Dr. David S. Owen
Associate Professor of Philosophy and Director of
Diversity Programs for the College of Arts and Sciences dsowen04@louisville.edu
1

Introductions
•
• Introductions
What do you hope to learn today?
2

Agenda
• 1. The meaning of inclusive teaching
• 2. Three principles of inclusive teaching
• 3. Practicing inclusive teaching
• 4. Closing questions
3

What we are talking about
• 1. INCLUSIVE TEACHING is about
• valuing the fact that our students are truly different in many ways
4

What we are talking about
• 1. INCLUSIVE TEACHING is about
• valuing the fact that our students are truly different in many ways;
• and (more importantly)
• taking into account the meanings those differences have for our students ’ lives.
5

Basic principles of inclusive teaching
• Principle 1 : We need to move from equality to equity.
6

Basic principles of inclusive teaching
• Principle 1 : We need to move from equality to equity
• Equality – treating everyone the same
7

Basic principles of inclusive teaching
• Principle 1 : We need to move from equality to equity
• Equality – treating everyone the same
• Equity – treating everyone fairly in light of background conditions that generate differing sets of advantages and obstacles for individuals
• This requires:
• being able to identify the structures of advantage and disadvantage that are generated by the sociocultural background.
• adjusting my pedagogy to correct for these imbalances of advantage and disadvantage.
8

Basic principles of inclusive teaching
• Principle 2 :
• Our intersecting social identities locates each of us, as teachers, within that background sociocultural landscape;
9

Basic principles of inclusive teaching
• Principle 2 :
• Our intersecting social identities locates each of us in the social landscape;
• with the consequence that we have different advantages or disadvantages based upon our social identities
10

Basic principles of inclusive teaching
• Principle 2 :
• Our intersecting social identities locates each of us in the social landscape;
• with the consequence that we each possess a different set of advantages or disadvantages.
• Thus, instructors need to be aware of how social identities-and their associated advantages and disadvantages--shape our classrooms and our teaching.
11

Basic principles of inclusive teaching
12

Basic principles of inclusive teaching
• Principle 3 : Understand how stereotyping inevitably shapes the learning environment.
• Implicit Bias research
• Banaji and Greenwald, Blindspot (2013)
13

Basic principles of inclusive teaching
• Principle 3 : Understand how stereotyping inevitably shapes the learning environment.
• Implicit Bias research
• Banaji and Greenwald, Blindspot (2013)
• Stereotype Threat
• Steele, Whistling Vivaldi (2011)
14

• Teaching Practice
• Do you vary instructional modes? (lecture, discussion, group work, etc.)
• Do you pay attention to how power flows in the classroom?
• Do you consciously seek to disrupt the reproduction of what counts as “ normal ” or “ different ” ?
• Do you teach only from the dominant perspective (the “ canon ” )?
• Do you avoid “ tokenism ” that marginalizes social identities that are outside of the dominant identities?
• Do you actively challenge stereotypes in both the curricular content and in your teaching practice?
15

• Course Design
• Do you use a variety of instructional materials (texts, films, popular culture)?
• Is your course content representative of diverse perspectives, especially those that have been systematically marginalized?
• Do you utilize a variety of assessment tools to allow students with different strengths to excel?
16

• Instructional Materials
• Do you vary the types of materials?
• Do you use materials that challenge the bias and privilege found in many curricula?
17

• What questions do you have?
18

• www.crlt.umich.ed
u -- The Center for Research on
Learning and Teaching at the University of Michigan.
• ProjectImplicit.org
• ReducingStereotypeThreat.org
• Blindspot
• Whistling Vivaldi
19