion of CyberBullying and Expressions of Anti-Gay Sentiment (U. of Michigan)
- #Charlottesville Curriculum (Twitter-based collection of teaching resources related to diversity, racism, hate speech and hate crimes, and more)
- AAC&U’s Clashes Over Citizenship: Webinar Series on Promoting Listening, Learning, and EngagementClashes Over Citizenship: Webinar Series on Promoting Listening, Learning, and Engagement (webinars created “to expand campus expertise on how to hold constructive conversations about contentious issues and how to institute practices in and out of the classroom that foster engagement across differences.”)
Resources for Diverse Faculty
- MUW Chief Diversity Officers: Karen Clay & Anika Perkins
- National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity
- Instructor Identity: The Impact of Gender and Race on Faculty Experiences with Teaching
1. Adapted from Locks, Hurtado, Bowman, & Oseguera, 2008. “Extending Notions of Campus Climate and Diversity to Students’ Transition to College” The Review of Higher Education vol. 31, no. 3, p. 279