Inclusive Teaching – Page 2

Adjusting to the Moment: Teaching and the Affects of Gun Violence

August 23, 2019

students in a march for our lives demonstration

By Dr. Alyxandra Vesey, Journalism and Creative Media I will never forget the first time that a student came up to me after class to request content warnings for course screenings. In my nine years of teaching college, I have received negative feedback from students who objected to what I screened for class. Some have disagreed with the subject matter on political or religious grounds by walking out of the classroom or voicing their disapproval in course evaluations. From time […]

The Intersection of Early British Literature Surveys and Anti-Racist Pedagogy

June 14, 2019

by H. Austin Whitver, Department of English Recent political and cultural movements anchored in ethnocentric ideological beliefs pose a grave, if sometimes overlooked, threat to the English literature classroom. In his opening chapter of Race and Epistemologies of Ignorance, Charles W. Mills writes, “Ethnocentrism is, of course, a negative cognitive tendency common to all peoples, not just Europeans. But with Europe’s gradual rise to global domination, the European variant becomes entrenched as an overarching, virtually unassailable framework, a conviction of […]

What We Mean When We Say Diversity

April 5, 2019

by Cassander L. Smith, Department of English Many of us teachers are ill-equipped to deal with racial tensions when they manifest in the classroom. We lack teacher instruction and the cultural sensitivity to identify racist moments in the classroom, or we are missing the vocabulary to elucidate the racial dynamics when the moments happen. If a student asks us to differentiate between race and ethnicity, we might struggle to nuance the terms. Because we are not sure how to talk […]

Guide to Managing Class Discussion in a Tense Atmosphere

March 25, 2019

by Cassander L. Smith and Lauren S. Cardon, Department of English On February 18, 2019, the Department of English hosted a one-day symposium, “Teaching with Tension,” that addressed the extent to which attitudes about race and political environments produce pedagogical challenges for professors in the humanities. The day’s discussion included the presentation of a document about managing class discussions. Thanks to the work and permission of Drs. Smith and Cardon, you have the opportunity to review this important guide. Every […]

How to Foster an Inclusive Classroom with a Constitution (Repost)

January 10, 2019

by Nathan Loewen, Department of Religious Studies In Fall 2018, Cathy Davidson invited me to repost from the Teaching Hub to the HASTAC (Humanities and Sciences Technology and Collaborative) website. And so I am returning the favor this semester by reposting something I promised to write for HASTAC: “To follow up on my promise from last year, I wish to outline my process for creating a class constitution. Having a constitution is a workaround to other’s strategies of collaboratively revising syllabi at the […]

Thanks for Accommodating Your Students!

January 9, 2019

by Nathan Loewen, Department of Religious Studies Experiences with faculty are pivotal to everyone’s learning experience at our University. You, too, might remember more than a few teachers whose words and actions played a vital role in your education. In order to learn more about how we affect our students today at UA, a poll was sent out to 1,945 students by Brittany Gregg at the Office of Disability Services. Many responses illustrate how faculty across UA are doing their […]

Making History to Promote Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity

October 1, 2018

by Ellen Griffith Spears, New College Learning the lessons of history is crucial to promoting diversity and achieving justice. University of Alabama students’ involvement in historical research on racial discrimination led to them “making history” in two ways — by writing about past events and by advancing the work of the Scottsboro Boys Museum and Cultural Center to win exoneration of the Scottsboro defendants, nine young men wrongly accused of rape in 1931. The movement to defend the Scottsboro Boys was […]

Reflections on Inclusion and Equity in Digitally Mediated Learning Spaces

September 20, 2018

by Heather Pleasants, Office of Institutional Effectiveness After returning from the Digital Pedagogy Lab Summer Institute (DPL)*, writing a post about “Assessing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Digital Classrooms” seemed to make sense. However, I encountered a few challenges right away: Challenge #1: Who wants to read a blog post that starts with “assessing?” (…crickets) Challenge #2: How exactly does one “assess diversity?” (Crap. That doesn’t really make sense, does it? …Don’t answer that). Challenge #3: Given our current social and […]

Critical Digital Pedagogy in the Modern Classroom: Expectations Vs. Reality

September 19, 2018

people holding large puzzle pieces on a table

by Cherelle Young, Tuscaloosa City Schools What is Critical Digital Pedagogy? Kate Molloy, a learning technologist with the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching at NUI Galway and a peer from the Digital Pedagogy Lab, gave a good, easy-to-understand definition of Critical Digital Pedagogy: “CDP is the practice of reflective, critical teaching in a digital space. We must remain conscious of the agency connected with the digital tools we use. If learning occurs in a online spaces, it must be humanized to be inclusive to […]

Reclaiming My Syllabus

September 18, 2018

by Angela Benson, College of Education I have lost control of my syllabus. I’ve focused so much on making it meet the standards enforced by the online syllabus management system that I’ve lost sight of its true purpose: to invite students into a safe space where they can show and develop their greatness. I have long had a love-hate relationship with the online syllabus management system. I immediately embraced the online system when I joined the UA faculty. My previous […]

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