Prioritizing efforts to advance diversity and equity is the responsibility of all individuals who participate in higher education. Not all people hold positions that afford them the power to make change on a macro level, but the smaller, day-to-day decisions and behaviours of the masses are equally as critical to the way we imagine and shape our educational ecosystems. Having worked for several years in higher education as a teacher and administrator, I take this responsibility seriously and strive to inform myself on best practices for the purpose of cultivating diversity and equity in educational spaces. While everyone's experience is different, I am aware of some of the many ways members of groups that have been subjected to differential treatment have been and continue to be disproportionately impacted by long-standing institutional policies and practices. There have been immeasurable injustices faced by individuals in pursuit of education and/or employment in educational sectors, both overt and covert, impacting their sense of belonging and empowerment, ability to engage and thrive, availability of employment opportunities and earning potential, and more. It is my duty as part of the higher education community to listen to and learn about the experiences of those who have been excluded, question problematic policies that currently exist, and use my own privilege to uplift one another and promote practices that are equitable for everyone. Where I feel I have been able to contribute to the overall goal of inclusion and progress towards diversity and equity in higher education is in the ways I plan and deliver my classes, and in the ways I design and develop curricular resources and implement programming standards. Throughout my graduate studies, I focused on intersections of language, race, and culture, and in turn, have tried to apply that knowledge to my professional appointments. I have also benefited greatly from working with many outstanding colleagues who have generously shared their time, knowledge, and resources with me. As a result, I take every opportunity to employ teaching and curricular design strategies I have learned, with the intention of facilitating more equitable teaching and learning experiences.
Here are some of the principles I follow in an effort to usher in greater inclusivity, diversity, and equity within my practice:
Build community within classes through interactive activities and opportunities for all members of classes to share unique experiences and meaning perspectives
Prioritize representation and visibility in all course content (inclusive language, names, symbolism, careful attention paid to avoiding stereotypes and tropes)
Embed themes of social justice, human rights, compassion, and empathy; emphasize storytelling to promote sharing and generating understanding
Develop/review course bibliographies to include authors who represent diverse backgrounds and (if possible) lived experiences linked to the subject matter
Critically analyze my own assumptions, privileges, and worldview, and regularly review and revise work for personal biases and/or oversights
Implement ground rules in class for inclusivity: correct students who dominate class discussions, denormalize microaggressions towards members of any group
Choose resources that are accessible (free if/when possible) to students to make education as open and available as possible
Give students choices about how they learn, themes, etc.; be as lenient as possible with regards to course expectations (i.e. deadlines, delivery formats, etc.)
Focus on small groups during in-class activities, and offer individual support and feedback as often as possible in varied modalities (audio, visual, written…)
Actively seek multiple viewpoints in each and every class; embed opportunities for sharing and critically analyzing varying perspectives often
These principles are ones that I have adopted over time, and they will most certainly continue to evolve as I become more informed about ways I can orient my practice towards diversity and equity.