Sorry forgot to include my name!

Great points Jacquelyn! We deal with different sorts of issues related to diversity and inclusion in our work settings and in society in general. And of course classroom and our pedagogical approaches can and should provide means to take these important aspects into account. And part of the issue is that we have not have these sort of conversations as you mentioned; bring up the issue, making space for dialogue and questioning status quo is a crucial part of change.

Great post Armin. Teaching to a diverse audience can prove rather difficult for many, especially when we/they haven’t been held to that standard previously or even been encouraged to consider the matter. Unfortunately, I believe diversity is often limited to simple rhetoric rather than practice, though there are several initiatives including the wonderful ones that you cited that are determined to make these ideas more of a reality. I think that a key hurdle is achieving more diversity within the teaching population so that they may more accurately appeal to their student base and embody diversity in practice. I do not propose that white teachers are somehow becoming “irrelevant” to any extent, but there is something to be said about students appealing to educational role models who they consider to better understand their personal experiences. Intersectionality aside, I agree with you that the whole of the educational community should be actively attuned and sensitive to these issues as well as be more prepared to seek activism and/or accommodation depending on their positionality. The “call” for social justice has always been present to some extent and we simply know conclusively that inequality and exclusion dominate the pedagogical landscape; it is just a shame that there are large populations who don’t care or don’t care enough.

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I agree Ernesto, those are negative impacts of lack of inclusive and welcoming environment for students. I think incorporating strategies to create inclusive environment may help us to not only overcome these effects but also empower students mentally and emotionally.

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Your comments about students facing challenges/barriers remind me of students with disabilities. I did some research on that topic. “Students with disabilities say the ignorance of faculty and staff members makes it difficult to get the help they need — and in some cases, makes them less willing to disclose their condition” (Grasgreen, 2014). I learned about Universal Design of Instruction (UDI), which can be used to address this issue. “The goal of UDI is to maximize the learning of students with a wide range of characteristics by applying UD principles to all aspects of instruction (e.g., delivery methods, physical spaces, information resources, technology, personal interactions, assessments)” (Burgstahler, 2018). It is important to note that UDI addresses several issues related to instruction. “Pre-college and college students come from a variety of ethnic and racial backgrounds. For some, English is not their first language. Also represented in most classes are students with a diversity of ages and learning styles, including visual and auditory. In addition, increasing numbers of students with disabilities are included in regular pre-college and post-secondary courses. Their disabilities include blindness, low vision, hearing impairments, mobility impairments, learning disabilities, and health impairments” (Burgstahler, 2018).

Burgstahler, S. (2018). Universal Design of Instruction (UDI): Definition, Principles, Guidelines, and Examples. Retrieved from https://www.washington.edu/doit/universal-design-instruction-udi-definition-principles-guidelines-and-examples
Grasgreen, A. (2014, April 2). Dropping the Ball on Disabilities. Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/04/02/students-disabilities-frustrated-ignorance-and-lack-services

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Thanks for your post! I really enjoyed reading it. In addition to thinking of ways to get our points across in diverse groups, I think it is so important to listen to and consider the perspectives of other people in the group. When we do, we can begin to move from convincing others to collaborating with others. Thanks for the post!

Thanks for your post! And thanks for sharing your experiences! I really appreciate your point about deconstructing the norm. Do you have thoughts on what that looks like?

Thanks for the post! I really appreciate your discussion of the TA workshop and advocating for diversity and inclusion in the classroom. I have seen similar resistance in a lot of engineering contexts and it just boggles my mind. These are absolutely conversations that we need to be having, particularly in fields like engineering. But we treat engineering as purely objective. As engineers, we are constantly making decisions and determining what factors are important to consider and what problems are important to solve. Thanks for the post! It definitely resonated with me.

Thanks for the post! I really appreciate your discussion of the TA workshop and advocating for diversity and inclusion in the classroom. I have seen similar resistance in a lot of engineering contexts and it just boggles my mind. These are absolutely conversations that we need to be having, particularly in fields like engineering. But we treat engineering as purely objective. As engineers, we are constantly making decisions and determining what factors are important to consider and what problems are important to solve. Thanks for the post! It definitely resonated with me.

Thanks for the post! I really enjoyed reading it! And I really appreciated your last paragraph where you talked about empathy and subtleties in interactions. I think those subtle interactions are so important to consider.