Outcomes

• Analyze your online course(s) to design and/or re-design activities to offer students options in which content to engage with

• Analyze your online course(s) to design and/or re-design activities to provide students opportunities to share their voice

Description

This session will review how incorporating student voice and student choice in course design is a practice in equity. Participants will analyze example assignments identifying the equity criterion in which they align. Last, participants will discuss and share ideas for designing and re-designing their course assignments to optimize individual student choice and inclusion.

Outcomes

• Discuss using mindfulness to address equity in the classroom

Description

Mindfulness is a contemplative practice and a contemporary educational teaching strategy. Mindfulness can be used to help us recognize and acknowledge the value of marginalized communities and the importance of their inclusion when creating lessons and teaching in our classrooms. In this session I will talk about the history and foundation of mindfulness. I will discuss how K-12 public schools today have high levels of inequity. I will discuss the importance of mindfulness as a Social Emotional Learning tool as well as a teaching practice that can benefit both the educator as well as the learner. I will discuss how mindfulness can be used as a tool to promote equity which can promote the capabilities of our students, which is the ultimate end goal for education, to graduate students that are prepared for the workforce, as well as dynamic and resilient problem-solvers in their communities. Action research employing Mindfulness from my work in a public Title 1 school as well as with College students will be discussed.

Outcomes

• REFLECT on effective practices and methods for aligning Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) to organizational strategy

• DISCUSS challenges and opportunities to impact DEI as a core value and mission within and across online learning environments

• COLLABORATE on creating new calls to action for the online learning community in advancement of DEI

Description

Amidst the backdrop of social unrest and the global pandemic, educators across the country are grappling with the ways in which they might move towards building sustainable foundations for inclusive access to a quality and equitable education for all learners. With the knowledge that all stakeholders within the online learning community must be a part of this solutions work, the Online Learning Consortium convened a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force in Spring 2021, with a diverse group of colleagues gathered to plan for an equitable path for our community. In this lively and engaging discussion, task force leaders and participants will share findings, as well as invite you to be a part of the conversation on engendering and advancing a new culture of inclusion and quality across digital learning environments in support of success for all learners. 

Outcomes

• Explore practical ways in which attendees can promote diversity and inclusion through their course content and feel confident doing so. 

Description

As our education systems become increasingly diverse, it is crucial for “diverse” students to see themselves reflected in the course materials they consume as this may lead to higher persistence, retention and overall student success. It is also vital for “non-diverse” students to gain a better understanding of the experiences of others particularly as they navigate a world which is much more diverse and global minded than ever before.

Outcomes 

• Identify the role that digital ethics play in ensuring equity in online ePortfolio practice

• Contribute to an ongoing conversation about the role that AAEEBL’s Digital Ethics Principles can play in the professional lives of ePortfolio stakeholders

• Network with a diverse range of educators who can offer additional support and perspectives for online ePortfolio initiatives

Description

In this ANALYZE session, members of the Association for Authentic, Experiential, and Evidence-Based Learning (AAEEBL) Task Force on Digital Ethics in ePortfolios will facilitate a discussion focused on their Digital Ethics Principles. After a brief (5-minute) introduction to the Principles, we will poll participants to see which Principles they are most interested in discussing. Then, we will separate into breakout rooms for discussions about individual principles of interest. These breakout room conversations will be structured around the following 4 guiding questions:

1. What role does this Principle play in promoting equity in ePortfolio practice?

2. Where or in what ways does this Principle fall short of or miss a key element of equity that should be included?

3. How could you use this Principle with stakeholders (students, faculty, staff, admin, etc.) at your institution to help promote equity in ePortfolio practice?

4. What would it look like for you to apply this Principle within your context?

Following 20-minute breakout room conversations, we will return to the main room and spend the remainder of our discussion time sharing out the results of our small group conversations. If there is time, we will conclude with a single framing question for the whole group:

How can the Principles we discussed today be brought together to lay the foundation for an inclusive and equitable ePortfolio initiative that, above all, values student voice and empowerment through reflection?

Outcomes

• Develop Effective Active Learning Strategies

• Cultivate Empathy and Understanding

• Promote Fair-Minded Practices

• Integrate Students’ Personal Experiences to Develop Equity-Focused Curricula and Enhanced Collaboration

Description

Join us for a discussion session inviting educators to tap into the strengths and practices specific to their disciplines to design more equity-aligned courses. Recognizing that storytelling is central to both effective learning strategies and promoting empathy and understanding, some fields—like ours in social sciences and humanities—are equipped with a variety of useful tools that can be readily adapted as classroom activities. For example, case studies and qualitative data both demonstrate sociological methodology and can be leveraged as active learning strategies to investigate diverse perspectives. Oral histories and ethnography give students the opportunity to explore how lived experience illuminates historical, political, and cultural circumstances. Re-centering familiar narratives inspires students to creatively imagine the other. How, then, might instructors of science, tech, engineering and math design more equitable teaching methods using the scientific method, patterning, and problem-solving? What resources are applied in the milieu of health sciences that can help prepare students to be more fair-minded practitioners? How can we collaborate with our colleagues and share interdisciplinary strategies to maximize our own teaching practices? We will present our own observations, successes, and challenges as instructors at a North Carolina community college committed to DEIB-focused restructuring, and invite participants to consider how their own disciplines provide them with unique skills and sensibilities that can be incorporated into inclusive classroom design. Because we envision an interactive session, our proposal could also function as a workshop.

Outcomes 

• Explore best practices for designing and teaching hybrid flexible (Hyflex) courses

Description

Over the past several years, the number of hybrid-flexible (Hyflex) courses offered by higher education institutions has increased (Calafiore & Giudici, 2021). Hyflex courses--which combine face-to-face interactions with video conferencing or live streaming, and online learning--are intended to offer flexibility as students have the option switch from one mode to another throughout the course (Beatty, 2020). Accommodating the needs of students who have different schedules, learning styles, and preferences for course modalities, Hyflex courses have the potential make today’s classrooms more accessible and equitable. Combining communication and class assignments which take place in both physical and virtual spaces (Leijon et al., 2019), Hyflex can bring together students who might otherwise not interact and lead to opportunities to foster a more inclusive community. For instructors, however, meeting the needs of both face-to-face and online students, can be overwhelming (Samee Ali, 2020). Teaching Hyflex courses requires instructors to leverage technology with which they may not be familiar, such as in-class cameras, microphones, and video-conferencing tools to provide “simultaneous, engaging instruction” for all learners (Lohmann, 2021, p. 808).

This discussion will offer participants the opportunity to share their experiences and to learn from others who have taught Hyflex courses. The discussion leader will share successes and challenges she has faced teaching Hyflex courses in which students from over ten different countries have participated synchronously from Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, Vietnam and across the US. Topics to be explored will be driven by participant interest and may include course design, assessment, and building community.

Outcomes 

• Identify aspects of skilled facilitation

• Reflect on the role of facilitation in Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) programming

• Practice a scenario and determine what skills you may use to encourage adoption of equity-focused teaching practices

Description

Are there skills or habits of mind that can inspire participants to persist through tough conversations, including equity-focused topics? Skilled facilitation is a crucial tool for facilitators of DEI programming, helping participants stay engaged, dive deeper, and adopt equity-focused practices.

Come discuss with us difficult topics your campus is facing. How do you currently structure and facilitate discussions of these topics? How did you make sure it didn’t fall flat or get too heated (and what if it did)?

Then learn about our experience of helping faculty navigate unfamiliar, sometimes uncomfortable, conversations about equity in the classroom. See specific skills useful in strengthening an equity-minded focus in faculty teaching practice. Discover how faculty and staff can partner as co-facilitators to effectively address these difficult conversations.

Outcomes 

• Center joy in Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Committee work

Description

Leading any Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Task Force or Committee is not easy. Divergent personalities, degrees of interests or even care, micro-aggressions, fear of making mistakes, and fierce disagreements can derail the Committee from achieving its immediate and long term goals. In this discussion, I offer joy as a leadership framework to lead these committees and accomplish the stated goals. DEI work doesn't always have to be a struggle. Instead, this discussion insists that joy can build community and accomplish goals in the name of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.