Essentials of Inclusive Classrooms

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this workshop, you will be able to:

1. Implement strategies to make course materials, assignments, and teaching strategies more accessible, inclusive, and effective for all students, especially those from marginalized backgrounds.
2. Revise a syllabus to incorporate equitable and inclusive interventions at each stage of the course as well as equitable assessment structures that align with course learning objectives.
3. Analyze the function of engineering in social justice pursuits and how diversity and inclusion can enrich engineering practice.
4. Describe your intersecting identities, their relationship to societal power structures, and how they influence your thoughts, attitudes, and behavior in teaching and learning settings. Make the corresponding adjustments to your pedagogical approaches.
5. Self-assess your own teaching practice with an inclusion and equity lens.
6. Assess students’ needs using an anti-deficit lens and make appropriate course corrections.

Session I: Starting with the Individual: Social Location, Power, and Privilege

• Dreaming big for engineering equity
• Social location and positionality
• Social identity wheel and intersectionality
• Power and privilege

Session II: Interpersonal Practices: Facilitation and Assignment Design

• Cross cultural communication
• Accessible assignment design
• Universal Design for Learning 
• Equitable classroom strategies

Session III: Institutional Change: Integrating Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging in Course Design

• Equity interventions at each stage of a course
• Rubrics and feedback
• Contract grading 
• Aligning grading with learning goals
• Supportive course policies

Session IV: Structural Implications: Engineering and Social Justice

• The value of diverse teams 
• The economic case for diversity
• Innovation for social and public good

Dr. Amanda Modell creates supportive opportunities for educators and professionals to maximize their professional development through accessibility, mindfulness, and equity. She currently serves as the Associate Director, Graduate Teaching Programs at Stanford University’s Center for Teaching and Learning and maintains a consulting practice in which she works with major Silicon Valley organizations to foster professional development through inclusive and equity-focused strategies.

Amanda is a proud queer person with a psychological disability and ties to the U.S. South; she also earned a PhD in Cultural Studies from the University of California, Davis with a Designated Emphasis in Feminist Theory and Research. She has contributed her work to New Directions in Teaching and Learning, the Professional and Organizational Development (POD) Network, and the American Society for Engineering Education. Amanda lives in the Northern California mountains with her little rescue dog Dezzy and enjoys meditation, yoga, making extensive Spotify playlists, and engaging in all things outdoors.

 

Dr. Christian Castro is the Inaugural Associate Dean for Inclusion, Equity, and Diversity at the University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Engineering. He is a national thought leader and expert in inclusive teaching, serving as a member of the core planning committee for the 2022 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Summit: A Big Ten ++ Engineering Workshop that brought together academic partners from universities across the nation to develop strategies for integrating DEI into engineering undergraduate curricula and increasing faculty knowledge and skills on DEI. From 2020-2022, he served as expert facilitator on the NSF-funded program, Aspire: National Alliance for Inclusive and Diverse STEM Faculty. Dr. Castro has over fifteen years of experience teaching in a variety of academic fields, conducting research in educational development, and consulting. His research interests span faculty professional identity development, sense of belonging and self-efficacy regulation, and the effects of instructional interventions on student learning.

 

Dr. Karis Boyd-Sinkler, PhD is the Director of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion and Adjunct Assistant Professor at Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering. She plays a key role in providing strategies to strengthen Pratt’s efforts to create and sustain an equitable environment for all members of the Pratt Community, including students, staff, faculty, and alumni. She h

as over 7 years of experience leading multiple mentoring, outreach, and professional development programs focused on the recruitment and retention of engineering students at all levels, especially students from Black and Hispanic/Latino populations. Dr. Boyd-Sinkler has a B.S. in Engineering Science from the University of Virginia and a M.Eng in Industrial and Systems Engineering and a Ph.D. in Engineering Education from Virginia Tech. Outside of academia, she is a dog parent to a chihuahua-poodle named Baxter (who is named after the movie Anchorman), and enjoys baking and do it yourself. projects.

 

Fueled by her desire to deepen her knowledge and understand how she can leave a lasting impact on the world and the people around her, Dr. Rush Leeker has cultivated a rich educational background. Equipped with her undergraduate degree in Supply Chain and Information Systems from Penn University and her Ph.D. in Engineering Education and MBA in Sustainability and Operations from Purdue University, she is proud to currently share her expertise as an Engineering Professor at CU Boulder.

Through her equity-coaching business, Dr. Rush Leeker has worked with several successful companies, including top Fortune 500 organizations and private coaching clients looking to improve their business practices to find professional and personal growth. In addition, as a children’s book author and yoga teacher, Dr. Rush Leeker hopes to serve as a mentor as she encourages students of all ages to explore their creativity, always choose kindness, and be brave enough to pursue their passions.

 

Dr. Karen Thomas-Brown is the Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion of the College of Engineering at the University of Washington. Dr. Karen Thomas-Brown leads the University of Washington’s (UW) College of Engineering ongoing efforts to be an accessible, welcoming and inclusive community. She develops best practices and guidelines that strengthen the College’s goals around diversity, equity and inclusion, and collaborates with College and campus leaders to develop and implement programs that increase the participation and engagement of diverse and underrepresented groups across the College. Dr. Thomas-Brown joined the UW from the University of Michigan-Dearborn (UM-D) where she was a professor in the College of Education, Health and Humans Services with research and teaching in the Department of Education and the Department of Social Sciences. She holds a Ph.D. and Bachelor’s degree in geography specializing in social and urban structures focusing on the sociological variables that shape human systems; and professional certificates in Executive Leadership, Performance Leadership, Change Management, and Diversity and Inclusion (DEI) from Cornell University.

Requirements and Resources

Pre-Work: You will complete a pre-program assignment related to the program’s learning outcomes.

Supplemental Resources: You will be provided with (1) a participant guide, (2) presentation slides, and (3) workshop recordings.

Attendance and Completion

Full and active participation will enhance the learning experience for all participants. At the end of the program, you will receive a certificate of completion via email. Professional development hours (PDH) will be provided upon request.

Terms and Policies

• Cancellation Policy
• Recording and Privacy Policy