On-Demand Events

Embracing Neurodiversity in STEM

This panel focuses on the connections between neurodiversity and STEM problem solving. Some of the same aspects of neurodiversity that are often characterized as deficits in learning are accompanied by talents that can be harnessed for STEM problem solving. Neurodivergent learners often bring unique strengths to STEM problem solving and should be encouraged and supported in their innovative ways of thinking. The projects discussed on this panel focus on novel pedagogical approaches to highlight neurodivergent thinkers’ creativity, persistence, attention to detail, systematic thinking while also supporting their executive function. We look forward to your participation!

Fairness, Equity, and Values in STEM Grades and Grading

Course grades are concrete outcomes with real-world consequences for students, but to what extent are grades consistent and fair? Moreover, do grades award what we value or both signal and cause inequity? Data on the grades we give students can help us to gain more insight into answers for these questions.

In this workshop, Andrew Heckler, professor of physics at Ohio State, will share his analysis of grading data, focusing on distinctions between grades on exams and assignments and demonstrating the extent to which grading is inconsistent between sections, instructors and semesters, considering measures of prior preparation, such as ACT scores and prior course grade. He also examines how these inconsistencies extend to the demographic factors of gender and race.

Heckler will explain that instructors can choose to decrease these disparities by making changes — some of them simple — in grading practices. 

Presenter: Andrew Heckler, professor of physics, The Oho State University 

Partner: Michael V. Drake Institute for Teaching and Learning

Assessing and Developing Intercultural Competence

In this webinar, we will report on a longitudinal study on the development of Intercultural Competence (ICC) in students enrolled in an elementary Italian language sequence (IT1101-1103). We will begin by describing how training interventions were incorporated into each course, what the interventions, in-class debriefing discussions and post-intervention reflections looked like, and how students were tested on this work.

This will be followed by a presentation on how instructors responded to the reflections and the exam responses and a brief discussion on how instructor training on inclusive teaching will help instructors manage these delicate interactions.

Finally, we will report on how data for the longitudinal study was collected and assessed and the results of this study in terms of the impact of the ICC interventions on students’ ICC development. 

Presenters: Cindy Jiang, Office of International Affairs, Janice M. Aski, Department of French and Italian, April Weintritt, Department of French and Italian, The Ohio State University 

Partner: Michael V. Drake Institute for Teaching and Learning

Learning Analytics to Support Inclusive Instruction

This panel, led by faculty from Columbus State Community College and Lorain County Community College, focuses on the use of Institutional Research (IR) data to evaluate program curriculum and identify classroom instructional strategies that support student success.

Attendees will learn how partnerships between IR staff and faculty at Columbus State and Lorain County Community College have promoted inclusive teaching practices and learning contexts. Panelists will share strategies with participants, who are encouraged to consider leveraging data available to them at their own institutions. In addition, participants will have the opportunity to consider “real life” data sets relevant to the success of first-generation, returning adult learners and students of color. 

Partners: Columbus State Community College and Lorain County Community College

Introduction to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: Simple Strategies

This workshop is a basic introduction to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) teaching strategies and is designed for instructors who are just starting to dip their toes into creating more inclusive and equitable courses.

We will briefly explore four areas: course content, instructor presence, participation and assessment, and student feedback. Participants will discuss strategies within these four areas in breakout groups (verbally or through chat) and choose a few strategies to implement in the spring semester.

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

• explain the relationship between Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and the impact on students’ sense of belonging as well as success within a course,
• explore a variety of strategies within the areas of course content, instructor presence, participation and assessment, and student feedback to create more inclusive and equitable courses,
• identify a few strategies they plan to implement in their own teaching to create more inclusive and equitable courses.

Presenter: Anna Donnell, assistant director, University of Cincinnati Center for the Enhancement of Teaching & Learning

Partner: University of Cincinnati Center for the Enhancement of Teaching & Learning

Inclusive Teaching: Responding to -isms in the Classroom

Have you ever been in a class discussion when a student said something biased, but you weren’t sure how to respond as the instructor? Whether due to high pressure, not being an expert on the identity group being targeted, or simply not knowing what to say in the moment, many of us struggle to address biased comments in the classroom — especially if we are not sure whether the student making the biased comment meant to cause harm. 

As educators, we must be empowered to take action when bias manifests in our classrooms so that we can build inclusive connections with all students. This session incorporates research related to the bystander effect, microaggressions, perceptions of bias in college classrooms, and benefits of creating inclusive learning environments. 

Following this session, participants will be able to: 

• apply techniques to communicate effectively in challenging situations, facilitate educational conversations in response to comments/actions that are racist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, etc., 
• avoid eliciting a defensive reaction from the student who has (perhaps unintentionally) caused harm through their biased remarks. 

Presenter: Lena Tenney, diversity, equity & inclusion officer, College of Pharmacy, The Ohio State University

Partner: Michael V. Drake Institute for Teaching and Learning

Creating a Culture of Caring

Higher education is trapped in crises of budgets, learning, politics (internal and external) and COVID-19. The financial and political storms before us will require our sector to transform structures and cultures. Our students can save us from ourselves — if we will just listen. In his keynote, Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart, president of Amarillo College, describes how Amarillo College transformed their institution through a systemic culture of caring, and a clear theory of change.

Presenter: Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart, president, Amarillo College

Partner: Ohio Association of Community Colleges

Foundations of Inclusive Teaching

What is inclusive teaching and why does it matter? This session explores foundational principles for teaching inclusivity through the lens of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Participants will contrast the concept of non-performativity to effective practices offered by UDL. They will also discuss equity in the classroom, student identity, and strategies in order to cultivate a welcome learning environment. Participants will:

• consider non-performativity as a barrier to inclusive teaching,
• review UDL as a framework for applying inclusive teaching strategies,
• make decisions about best practices for inclusivity in own course. 

Presenters: Shadia Siliman, instructional consultant, Laurie Maynell, assistant director, Michael V. Drake Institute for Teaching and Learning 

Partner: Michael V. Drake Institute for Teaching and Learning

Online Teaching to Support Inclusion

Student success has many components that rely on people from all over the university. In this session, participants will explore their student audience, adult learner attributes, course design that supports inclusion, and tips and ideas to consider when applying inclusive techniques to their classes. This handout was also shared with attendees.

Presenters: Dawn Clineman, director, Carolyn Stoll, associate director, University of Cincinnati Online

Partner: University of Cincinnati

Strategies for Responding Empathetically: Unmasking Best Practices During a Pandemic

Rapport is a critical component of every college class, but even more so when we are disconnected from one another during a pandemic as well as a time of social unrest. It is imperative as educators that our students understand not only the material, but also feel emotionally supported. We will discuss methods for gauging the emotional and intellectual well-being of our students through weekly mental health check-ins; the development of easy ways to connect with instructors via virtual office hours and Canvas chat tools; and the creation of low-stakes engagement assignments (such as the creation of memes, songs, and videos). Additionally, we will discuss empathetic approaches to prioritizing diversity, equity and inclusion in order to support both our students as well as our colleagues.  

Facilitated by: Megan Church-Nally, Assistant Professor-Educator, Organizational Leadership and Julie Weast-Knapp, Associate Professor-Educator, Psychology

Partner: University of Cincinnati, Center for the Enhancement of Teaching & Learning

Intro to Inclusive and Equitable Teaching Strategies for Teaching Assistants (TAs)

In this interactive virtual workshop, Teaching Assistants (TAs) will explore how they can support student learning by gaining awareness of the student experience and working to create an inclusive and equitable learning environment. Coming together with other graduate students, participants are also welcome to share tips and strategies that have helped them in the past and challenges they anticipate for the upcoming year. Participants will investigate how to infuse Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion into their teaching and how this may be similar or different to faculty. We welcome graduate students who are TAs as well as those interested in teaching to attend.

Learning outcomes: By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Discuss how to increase awareness of the student experience to support student learning
• Describe strategies Teaching Assistants (TAs) can use to create an inclusive and equitable learning environment
• Identify strategies they would like to implement within their role as a TA.

Access Moves in the Pandemic Classroom: or, Stuff I’m Trying Out!

This workshop focuses on helping make your teaching more accessible for you and your students—starting with a redefinition of “access” as an interactive process. Dr. Margaret Price brings over 20 years of experience in disability-studies and pedagogy research to this workshop, and is especially interested in approaches that foreground access for instructors and students at the same time. Our conversation will be structured around three key concepts: presence, participation, and pacing (and no, Margaret did not plan ahead to make those all P’s!). This is not a “best practices” workshop—it is explicitly “Stuff I’m Trying Out,” so please bring your own ideas too.

Upon completion of this workshop, attendees will be able to

• Offer a nuanced definition of “access” in classrooms, with a particular emphasis on access as an interactive experience (rather than something that one person does “for” another).
• Reflect on their own access needs as well as their students’.
• Create a list of concrete ideas to try out in their own classrooms, with the explicit goal of moving toward access rather than achieving access all at once.

No Caption

No Caption

Inclusive Pedagogies for Neurodiverse Students

Neurodiversity, the spectrum of neurological variations around learning, communication, social interaction and other cognitive functions, can impact student success in college. These cognitive processing differences, which may come with diagnoses like autism spectrum disorder, ADD/ADHD, dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia or dyspraxia, provide us with opportunities to use teaching strategies that help these, and all, students succeed.  In this workshop we will explore teaching practices that create classrooms that better welcome neurodiverse students and are inclusive for all learners.  

After this workshop participants will be able to: 

• Diversify their teaching strategies with inclusive practices.
• Structure their courses to support student success.
• Notice the signs of stress and anxiety in neurodiverse students and intervene.

Facilitated by: Dr. Jennifer Yates, Ph.D., assistant provost for faculty development, teaching and learning; director of the Center for Faculty Excellence; professor, psychological science, Lander University, Greenwood, SC.

Additional resources (CHECK LINKS):

• Asset-based strategies handout 
• Checklist for transparent assignments handout 
• Pedagogies for neurodiverse group work handout 
• Scientific storytelling handout 

Equity and Inclusion in Higher Education: Strategies for Teaching

Rita Kumar, Ph.D., executive director, Faculty Enrichment Center, Office of the Provost, University of Cincinnati and Brenda Refaei, Ed.D., co-director of the Learning + Teaching Center and a professor of English and Communication at the University of Cincinnati, Blue Ash College, will join the OCTC to discuss their new publication from the University of Chicago Press, Equity and Inclusion in Higher Education: Strategies for Teaching, which details the necessity for an inclusive curriculum with examples of discipline-specific activities and modules.