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Inclusive Teaching

Inclusive teaching is an umbrella concept covering a range of pedagogical areas including Universal Design for Learning (UDL), accessibility, authentic assessment, decolonizing pedagogy and belonging. Together, these approaches can help build a sense of community and connection in the classroom. This page explores some examples of inclusive teaching practices around intentional course design and content, building community and instructor presence. Opportunities to explore additional resources are provided throughout.

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Inclusive Teaching Practices
Spotlight
Examples

Key Idea

Encouraging inclusive learning communities help students to share their own perspectives, connect with each other and explore new ideas. Inclusive practices can be applied broadly from teaching instruction to experiential education.

Inclusive Teaching Practices

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Intentional Course Design and Content

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Building Connection and Community

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Instructor Presence

Intentional Course Design and Content

Student experiences with learning are shaped by how and what is taught. Intentional course design and content practices can support students by creating learning environments that promote engagement and participation.

Clearly communicating course learning outcomes and aligning instructional practices and content to these outcomes helps clarify learning expectations and guide student success.

Ways to Practice

  1. Share learning outcomes in the course syllabus to guide student learning.
  2. Align instructional materials, learning activities and assessments with course learning outcomes.
  3. Share with students how a lecture or assessment connects to course learning outcomes.

Resources to Explore: Consider exploring constructive alignment to ensure all course elements fit together.

Choosing course materials that share diverse approaches to course content can help students connect and engage in their learning.

Ways to Practice:

  1. Select course materials that reflect a plurality of voices, perspectives, identities and experiences.
  2. Provide course materials and resources that encourage multiple ways of participating in learning.
  3. Include instructions or guides for tools and example assessments and templates.

Resources to Explore: Learn about ways to diversify the curriculum (PDF) and provide content in a variety of ways.

Offering flexibility in how students engage and demonstrate their learning can support engagement and retention.

Ways to Practice:

  1. Offer collaborative and experiential learning opportunities using active learning strategies.
  2. Provide students with options to demonstrate their learning in different ways (e.g., a video essay, editorial).
  3. Have regular conversations with students about the course, such as timelines and due dates, to encourage student accountability and time management.  

Resources to Explore: Consider ways to support Accessibility in Teaching and Learning (PDF), Universal Design for Learning (PDF) and incorporate active learning strategies.


group of students in a classroom in front of laptop
group of students in a library

Building Connection and Community

Building connection and community with students encourages engagement and supports academic success. Students who feel connected and included are more likely to contribute, feel confident and seek help when needed.

Establishing a welcoming environment is foundational to inclusive teaching. From setting clear guidelines to providing support, a welcoming environment can help students thrive in their learning journey.

 Ways to Practice:

  1. Forge a connection early in the term by welcoming students into the course (e.g., create a short introduction or introduction video and post it in eClass).
  2. Include an icebreaker activity to connect and learn more about students (e.g., names, interests, goals).
  3. Share expectations and co-construct guidelines for constructive and respectful conversations early in the semester.

Resources to Explore: Community Agreements

Creating more collaborative opportunities can help instructors and students get to know each other and learn from each other. When difficult conversations emerge, these connections can help both instructors and students navigate and work through them.

Ways to Practice:

  1. Model constructive dialogue to guide student conversations, set expectations and foster a space for sharing ideas, perspectives and experiences.
  2. Provide students opportunities to learn from one another and share experiences by including paired and group activities, discussions and collaborative work. However, students should not be expected to act as a spokesperson for the communities they belong to.
  3. Build in reflections and share discussion prompts in advance to allow students time to process and formulate thoughts before engaging in conversations or activities.

Resources to Explore: Learn more ways to support accountability and meaningful dialogues by exploring the Teaching Common’s Facilitating Dialogue and Challenging Conversations in the Classroom.

Connecting regularly throughout the term in discussion and getting to know students can help provide the right support at the right time.

Ways to Practice:

  1. Create opportunities for students to connect with the instructors through regular check-ins, office hours, or discussion forum to support their learning.
  2. Connect students to academic and wellness supports and services. These can be shared during class, in the course outline and through eClass. 
  3. Share strategies and practices with students to help organize their time within the course.

Resources to Explore: Share Current Student Resources to connect students with LA&PS supports.

Instructor Presence

Instructor presence helps set the tone for the course. In this approach, the instructor is an active collaborator in student learning. Importantly, regular instructor presence helps promote meaningful learning and student success through active engagement and intentional course design, especially in online learning spaces.

Through active engagement, participation and modeling, instructors can help shape a climate of inclusivity to encourage and build a productive learning space for all students.

Ways to Practice:

  1. Set the tone for communication by modelling expected behaviour, valuing student contributions and adjusting misconceptions.
  2. Model inclusive language in communication and interactions (e.g., using the terms winter break, everyone). Explain vocabulary and idioms or cultural references. Acknowledge and include diverse experiences and identities, and actively participate in discussions.
  3. Acknowledge student contributions and progress to encourage engagement and participation. Respond to discussion posts and share a weekly summary message.

Resources to Explore: Guide to Gender Identity & Gender Expression (PDF) and Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies (PDF).

Providing regular constructive feedback helps build trust and encourages students to learn from and apply feedback.

Ways to Practice?

  1. Share consistent and timely feedback with students either formally or informally.
  2. Offer specific, personalized and actionable feedback on assessments that outline a way to improve to help guide learning and growth.
  3. Facilitate discussions around feedback prior to assessments and model feedback for students that they can adopt in future work.

Resources to Explore: Leading practices for Feedback in Online Courses (PDF) and sharing Feedback Encouraging Growth (PDF).

Transparency in course design can help students understand what is expected of them, why and when. It can also promote clarity around course expectations and the hidden curriculum. This refers to expectations about how to engage in the course that may not be clearly taught or explained.

Ways to Practice

  1. Clarify and communicate the intended and hidden curriculum to students, so they know what is expected of them and how to approach learning.
  2. Share with students the purpose of each assessment and how it is relevant to learning in the course and discipline.
  3. Invite student feedback on the course through anonymous midterm surveys like “Start, Stop, Continue.” Share the feedback collected with students and what actions will be made as a result.

Resources to Explore: Explore options for a Feedback Activity in eClass using Best in Class Feedback Encouraging Growth (PDF).

students and instructor in a study room on a laptop

Experiential Education and Inclusive Teaching Spotlight

Embedding inclusive teaching practices into experiential education strategies (e.g., classroom-focused activities, lab work, community-based learning) can enhance learning. Shared below are a few considerations for instructors that can help create more inclusive experiential education for students.

Expand Access

Identify and reduce barriers to enhance equitable access to the experiential learning environment, materials, resources and opportunities. For example, provide multimodal case scenarios, York-supported learning resources and/or free or low-cost event options.

Bridge Learning Spaces

Equip students with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to engage, collaborate and learn with industry and community partners. For example, engage in a pre-experience reflection, model collaborative practices, provide pre-experience training and/or share relevant tools, resources and strategies.

Cultivate Relationships

Guide students in building and maintaining meaningful relationships with industry or community partners.For example, outline students’ role in developing positive partner relationships, discuss learning experience expectations and/or practice intercultural communication.

Share a Roadmap

Outline the course structure, expectations and supports to prepare and guide students throughout the experience. For example, provide detailed schedules, identify checkpoints and/or highlight available and timely supports.

Encourage Reflection

Invite reflection opportunities using a growth mindset to influence skill development and achievement. For example, use student journaling to track progress, include self-assessment tools to evaluate growth and/or facilitate group discussions of successes, challenges and growth.

The LA&PS Experiential Education Office can support instructors in the design and delivery of experiential education activities in their courses. Contact eelaps@yorku.ca to learn more.

Examples of Inclusive Teaching Practices

What?

A short (2-4 minute) course introduction video created by instructors to welcome students and provide an overview of the course. These videos often include an introduction to the instructor, key course information (e.g., purpose, expectations, topics), how to get started and strategies for student success.

Why?

Course introduction videos are a tool that can help set the tone for the learning experience by building community and connection, and instructor presence. Engaging students from the outset can establish a connection between instructors and students and orientate them to the learning experience (e.g., what to expect, how to succeed).

How?

Craft a short presentation before recording and sharing the video to eClass or through email. Recording tools like Zoom, Panopto or Microsoft PowerPoint can assist in video creation and with transcriptions/closed captions.  

Resources to Explore: Create a Welcome Video or Post from York University

What?

In this active learning and student support activity, students are asked to identify and share what is unclear or confusing in the class, lecture or course materials.

Why?

Prompting students to reflect on their learning to realize where they might be experiencing difficulties in the course content can help provide targeted student supports and foster instructor presence. This activity can be leveraged by instructors to help clarify or directly respond to points of confusion. It also helps students identify gaps and engage in their learning communities.

How?

This activity can be used as a synchronous or asynchronous activity in classes of any size. In person, students can be prompted with a question from a presentation slide that they respond to anonymously on a sticky note. Online, instructors might use a tool like Mentimeter. Instructors can also leverage the eClass discussion forum so that students can share their answers online.

Resources to Explore: Muddiest Point Activities from Western Sydney University.

What?

A group icebreaker can be included at the beginning of a course, module or lesson to prompt conversation, and build community and connection. Completed as a whole class or in smaller groups, it typically involves simple games, activities or questions.

Why?

Group icebreakers help build connection and open communication between students and the instructor. This can prepare students for future collaborative work and encourage them to be active participants. Depending on the activity or prompt, these activities can help in orientating students towards specific course expectations and learning, or act as diagnostic tools to assess students’ prior knowledge, skills and motivations.

How?

Select an activity that matches the learning goals and context by deciding what is to be achieved and when. This might be at start of class or while introducing a new concept. Provide clear directions to students outlining how to participate on eClass or a presentation slide. For example, during the first class invite students to anonymously share on Mentimeter, slido or iClicker why they chose the course, what they hope to take away from it and what is their biggest worry about taking it.

Resources to Explore: 25 Classroom Icebreakers for College Professors; iClicker at York

What?

Concept maps are an effective UDL tool that invite students to organize information to determine relationships. Students can visually represent concepts in a variety of ways such as charts, tables, timelines or graphic organizers. After representing the information and relationships, students can analyze, compare and contrast it.

Why?

Incorporating concept maps as part of intentional course design can help students deepen their learning, promote critical thinking and ease cognitive load. Linking ideas provides students opportunities to organize, summarize, evaluate and share their learning in creative ways. Reviewing students’ maps can help instructors assess and provide feedback on student understanding of key concepts.

How?

Individually or in groups, students either brainstorm a list of course concepts or are provided a list about a central idea or topic. Students then go through the list to map out how the concepts are connected to the central topic before layering on further relationships. Include linking terms to explain how the concepts are related. Have students arrange and re-arrange to organize the map in a way that reflects their understanding. Also, use or reuse concept maps at different points in the course to (beginning) provide a course/topic overview and guide expectations, (mid-course) reinforce connections, and (end) facilitate review and synthesis.

Resources to Explore: SPARK Concept Mapping (PDF)

What?

Assessment descriptions provide clear, concise and transparent instructions to students outlining the context and expectations of completing the assessments. They can include submission guidelines, deadlines, time allocation, grading criteria, purpose and relevance.

Why?

Providing clear assessment directions to students can support transparency and intentional course design by reducing confusion and helping to ensure students know what is expected of them. This can also minimize misunderstanding and save time for both instructors and students. They can also support transparency as students can understand how they will be assessed. Additionally, students can feel empowered to take ownership of the learning as the directions act as a guide to their success.

How?

Using clear, concise and plain language, outline the purpose, relevance and criteria for the assessment. Consider including what learning outcomes the assessment aligns with, what students will gain from the assessment, how it is valuable and how it relates to the course materials. To assist in design, consider using headings and subheadings to organize and chunk information like parts, deadlines and submission guidelines.

Resources to Explore: Transparent Assessment Design from Northeastern University

Pause & Reflect

The following questions invite instructors to pause and reflect on their current inclusive teaching practices:

  1. What inclusive teaching practices are already embedded in the course?
  2. How can instructors proactively create space with inclusion in mind?
  3. What opportunities are there for students to connect with their instructors?

Learn More

Adams, M., Bell, L. A., Goodman, D., & Shlasko, D. (2023). Teaching for diversity and social justice.

Hogan, K., & Sathy, V. (2022). Inclusive teaching : Strategies for promoting equity in the college classroom.

Page, C., Hardwick, J., & Takacs, S. (2021). Inclusive Pedagogies.

The University of Chicago. (2020). Inclusive Pedagogy.

Tuitt, F., Haynes, C., & Stewart, S. (Eds.). (2016). Race, equity, and the learning environment: The global relevance of critical and inclusive pedagogies in higher education.

York’s CoP for DEDI in Teaching and Learning. (2023). DEDI in Teaching & Learning.

Questions?

Reach out to lapsteach@yorku.ca to connect with the Teaching & Learning team.

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