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 (St. Louis U.)
- Inclusive Teaching Checklist (U. of Calgary)
- Project Implicit
- Teaching Diversity (U. of Wisconsin-Whitewater)
- Teaching Tolerance (K-12 focused, but still potentially helpful)
- 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)
- 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
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.)
Resources for Diverse Faculty
- MUW Chief Diversity Officers: Karen Clay & Anika Perkins
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