Simple, student-centered ways to make your teaching more engaging and inclusive.
- Understand how your personal identities and biases shape your pedagogical values.
- Regularly engage in self-reflection to assess how you interact with students and the classroom environment.
- Recognize the diversity of your students and reflect on how your teaching can be more inclusive to everyone.
- Encourage students to share their identities and experiences to make the classroom feel more welcoming.
- Provide deadlines for assignments and other course obligations early (at the start of the quarter) for students to plan around religious holidays.
- Offer make-up activities for missed in-person classes and/or other asynchronous options.
- Encourage communication with project groups about make-up work
- During Ramadan, understand that students might be low-energy due to fasting, and accordingly accommodate lower engagement and request to leave class during prayer times.
- If aware of students celebrating religious holidays, consider greeting them. This could be especially encouraged for students celebrating holidays typically minoritized in the US.
- Build a classroom atmosphere where all students feel valued, safe, and heard.
- Establish clear and open communication about course expectations, policies, and how students can ask for accommodations.
- Foster collaboration and respect among students from diverse backgrounds through group work and class activities.
- Acknowledge and address microaggressions and other harmful behaviors when they arise.
- Be mindful of diverse learning preferences and offer flexible participation options (e.g., verbal, written, visual).
Recognize that all students face challenges, and actively work to remove unnecessary barriers to learning.
Provide resources and strategies to support specific groups of students, including:
- First-generation college students
- Indigenous students
- International and multilingual (I/M) students
- Neurodiverse students
- Students who have experienced trauma
- Students with disabilities
- Veterans or active-duty military
Infuse strategies into your teaching that benefit all students, regardless of their background or needs.
Addressing specific student needsMaking course materials accessible to all students is not just a good practice for inclusive teaching, it is the law. According to ADA Guidelines:
- Delete outdated digital course materials.
- Shift to web (HTML) versions of assigned readings as much as possible
- Commit to using web-based tools such as Canvas, Panopto, and Zoom
- Take advantage of built-in accessibility checkers wherever possible
Teaching@UW provides guidelines on strategies to make various types of course material accessible.
Use UDL principles to provide students with multiple means of engagement, representation, and expression.
- Offer varied ways for students to engage with course content (e.g., videos, readings, discussions, hands-on activities).
- Allow students different methods to demonstrate their learning (e.g., projects, written reflections, oral presentations).
- Provide feedback and assessments in different formats that accommodate diverse learning styles and needs.
By embracing UDL, you make your course more accessible to a wider range of students, including those with disabilities.
Practicing UDL in your classroomsConclusion
Inclusive and accessible teaching practices are essential for creating a classroom where all students, regardless of background, identity, or ability, can succeed. These practices require intentionality, reflection, and ongoing commitment. By making small but impactful changes to how we design, deliver, and assess our courses, we contribute to a learning environment where every student has the opportunity to thrive.