October 3, 2023
Equity and inclusion are essential to creating a successful classroom environment for all students, but taking the steps to revise instruction can seem daunting and time-consuming. To bridge this gap, faculty and PhD students in all departments across SCI’s graduate and undergraduate programs collaborated in a community of practice during the 2022-2023 academic year.
Each month, the community of practice came together for an hour for a facilitated discussion about a small teaching approach to be implemented. An expert introduced the topic for 15–20 minutes. The learning community members then considered questions they had and ideas for concrete steps for implementing the change in their courses. They also addressed any potential challenges to this implementation.
Marcia Rapchak (teaching assistant professor, Department of Information Culture and Data Stewardship) said, “We hope that by creating a more inclusive classroom environment, we can provide better support and opportunities for students who have been underrepresented in our respective fields to pursue careers in these areas.”
Though the project has ended, members of the community of practice hope that the rubric they created on formative assessment of inclusive teaching practices will be adopted more widely. They will use data from student surveys and best practices learned while undertaking this project to inform the upcoming work of the community of practice surrounding generative AI.
--Benjamin Briggs