Inclusive Teaching: Strategies for Promoting Equity in the College Classroom

by Kelly A. Hogan and Viji Sathy (West Virginia University Press, 2022)

Structure as Inclusion

Inclusive Teaching is a wide-ranging exploration of post-pandemic practices in higher education. It begins with an emphasis on clear connections between course activities and assessed outcomes, and making student engagement and practice structured and required rather than opt-in. The authors emphasize that students can't be expected to know in advance the value of a specific practice, so some will be systematically excluded from gaining proficiency if practice is optional. The authors suggest another layer of structure: required assignments that increase in difficulty "from pre-class work to in-class activities to post-class homework," each tied to a small amount of course credit.

Building Rapport

This book covers much of the same ground as How to Teach Adults by Dan Spalding (2014), with an embrace of the LMS and the email exchanges that now accompany courses, even on-campus ones. For example, both books discuss selective self-disclosure as a way to establish trust and rapport, but in Inclusive Teaching the message might be conveyed in a pre-quarter video email.

Rethinking Office Hours

Office hours are another opportunity for inclusivity, or for its opposite. The authors describe concrete ways to make the office itself inviting and they encourage us to consider scheduling office hours at times that work for students. Being ready to carry a conversation, by soliciting information students would like to share early in the term, is another welcoming practice. Across these examples, the book's message is consistent: inclusion is built through deliberate structure, so that the benefits of practice, rapport, and support do not depend on students knowing to ask for them.

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