Supporting academics with inclusive and equitable curricula, teaching and learning
3.20-4.40pm
Facilitated by A/Prof Sally Baker, Refugee Education Australia and Dr Claudia Rivera Munoz, University of Melbourne
Supporting academics with inclusive & equitable curricula, teaching and learning Addressing students’ learning needs equitably and at scale requires more systematic inclusion in Australian university classrooms and curricula. We already have many long-standing arguments for more equitable approaches, possible frameworks and practical strategies to advance inclusive and equitable teaching and learning, curriculum (re)design, assessment practices and policies, but sadly there has been little progress across the sector. This roundtable will contribute to a project (funded by the Australian Centre for Student Equity and Success) that is exploring how we can support academic educators to be more equitable and inclusive in their teaching. In addition to a national survey data with academic educators, we have also created institutional case studies of how academic educators, academic developers, learning designers, student-facing support staff, and senior leaders (with responsibility for teaching and learning) perceive, implement, and evaluate equity and inclusion in their classrooms, disciplines, and institutions. These data have offered us insights into the very real challenges that colleagues across the country experience, as well as possible levers and opportunities for helping to make our curricula more inclusive, and teaching and learning more equitable. However, considering the challenges that the sector is facing (such as change management processes, governance issues, redundancies, course reductions), these are difficult times to make an argument to do more with less. A key intention of our project is to create resources that help universities and academic educators to design, deliver, and evaluate inclusive and equitable curricula and teaching strategies, particularly in ways that benefit equity cohorts. However, as conditions continue to shift across the sector, what might have been effective when we wrote the proposal may now longer be fit for purpose.
Aim/s for the session
This roundtable will workshop ideas about what kinds of outputs, resources, and messages about how universities can support academic educators would be useful and valued. The specific aims of the session will be to explore these key questions:
- What is needed to shift the dial on inclusive teaching and learning?
- What good practice already exists?
- What would it take to get universities to invest in more inclusive and equitable practices?
- What kind of equity/inclusion-focused professional development should higher education institutions offer?
The purpose of the discussion around each question will be to workshop ideas and potential outputs that the project team can develop as part of the ACSES-funded project. All the participants in this roundtable will be credited as co-designers of the outputs.
Proposed format and outline for the session
This 60-minute roundtable will be an interactive workshop format, starting with a 10-minute presentation (setting the scene with the need for focus on academic educators and inclusive teaching, an overview of the ACSES-funded project, and negotiating expectations for co-design).
Following this, the group will split into four groups, with participants choosing one of the organising questions, with a group lead and scribe nominated for each. Each group will spend 20 minutes in a circle discussion, with each group member contributing an idea, and the scribe recording the main points using Padlet. The group needs to pick their top three ideas before reporting back to the whole group.
At 30 minutes, each group lead will present on their discussion and their top-three ideas.
At 45 minutes, the group will consider this overarching question: What resources could help academic educators to design more inclusive curricula and engage in more equitable teaching and learning practices?
The results of the discussion and the co-designed outputs will be shared with participants after the symposium. The participants will all be named as contributors in the final report to ACSES (unless they elect not to be included).
Intended outcomes/benefits for participants
Participants will benefit through the opportunity to both share their experiences as well as collectively co-design potential resources that could help to support more inclusive curricula and equitable teaching and learning in universities across Australia. Insights generated from this session will inform the project’s national deliverables, including a professional development framework and policy recommendations for Australian universities. Ethics approval for this as a forum for data collection has been secured through the Australian National University.