Connecting people to advance inclusive design, and prototype practices
The Inclusivity Experiment
The Inclusivity Experiment is an initiative to challenge conventional thinking about inclusive practice, and to make ethical and inclusive design easier for everyone.
Resources for inclusive teaching & learning environments
Learning and teaching environments can have a great impact on individuals’ ability to thrive and achieve their potential.
This next step in the experiment explores the small changes people can make to their everyday teaching practice to make their learning environments more engaging and accessible for all students.
We’ve gathered a series of videos showcasing a selection of tools and practices already being used by educators and designers.
Pre-teaching session activities
Hi, my name is Lucy Allen and I'm an Associate Lecturer in the Faculty of Transdisciplinary Innovation at UTS.
As a coordinator, facilitator and teacher, one of the trickiest things can be finding time and the right mechanism to get to know your students, but more specifically, understand what their particular needs and requirements are within a learning environment.
So based off some work done by Devon Price, who's a social psychologist and professor at Loyola University Chicago, I've created a very simple and short survey that can be used at the beginning of a subject or a class to do just this. The survey asks students their name and student number but then asks how I can make it a comfortable learning environment for them. What pronouns they use, if there's anything in particular I should know about them, as well as if they have any questions for me.
What I've found is that this immediately opens up opportunities for connection and conversation with students. And is a really safe way in which they can communicate any particular needs or requirements to me.
One of the great things about this survey is that all students complete it. Even if it's just them filling in their name and student number. Which is information that we already have, but it means that it becomes a collective and normal practice, and no one is individualised for needing to fill out the survey and hand it back to me.
The information that I gather from these surveys is incredibly powerful, if not just an acknowledgement that I understand particular circumstances and needs but it allows me to be adaptive and reflexive in my own teaching practice.
And I've found that any changes in my practice or the learning environment for one or two individuals, means an improvement for everyone. Not just those that requested it. I've been able to test the survey in a few different subjects and the student feedback has been really positive. They've said that the survey has made them feel heard and created a really safe and open learning environment. It's given them peace of mind and allowed them to share personal information in a way that feels really safe and ongoingly open.
It was also really great to hear from students who only filled out those first two lines, their name and student number, but that they acknowledged and were really happy to see that an effort was being made to ensure all individuals in the classroom could take part in the learning and that they were comfortable in doing so. |
TBC |
Lucy Allen and Lien Pham explore different surveys they use to get to know their students and identify their needs. Both of these can be adapted in different ways to suit your specific cohort. Lucy and Lien have generously provided a template of their survey for you to adapt or use as is. Where possible please credit the authors appropriately.
In this video, the term ‘preferred pronouns’ is used when referring to gender pronouns. While well-intentioned, Lucy would like to encourage we drop the word ‘preferred’ and simply refer to ‘pronouns’, reflecting that pronouns aren’t just a matter of preference. If you are interested in exploring this further, Ashley Fowlkes has an article published in Forbes that offers more detail.
Complementary resources:
- Lucy Allen's survey: Getting to know you
- Lien Pham's survey: Self-assessment of research knowledge and skills level
TBC
James Wakefield from the Business School describes how he embeds content questions into his lecture slides, giving students the opportunity to express their thoughts and opinions and to build confidence around the content.
If you're interested in embedding quizzes into your lecture content take a look at Kaltura and see how easy it can be.
Thinking about trying one of these, but have questions? Head over our forum and share your thoughts with an ever-growing community of interested practitioners and educators.
Promoting inclusivity throughout the teaching session
TBC |
TBC |
If you’re looking for safe ways to highlight to your students that all of us bring valuable knowledge, experience and history to the classroom, then Zozan Balci and Elaine Laforteza have developed thought-provoking activities that draw out the assumptions we make about what is considered valuable in a classroom context and what is considered ‘normal’.
These activities provide scope for students to interrogate and reflect on their own taken-for-granted understanding of the spaces within which they interact.
TBC
For a practical activity that works in both design settings and other educational settings, the Edge Cards that Scott Sumner explains above are a wonderful tool for triggering conversation around inclusivity in all spaces.
Assessment Feedback
TBC
Assessment feedback is time consuming and it’s difficult to know if students take note of it. Laurel Acton outlines her PhD research and why assignment feedback is so important for international students who are not always familiar with assignment formats used at UTS.
Share your own experiences
We would like to invite you to join us in furthering the conversation around inclusion in the classroom. Feel free to adapt any of the tools or practices below and share your experiences, successes and challenges with us by emailing equity@uts.edu.au.
The Inclusivity Experiment is a collaboration between the University of Technology Sydney, Canva and The Centre for Inclusive Design.