A syllabus serves many important functions including alerting students to course structure, assignment deadlines, and required materials; however, we can go beyond these guidelines to create a more inclusive welcome for our students.1

• It's important to be clear about course expectations by offering specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and transparent (SMART) learning goals.

  • Be clear about how learning goals are tied to course activities and assessments. 

• Set expectations for individual and collaborative engagement and work. 

  • Share a list of classroom norms that can be discussed in detail during the first week of class. 

  • Provide resources about setting boundaries and repairing communication breakdowns in group work.  

• Include a diversity statement that explains that you honor and value differences in students' backgrounds and perspectives. 

• Alert students to campus and community resources including disability, LGBTQ+, and student resources for those in need. 

• Share your commitment to students' academic success by stating your willingness to make accommodations for religious reasons and/or in times of stress and trauma. 

• Foster an atmosphere of success for all students by signaling confidence in each student- believe in all students!

Another tool for creating inclusivity in your classes is asking students about themselves and their experiences. Students surveys are a great way to get to know your students at the beginning of a term. This is also a fluid and flexible activity that can be designed to access varying types of information. We can develop surveys to get to know our students in broad terms, address areas such as experience with technology, or address specific needs students may have including obstacles they may face. 

Mid-term student surveys are also an important tool to check how you're students are doing. Again, these surveys can be broad or narrow in focus. Importantly, instructors need to follow up on student survey responses as necessary. Drastic changes to course content and structure take time but acknowledging areas of concern can take minutes in a class announcement. A mid-term survey also allows instructors to identify individual students who are struggling and may benefit from a one-on-one meeting before it gets later in the term.

Sample pre-term and mid-term student surveys (feel free to download either or both).

When thinking about current classes that you teach or future designs, are you presenting material in one primary format or in varied ways? To create an inclusive learning environment, educators need to anticipate diverse learning needs by providing multiple methods of representation- auditory, visual, and textual. For example, if you're an online educator who posts video lectures, provide transcripts of your lectures. This not only aids students who are visually impaired, but also those who process textual information better than auditorily or visually.1

Equally important to varied methods of representation is offering multiple methods of engagement and assessment.1 Including different types of learning activities and methods of assessment such as interactive multimedia lectures, peer collaboration, and/or storytelling leverages the diversity of our students' strengths. 

Example Learning Activities:

• Projects that ask students to incorporate their prior experience and/or what is important to them

• Utilizing tech tools such as Flipgrid, Padlet, or Kahoot

• Informal discussions

• Problem-based learning

Example Assessments- Integrate two or more of the following methods (offer students a choice!): 

• Written assignments such as essays, journals, discussion posts, and/or blogs.

• Verbal (individually or team-based)- these can be done live or recorded and shared as videos or podcasts.

• Visual- posters, infographics, slides, or animations. 

As educators, we can foster inclusivity by including instructional material from diverse authors and creators especially those who are from underrepresented communities. For example, include material produced by people with varying gender identities, from different regions and countries, and/or who have differing opinions on the subject.1 If you find there is a paucity of representational resources in your field, don't be afraid to highlight this to your students and create a discussion around why.4

It's important to note that while we want to incorporate diverse voices and points of view in our courses, we have to be aware of the risk of tokenizing a group or identity. Tokenism occurs when, intentionally or unintentionally, a person is selected to presumably represent an entire group or identity.3 For instance, an instructor may have a module that includes resources primarily produced by white, cis males. To promote a more inclusive environment, the instructor includes an author who is female and non-white. The intention is good, but without context and a direct link to learning/course objectives, the instructor runs the risk of choosing that author as a token of diversity. To avoid this, it's paramount to integrate many different voices and perspectives, thoughtfully and intentionally, throughout a course. 

In the quest for a more inclusive, welcoming, and equitable educational environment, we will all stumble and fall. We're going to say the wrong thing sometimes and, while our students might not speak up if these moments make them feel uncomfortable, we must address when we fail to be culturally aware and sensitive.4 How instructors do this will be dependent on the given situation; just don't let an instance go unacknowledged. It may be appropriate to address a situation when it occurs, at a later time, or with students individually. Whichever route seems best, remember to practice cultural humility with yourself. By doing this, you are cultivating an environment of openness and acceptance as well as modeling how your students can also practice cultural humility.