Resources for the Diverse Classroom
Links to resources on diversity, inclusive classrooms, and related pedagogical topics appear below from UMBC colleagues, teaching and learning centers across the country, and other resources.
UMBC Resources
- The Faculty Development Center’s Faculty Learning Community on Diversity in the Classroom: Enhancing the Curriculum and Environment explored diversity in the classroom in a year-long collaboration. See the results they presented here.
- The Office of Student Disability Services offers resources and support to help you meet the needs of diverse learners.
- The Office of Instructional Technology discusses Universal Design for Learning (UDL), an approach to reducing barriers to education.
- Student Life’s page on Diversity and Inclusion links to student-centered inclusion programs.
- The Faculty Diversity website highlights UMBC’s faculty diversity initiative.
- The Provost’s Office Diversity page links to UMBC’s Diversity Plan and Progress Reports assessing UMBC diversity initiatives.
- UMBC News on Inclusive Excellence shares UMBC’s progress.
Teaching & Learning Center Resources
Teaching and learning centers across the country have assembled a rich and useful collection of resources designed to help faculty apply inclusive learning practices in the classroom.
- University of Michigan Center for Research on Learning and Teaching (CRLT) offers a rich array of resources on inclusive classroom strategies: http://www.crlt.umich.edu/multicultural-teaching/inclusive-teaching-strategies. Here are a few direct links to useful tools:
-
The Research Basis for Inclusive Teaching cites teaching and learning research that demonstrates how inclusive classrooms contribute to student learning.
-
Inclusive Teaching Strategies presents a checklist to help you think through your course climate.
-
Setting the Tone for an Inclusive Classroom suggests ideas for improving your classroom tone.
- Creating an Identity-Safe Classroom offers evidence-based interventions you can use to build classroom inclusivity.
-
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Center for Teaching and Learning. (1998). Teaching for inclusion. Chapel Hill, NC: Center for Teaching and Learning, UNC Chapel Hill (full pdf: https://ssw.unc.edu/files/web/pdf/TeachforInclusion.pdf).
- Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching offers resources and in-depth essays on diversity, for example:
- Harbin, B. (2016). Teaching beyond the gender binary in the university classroom. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. Retrieved from https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/teaching-beyond-the-gender-binary-in-the-university-classroom/
- Greer, A. (n.d.). Increasing inclusivity in the classroom. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. Retrieved from https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/increasing-inclusivity-in-the-classroom/
- The Faculty Teaching Excellence Program at University of Colorado Boulder has published a series of essays on diversity and inclusion: http://www.colorado.edu/ftep/diversity-essay-series.
Other Resources
- Ambrose, S. A., M.W. Bridges, M. DiPietro, M.C. Lovett, & M.K. Norman. (2010). How learning works: seven research-based principles for smart teaching. (pp. 153-187). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. (pdf link)
- Chesler, M.A., & A.A. Young (Eds). (2015). Faculty identities and the challenge of diversity: Reflections on teaching in higher education. New York: Routledge.
- Tanner, K. D. (2013). Structure matters: Twenty-one teaching strategies to promote student engagement and cultivate classroom equity. CBE Life Sciences Education, 12(3), 322–331. http://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.13-06-0115