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Creating Inclusive Digital Classrooms

Digital Education Days 2023 Conference

February 15, 2023

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Meet the Presenters

Kaylie Kinney Straka (she/her)

Deputy Title IX Coordinator

University of Michigan-Flint

Q Dockery (she/her)

Intercultural Center Program Manager

University of Michigan-Flint

Hilary Murmers (she/her)

LGBTQIA+ Coordinator

University of Michigan-Flint

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Learning Outcomes

Establishing an inclusive classroom environment from syllabus to finals

Navigating difficult conversations in digital classrooms

Identifying and utilizing resources on your campus to support inclusive digital spaces

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Generational Shifts

A 2019 study by the Knight Foundation found that 64% of college students said that political discussions among their peers are more likely to occur online than in face-to-face environments

Pew Center research indicates that today’s students are more likely to belong to groups historically targeted for oppression:

25% are Hispanic, 14% are Black, and 6% are Asian (data on indigenous populations not available)
22% had at least one immigrant parent
21% identify as LGBTQ+ (Gallup poll)

Undergraduates also report higher instances of mental health difficulties, with the American Psychological Association finding 60% met the criteria for at least one mental health problem during the 2020-2021 school year

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Setting Up an Inclusive Digital Classroom

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Create an Inclusive Syllabi

From Addy, Dube, Mitchell, & SoRelle (2021)

What course-related factors are important for an instructor to consider if students in the course have limited financial means or time to study?
What are some accommodations that learners have needed in the past or with which the instructor has personal experience?
What are equity issues within the discipline? How are they being addressed?

Tone of Syllabi
Highlight resources for students in need

Disability Support Services, LGBTQ+ Resource Center, Inter/Multicultural Center, Counseling, Dean of Students

UM-Flint Inclusive Teaching Toolkit: Inclusive Syllabus Design

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Learn Student Names

And how to pronounce them correctly.

Utilize online resources: https://www.pronouncenames.com/ and https://www.nameshouts.com/

Model by including your own name pronunciation in your email signature: https://cloud.name-coach.com/

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Normalize Pronoun Use

We all use pronouns in our everyday lives–they aren’t political and they aren’t up for debate
Make space for students to share their pronouns, but never force them to!
Put your pronouns in your Zoom name, and invite students to do the same
Use neutral pronouns when you don’t know someone’s pronouns

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Involve students in creating discussion guidelines

How should we agree to speak during a synchronous discussion?

How should we agree to engage on Canvas or other digital learning platforms/discussion boards?

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Difficult Conversations in Online Learning

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Managing/Facilitating Difficult Dialogue

Is this a Dialogue, Debate, or Discussion?

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Things to consider when Facilitating

Facilitation Style
Bia and Unconscious Bias
Power Dynamic and Power Balancing
Doing One’s Own Work Before and After

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Restorative Justice Principles

Prevention- building community in the classroom

Intervention- address harm when it happens

Reintegration- ask what they plan to do going forward and what they’ve learned

Kaylie

When harms happen, utilizing restorative justice principles can help return the classroom to equilibrium. Restorative justice works by bringing together the person or people who were harmed, the person who caused harm, and the larger community surrounding them, such as the class. Restorative justice focuses not on punishment, but on making things right and reintegrating the person who caused harm back into the community with the skills and awareness to make better decisions in the future.

Restorative justice has indigenous, especially indigenous American roots which must be acknowledged.

We don’t have time today to provide information about all ways restorative justice can be employed in the classroom, though if you’re interested there is a link in the sources section to more information.

Prevention: consider establishing classroom agreements about discussions, especially online discussions since some students are more likely to behave poorly toward others behind a screen or in text posting to a discussion board than they might be in real time, verbal communication. Involving students in that process creates ownership in the process, making students less likely to violate class norms from the start.

Intervention: appropriate when one student causes harm to another (or one group causes harm to another group). Ask students who have done harm if they are willing to take responsibility to address the harm they have done and learn to act differently going forward. Utilize non-judgmental questions like: What happened? How did it happen? or What can we do to make it right? Let the student who did the harm or those harmed suggest ways to address it.

Reintegration: Acknowledge the plan and implement it. Give students the opportunity to do better going forward and notice when they do. Make reintegration into discussions possible and expected, so long as harm is addressed. Ask what they’ve learned.

There are five “Rs” of restorative justice to keep in mind when resolving classroom conduct:

Relationship- Consider the relationships between those who have caused harm and those who have experienced harm. We need strong, repairable relationships for a functioning classroom community. Focus on the person who caused harm becoming accountable for their actions and begin to make amends for relationship healing. This might look like recognizing situations within group projects and providing some facilitation to work out those conflicts.
Respect- Respect keeps the classroom safe. Employ deep listening instead of assuming what students are going to say, to focus on what their needs might actually be. With this context, you will better understand their perspectives.
Responsibility- In order for restorative justice to be effective, everyone must grapple with their own personal responsibility. This is where questions of intent versus impact come in- the person who caused harm might need help understanding that even unintentional harm is something that they can and should take responsibility for to have a better environment in the future.
Repair- While not all harm can be repaired, it is reasonable to expect students that have caused their classmates harm to repair that harm to the fullest extent possible. Instead of revenge and punishment, focus on moving forward positively so the person who did the harm can regain their self respect and the regard of their peers.
Reintegration- the class community has to allow the person who caused harm to accept responsibility and begin reintegration into class. Ask what they’ve learned.

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Framing Makes a Difference

Try not to ask questions that would force students to disclose their own particular identities or statuses if they don’t want to

For example: “what are some examples of narratives about immigration?” Instead of “what is your experience with immigration?”

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Recognize Common Challenges

Concerns about being judged

Accepting discomfort

Awareness of ignorance

Calling patterns

Fear of getting it wrong

Q

Students may avoid commenting in class because they fear being judged. Empathize and discuss how you work on challenging your own judgments, and creating a space where everyone is learning.
Students may fear their opinions are uninformed or that everyone will disagree with them because of a louder voice for another opinion. Remind students about pluralistic ignorance—when many members of a group privately disagree with a particular idea but believe erroneously that everyone supports it because nobody in the group openly disagrees
Calling patterns. Be mindful of who you are calling on to speak. Not all students may be visible, especially in larger classes. Look around for raised hands or other reactions. This is especially true for hybrid teaching, where some students are physically present and others are on screens.
Sometimes important conversations don’t happen because we think that they are too important to risk getting them wrong. This fear can prevent instructors from pursuing important topics. Know that foregoing an important discussion out of fear of causing harm can be just as, or even more, harmful. Set the stage for what these conversations might look like, and consider providing supportive resource information.
Consider changing discussion and talking about reactions- why are we getting emotional about this topic? What underlies those feelings and reactions? How can we continue in a less activating way?

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Resources to Support Inclusive Digital Learning

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Utilize Campus Resources

Which departments and colleagues might help?

Librarians

Title IX & Civil Rights Offices

LGBTQ+ Resource Centers

Multicultural or Intercultural Centers

Listservs & Professional Groups

UM-Flint:

Inclusive Teaching Toolkit,

Gender and Sexuality Toolkit, and More!

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Questions?

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Sources

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Thank you for joining us!

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Resources Page