Examples of Care
Exercising care means taking the time and effort to create a learning environment that is free from discrimination and one that values learners. As educators, our capacity for care will vary based on our unique and intersectional lived experiences. However, care-based practices are iterative and systemic. They require educators to engage in a continuous process of contextualizing and personalizing care for students and learning communities. Examples of care practices can include:
- Ensuring a strong instructor presence throughout the course.
- Making an active effort to know students and their learning needs.
- Providing expectations, tools and resources that will help students succeed in the course.
- Building in time for care (e.g., breaks) within the course design.
- Engaging in co-construction with students.
- Addressing student concerns.
- Verbal and nonverbal expressions of care.
- Knowing and referring to students by their name and/or pronouns.
- Fostering community and belonging between students.
- Making time to connect with students non-academically.
- Ensuring all students are equally valued and respected.
Why is this significant to DEDI?
Care-based practices are critical for addressing and realizing Decolonization, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (DEDI) in teaching and learning. When we design courses with students’ unique and intersectional experiences in mind, we can create more opportunities for access. These practices are important to help students address equity-related needs including:
- Accessibility
- Anti-oppression
- Allyship
- Decolonization
- Disability justice
- Ethnocultural equity
- Gender and sexuality equity
- Indigenization
- Linguistic equity
- Racial justice
- Religious equity
- Social justice
- Wellness and more
