by Linda Hasunuma & Cliff Rouder
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) are at the foundation of good teaching. By incorporating DEI practices, you are considering the whole student and attempting to meet the needs of as many students as possible in order to maximize their chances for success. Students (and faculty) bring their intersecting identities, lived experiences, and perspectives, including the impact of local, national, and global events, with them when entering the classroom.
In an equitable classroom environment, we explicitly acknowledge that mental health and wellness, food and housing security, and aspects of diversity, including ability, neurodiversity, sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as parental status impacts how students experience college. In addition, being a Pell Grant recipient, international student or First-Gen student, can also shape this experience and the opportunities available to them. All of these aspects are incredible sources of richness for the learning environment, where students gain from the perspectives and experiences of those different from them. Shifting from a deficit-based mindset to an asset-based mindset can help us as faculty reflect on what DEI means in relation to effective teaching practices.
DEI asks us to recognize that students have experienced inequities in their education– made more transparent to us by teaching through the pandemic–and to celebrate and build on the strategies they may have employed to overcome systemic and structural barriers to access. When we consider the “whole” student and proactively try to meet students’ differing needs, we can look to DEI practices that support students in and out of the classroom. We can guide them to valuable university resources and professional development opportunities, or help them to develop a sense of belonging in our courses.
Research shows that feeling a sense of belonging matters at a variety of levels, from a specific course (Wilson et al., 2015), department or discipline (Hurtado et al., 2007) to the institution as a whole (Tinto,1997; 2003). A sense of belonging is positively associated with engagement; the ability to manage academic adjustment; achievement in a course; student self-efficacy, motivation, and persistence; perceptions of the relevance of coursework in the first year of college; and perceptions of the value of their coursework more generally (Hurtado et al., 2007; Freeman, Anderman, & Jensen, 2007; Vaccaro & Newman, 2016).
The Center for the Advancement of Teaching (CAT) and its predecessor, the Teaching and Learning Center (TLC), has always been deeply involved in supporting more equitable teaching. And now, with Temple having more first gen, low income, and BIPOC students than ever before, enabling faculty to dive into this work through a variety of programming offerings.
How Has the CAT Helped Our Faculty to Center DEI in the Classroom?
One of the earliest initiatives of the Teaching and Learning Center was our Can We Talk? series, a forum for faculty who were teaching race-focused content in their courses to share perspectives and learn from each other. Later, the series opened to faculty who were interested in learning how to talk about race and other DEI-related issues regardless of whether it was part of their course content. This was renamed Chat with the CAT, a popular series that continues today.
In 2016, the CAT set out to create the Inclusive Teaching Institute. CAT staff began work on examining a broad body of research on inclusive teaching, attending Cornell and Washington University’s DEI Train the Trainer courses and institutes offered to their faculty. Our staff met with Temple staff who have expertise in DEI, as well as Directors of DEI-related programs at the University of Michigan, the University of Virginia, and Colorado State University.
The better part of a year was devoted to academic and non-academic reading and discussion, as well as deep reflection about our own biases, intersecting identities, and positionality to insure that we broadened our lens through which to explore these topics. The Institute was piloted with a faculty cohort, and feedback from faculty and the planning team were incorporated into the next rendition. Four years later, in response to global events and the educational inequities brought to light as a result, the CAT reimagined the Institute to put more emphasis on equitable teaching practices and created the Teaching for Equity Institute.
Our work has been greatly enhanced by the generosity and collaborative spirit of a variety of campus partners, including the Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity, Advocacy and Leadership (IDEAL); Office of Disability Resources and Services (DRS), Wellness Resource Center, CARE Team, Dean of Students, Cherry Pantry, Hope Center, Center for Anti-Racism Research, Women’s Gender & Sexuality Studies, Intellectual Heritage, International Student and Scholar Services, and College Access Community of Practice (supporting First-Gen initiatives). Leaders in these areas have co-facilitated workshops with the CAT on a number of DEI-related topics, including ways faculty can support faculty and student mental health, neurodivergent learners, LGBTQIA+ students, and first-generation students.
In addition to our interdepartmental collaborative work, CAT educational developers have designed workshops offered to the whole university as well as custom workshops for individual departments and programs. Some of the topics include planning for difficult discussions and hot moments, supporting students with accommodations, and trauma-informed teaching. From 2021-present, the CAT has created and delivered over 130 workshops on DEI alone! This includes educational technology workshops on creating accessible course materials, Panopto, podcasting, and Universal Design for Learning.
The CAT has also written regular Edvice Exchange blog posts on DEI-related topics, such as asset mapping for equitable student team functioning, using pronouns, teaching for justice, helping international students feel a sense of belonging in the classroom, and creating brave and inclusive spaces for challenging discussions.
One-to-one consultations are a mainstay of our center’s services, and we have actively been working with faculty on inclusive and equitable teaching principles and practices. If you would like to make an appointment for a consultation with a faculty developer, please Schedule a Consultation or Teaching Observation.
We hope you will begin or renew your commitment to putting DEI at the heart of good teaching. Note that this is not a “one and done,” checklist-type pursuit. This is a life-long commitment to growing as an instructor, and the CAT has been here (and will be here) to assist you at any step of your DEI journey. If your department or program is interested in a workshop or having someone from the CAT speak at a departmental meeting, you can arrange this by completing this form to request a custom workshop.
