My new website is at: https://bcheggeseth.github.io/. Please see that site for updated information.
I am dedicated to creating an Inclusive Statistics Classroom to ensure students have equitable access to the quantitative and data sciences. It is our collective responsibility to foster academic cultures that support inclusion and diversity with respect to social identities and abilities. Below I've listed a set of resources that I have used in my own journey.
An inclusive classroom is a space in which all students feel like they belong; they feel welcomed into the intellectual discussion, supported in their learning, and valued for their ideas and contributions.
All students have full access to learning opportunities, and the tools they need to do so successfully and meaningfully.
Students are treated fairly and equitably, not necessarily equally, no matter their background and intersecting identities (e.g. race, ethnicity, socioeconomic class, gender identity/expression, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, ability, age, …)
Cultivating an inclusive classroom climate requires a growth mindset that is open to student feedback about their experiences and eager to experiment and make changes in the classroom. These small adjustments may help all of your students feel safe to explore, fail, grow, and learn.
Set the Tone with Introductions
Use non-binary, inclusive language ("Welcome Class/Folks/Everyone/Students/Y'all" rather than "Hey guys")
Acknowledge your social identities and implicit biases & blind spots and your understanding of how that informs your teaching
State your Intentions with Syllabi Statements
State your goals about inclusive classrooms for students to keep you accountable and to provide transparent messaging about your chosen course design (Explain what the class is and why you've designed it that way)
Examples: My Syllabus, Williams College, University of Michigan,
Solicit feedback
Acknowledge you will make mistakes and have blind spots
Make students feel safe to provide constructive feedback without fear of retribution
Examples: Anonymous real-time survey (poll everywhere), midterm course evaluations, weekly student reflections, classroom observations
Use students' preferred name & ask for a pronunciation guide
Model: tell students what you prefer to be called
Invite students to provide pronouns and use them
Model: normalize pronouns disclosures by providing your own pronouns (she/her, he/him, they/them, etc.)
Share a bit of who you are (humanize yourself; you choose your level of disclosure)
Check-in with students, individually and as a group
Send a quick note to struggling students or who miss class
Anonymous survey (poll everywhere): "one word that describes weekend", "how are you feeling? click on emotion wheel"
Learning Brain vs. Survival Brain (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoqaUANGvpA)
This short video provides a useful framework for students to reflect on their learning
Address Context before Content
Learning does not occur in a vacuum; acknowledge personal & collective struggles and trauma
In extreme circumstances of great turmoil, focus on basic student needs and be flexible with content & assignments
Other Recommendations
Work to ensure emotional, cognitive, physical, and interpersonal safety
Foster trust by being clear, transparent, reliable
Facilitate peer support and mutual self-help in classes (check-in with each other)
Share power and decision making
Empower voice and choice by build on student strengths
Pay attention to cultural, historical, gender issues (with an intersectional lens)
Impart importance of sense of purpose
Tell students that you believe in them and they are capable
Encourage participation by asking open-ended questions to promote dialogue
Reflect on your goals for asking questions
If you are looking for only one answer, reconsider what you hope to gain & the impact on students
Normalize struggle and failure as an important step in learning (growth mindset)
Share your own stories of academic struggle
Emphasize student responsibility for contributing to a positive learning environment
Co-create learning community agreements
Spend time at beginning of class to create agreements to make it a positive, inclusive learning environment
Remind/Revise agreements throughout class
Examples: U of Toronto, Online Classrooms
Build collaborative structure into course design
Examples: in-class group activities, study groups, paired partners to check on each other
Inventory of Inclusive Classrooms: https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/inclusive-teaching/inclusive-classrooms/inventory-of-inclusive-teaching-strategies/
Chronicle of Higher Education Article: https://www.chronicle.com/article/how-to-make-your-teaching-more-inclusive/?utm_source=wb&utm_medium=en&cid=wb
LGBT+ resources for statisticians and data scientists: https://www.significancemagazine.com/culture/624-lgbt-resources-for-statisticians-and-data-scientists
Seven Recommendations for Trauma-informed education: https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2020/06/03/seven-recommendations-helping-students-thrive-times-trauma
Power of positive regard & rapport: https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-power-of-positive-regard/
Building rapport online by Rebecca A. Glazier: https://educate.apsanet.org/communicating-to-build-rapport-with-online-students
WestPoint Guide for Rapport: https://www.westpoint.edu/sites/default/files/inline-images/centers_research/center_for_teching_excellence/PDFs/mtp_project_papers/Dyrenforth_14.pdf
Webb, Nathan, and Laura Obrycki Barrett. “Student views of instructor-student rapport in the college classroom.” Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (2014): 15-28.
Strayhorn, T. L. (2012). College students’ sense of belonging: A key to educational success for all students. New York: Routledge.
Walton, G. M., & Cohen, G. L. (2007). A question of belonging: Race, social fit, and achievement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(1), 82-96.
Creating a learning environment where everyone can learn without special concessions or treatment; accessibility and flexibility is built into the course structure and design
Course Materials
Accessible
Closed captioning (useful tool: Otter.ai)
Consider text format & screen readers
Consider the cost of textbook/materials
Clear
Clarify vocabulary, acronyms, symbols
Explicit connect new information to background knowledge
Multimodal
Provide multiple modalities for students to learn (visual, auditory, active)
Visual: Readings (printed and online reading), class notes, projected images/illustrations
Auditory: Discussions, short tutorials/lectures (recorded and/or live),
Active: Summarize context, coding, writing
Engagement
Authentic
Activities should be meaningful & appropriate
Should use and apply knowledge, not just recall it
Value of activity extends beyond the classroom
Intentional
Provide collaborative structure to help encourage engagement
Integrate self-reflection about barriers to engagement
Multimodal
Allow students to participate in multiple ways (e.g. code, discuss, describe)
Multiple ways to ask questions
Assessment
Consider flexibility in time to accommodate extended time
Use rubrics to communicate expectations and provide consistent feedback
Reflect on your goals for the assessment and consider alternative formats
As Rouncefield (1995) asserts, “[S]tudents can ask real questions about real-life situations. These in turn raise ethical and moral questions, which motivate students’ learning, making the subject matter more relevant and interesting.”
If possible, choose data that does not reinforce negative stereotypes about or systematically exclude/erase marginalized groups (e.g. binary gender, race and violence, etc.)
If not, discuss issues with social identity categories, how data can perpetuate social injustices, and data justice (see Data Feminism)
Rethink what is "common knowledge" (cultural) in terms of data context
Provide the necessary data context when presenting a new data set
Along with real data, discuss data ethics and the human consequences of data and modeling
Chance recently had three special issues on human rights, climate change, and modern slavery that are ripe for examples to use in class.
Active learning strategies
“involve students in doing things and thinking about the things they are doing” (Bonwell & Eisen, 1991, p. 2).
require “students to do meaningful learning activities and think about what they are doing” (Prince, 2004, p. 1).
“cognitively engage students in building understanding at the highest levels of Bloom’s taxonomy” i.e., critical thinking skills (National Academies, 2017, p. 3-3).
Active learning provides multiple modes of engagement to support all students' learning
Entry/exit tickets or minute papers
Think-Pair-Share
Case studies or problem-based learning (guided problem-solving activity)
Interactive demonstration
Gallery walk stations to engage in topic
Jigsaw discussions
Team-based/group activity
Frequent Structured Group Work
Think-Pair-Share
Intentional group creation
Random shuffling is fine for short-term
Avoid isolating minoritized folks in long-term groups
Provide a way to "avoid" another student (if it makes someone feel unsafe, a barrier to learning)
Assign/explain group roles that facilitate collaboration
Highlight diverse Past and Present Statisticians
Talk about the history of white supremacy in Statistics (Eugenics, RA Fisher)
Universal Design of Instruction Resources (curated by U of Washington)
Freeman, S. et al. (2014) “Active learning boosts performance in STEM courses” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111 (23) 8410-8415. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1319030111
Wieman, C.E. (2014) “Large-scale comparison of STEM teaching methods” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111 (23) 8319-8320; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1407304111
Snyder, J.J. et al. (2016) “Peer-Led Team Learning Helps Minority Students Succeed.” PLoS Biol 14(3): e1002398. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002398
Johnson, D.W., Johnson, R.T., and Smith, K.A. (2014). Cooperative learning: Improving university instruction by basing practice on validated theory. Journal on Excellence in College Teaching 25, 85-118.
Kogan, M. & Laursen, S.L. (2014) “Assessing Long-Term Effects of Inquiry-Based Learning: A Case Study from College Mathematics” Innovative Higher Education 39: 183. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-013-9269-9
@ReadBlackademia, #BlackintheIvory , @VanguardSTEM, #DiversityandInclusion, @500QueerSci, @QueersInSTEM,
As a white cis-gender woman, these are some books that I'm reading to expand my awareness on others life experiences. Suggestions welcome!
Understanding the Burdens of Race at a Predominantly White University: The experiences of underrepresented students in an introductory statistics courses; PhD Dissertation by Mario Antonio Davidson
Caste by Isabel Wilkerson
Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria: And Other Conversations About Race by Beverly Daniel Tatum
So you want to talk about race by Ijeoma Oluo
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
The Myth of Equality: Uncovering the Roots of Injustice and Privilege by Ken Wytsma
White Awake: An Honest Look at What It Means to Be White by Daniel Hill
America's Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America by Jim Wallis
Understanding White Privilege: Creating Pathways to Authentic Relationships Across Race (Teaching/Learning Social Justice) by Frances Kendall
White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
All Speech is Not Free by Megan Boler
How to be Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi
The Making of Asian America: A History by Erika Lee
Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White by Frank Wu
Neurotribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity by Steve Silberman
Universal Design in Higher Education, From Principles to Practice by Sheryl E. Burgstahler