Practitioners’ Perspectives:
Teaching in the Context of
Diversity
Teresa Elmes, Library Liaison Manager
Sonya Lipczynska, Library Liaison Manager
Anna Mountford-Zimdars, Lecturer in Higher Education,
King’s College London
Context: PGCAP programme
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Two years part-time
Compulsory for new lecturers
Optional for others with teaching responsibilities
Intake: 240 (2013), 140 (2014)
Core first year course, two option modules in second
year
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Assessment and Feedback, Curriculum Design, Technology
Enhanced Learning, Employability, Laboratory Teaching,
Leadership and Management, &
Teaching in the context of diversity (since 2013)
Diversity Module
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Learning objectives:
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introduce participants to the context of higher education
facilitate informed reflections that enhance practice
Delivery
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five seminars, 3 hours each (now changed)
Written assessment, 2500 word reflective essay or review (now
changed)
Graded (0-100) (now changed to pass/fail)
Year 1 (2013) and 2 (2014) each around 24 participants
Year 3 (2015) around 45 participants (2 runs), 10 Brilliant Club
tutors
The Special Issue
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King’s College in-house journal HERN-J
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1x annual standard issue, this is an additional special issue
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Best essays from year 1 and 2
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8 essays selected, four reflections, four reviews
Additional feedback and peer-reviewing
Additional section on ‘top tips’ for practice to make pieces more
useful for others
Accessibility
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Content accessibility
Design, pictures
Online version, large print
….room for further improvement?
Teresa Elmes: My topic
Higher Education admissions & success:
What is the value of
cultural capital?
Impact on admissions
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Decision to apply
Choice of institution, course & qualification
Application process
Entrance tests
Interviews
Impact on student experience
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Orientation
Culture
Communication with tutors
Understanding the Student role
Expectation of support & resources
Changing my practice
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Reassess value of Library induction
Awareness of environment
Promotion of voluntary Library classes
Use of language
Being explicit in instruction
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Self reflection....
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Sonya Lipczynska
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My topic:
Adopting inclusive strategies to reach
students with non-disclosed disabilities
‘Invisible disability’
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Not all disabilities are visible
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Epilepsy
Partial vision
Mental/learning/behavioural disorders
Easy to impose an identity of ‘wellness’ on a student if no
visible markers are present
Why students may not disclose
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We rely on students to disclose their disabilities to
accommodate their needs. However—
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Desire to integrate/not to be treated differently
Poor initial disclosure experience
Fear of stigmatism
All these factors may mean that affected students
remain silent
Inclusive practices
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A method of delivering live teaching, and learning
materials which reach all participants
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No need for students to disclose unless they choose to
Proactive rather than reactive
Promotes equality in the classroom as far as possible
Teaching materials
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Create a ‘toolkit’ of materials in a variety of formats
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Print
E-learning
Material set up to be re-formatted if required
Ensure that the students have access to this toolkit prior
to the session so they can manage the resources
according to their needs and learning style
‘Live’ teaching
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Consider your ‘script’. Do you use colloquialisms,
abbreviations or other constructions which could be hard
to understand?
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Rewrite in simple, instructional English
Make sure you are speaking clearly
Create a range of in-class activities which cover different
learning styles and potential difficulties
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Peer support through group work
Live polling and feedback
Hands-on individual activities – e.g. worksheet or online task
Above all…
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Be friendly, approachable and encouraging
Create activities and materials which are helpful for all
students – any changes should be unobtrusive
Don’t make assumptions about the students’
understanding or difficulties or single out individual
students
Do make clear that students can ask for help, and when
those periods are during the class
Other Articles
…peer-labelling
 …minimal diversity
 …student carers
 …unseen disabilities
 Top Tips
Online version:
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/study/learningteaching/kli/research/her
n/hernjvol9.pdf
Large Print version:
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/study/learningteaching/kli/research/her
n/HERN-J-Accessible.pdf
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