Module 2: Designing for inclusivity
2.1 Module overview
Transcript (PDF)| Video length ~ 3 min.
Learning outcomes
What you can take away from this module
- Confidence in understanding and applying key principles of equity and inclusivity to humanize virtual learning design.
- The ability to critically reflect on your own positionality in the context of social justice principles and how they impact virtual teaching and learning contexts.
- Capacity to apply the principles of universal design for learning (UDL) to proactively ensure all learners can access and use your materials and decrease the need for reactive accommodations.
- Comfort with holistic well-being principles and capacity to make thoughtful design choices to help facilitate positive learner mental health in virtual contexts.
- Acknowledge and understand your responsibilities as an educator to the TRC Calls to Action and identify strategies for appropriately incorporating principles of Indigenization or decolonization into your course design, content, activities, and/or assessment design.
This module will provide an introduction to core principles of equitable, inclusive, and sensitive teaching and learning design in virtual contexts. It will also explore some initial considerations for decolonizing or Indigenizing your virtual course. Principles are paired with practical and applied strategies and examples to help you apply these concepts in the design (or redesign) of your own virtual courses.
Sections in this module
You can jump to any of the sections in this module by clicking the links below or using the left-side navigation menu.
2.2 Equity and inclusivity in virtual learning
2.3 Social justice in virtual learning contexts
2.4 Universal design for learning and equitable access to online content
2.5 Learner mental health and wellness in virtual courses
2.6 The road to decolonizing and Indigenizing a virtual course
Strategies in action examples
Below are links to strategies, examples, instructor testimonials, and templates for those who would like to jump right to exploring humanizing principles and strategies in action and applied in real virtual courses.
2.2 Equity and inclusivity in virtual learning
2.3 Social justice in virtual learning contexts
- Strategies in action: Power flower exemplar
- Strategies in action: Remind yourself and learners of your social justice commitments
- Strategies in action: Social justice reading list, resource, and image audit
- Strategies in action: Create space for learners to talk about and act on issues of social justice
2.4 Universal design for learning and equitable access to online content
- Strategies in action: Multiple means of representation
- Strategies in action: Multiple means of action and expression
- Strategies in action: Multiple means of engagement
2.5 Learner mental health and wellness in virtual courses
- Strategies in action: Designing virtual learning experiences to promote wellbeing
- Strategies in action: Promote course and institutional supports in your course LMS
- Strategies in action: Managing student workload
- Strategies in action: Addressing sensitive topics
2.6 The road to decolonizing and Indigenizing a virtual course
Reflect and apply activities
Reflect and apply
Below are links to all the Reflect and Apply activities for those interested in diving right into applying principles and examples to their own course design and teaching context.
2.2 Equity and inclusivity in virtual learning
2.3 Social justice in virtual learning contexts
2.4 Universal design for learning and equitable access to online content
2.5 Learner mental health and wellness in virtual courses
2.6 The road to decolonizing and Indigenizing a virtual course
Going deeper resources
Going deeper
Below are links to additional resources on various topics for those interested in learning more about a particular topic.
2.2 Equity and inclusivity in virtual learning
- Equity & Inclusion Glossary of Terms: University of British Columbia
- Removing Barriers to Online Learning Through a Teaching and Learning Lens (PDF, p. 5)
- Canadian Race Relations Foundation Glossary
- EDI Style Guide: Faculty of Health Sciences, Queen’s University
- If you are interested in further exploring #the4thBox, see the Centre for Story-base Strategy’s Why we need to step into #the4thbox free digital resources.
2.3 Social justice in virtual learning contexts
- Power flower extension resources:
- The Wheel of Privilege, developed by the Intertwine Charter
- Racial oppression resources:
- Robin DiAngelo: White Fragility (Video length ~11 min)
- Ibram X. Kendi: The difference between being “not racist” and anti-racist (Video length ~52 min)
- Peggy McIntosh: Unpacking the invisible knapsack of white privilege
- Ethnicity and xenophobia resources:
- Language justice resources:
- Jamila Lyiscott: Language, race and power (Video length ~ 3 min)
- Religious oppression resources:
- Family status resources:
- Social class/socioeconomic status resources:
- Sheldon Levy, Why student aid is important in levelling the playing field (Video length ~ 4 min | Transcript)
- Education equity resources:
- Ability/disability resources:
- Sex assigned at birth resources:
- Gender identity and expression resources:
- Lee Airton on how we all participate in gender policing, and how we can stop (Video length ~ 5 min)
- The No Big Deal Campaign website and They is My Pronoun blog [now archived] are resources created by Lee Airton (Faculty of Education, Queen’s University) for gender affirmation through respectful pronoun use.
- Paul Gessell: Universities for all genders
- Sexuality resources:
2.4 Universal design for learning and equitable access to online content
- Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act
- What is the AODA?
- AODA Requirement for Educational Institutions
- AODA Education Standards
- National Centre on Accessible Educational Materials: Designing for Accessibility with POUR
- Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
- OER Accessibility Toolkit
- Accessibility Tools and Resources
2.5 Learner mental health and wellness in virtual courses
- The Mental Health Commission of Canada hosts a training program called Mental Health First Aid
- Mental Health Commission of Canada Continuum Self Check
- Food insecurity and mental health (PDF)
- Teaching practices that promote student wellbeing (PDF)
- We have an obligation to design courses for the time students have
- Rice University, Center for Teaching Excellence: Course Workload Estimator
- Online micro-learning can transform the teaching of sensitive topics
- Teaching and learning sensitive topics
2.6 The road to decolonizing and Indigenizing a virtual course
- Indigenous history on Turtle island resources:
- Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada
- Truth and Reconciliation Commission Reports
- National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation About NCTR
- Qikiqtani Truth Commission Key Findings
- Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG)
- Implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Canada
- What reconciliation is and what it is not
- National Indigenous leadership groups:
- Recommended multimedia resources:
- For deeper understanding of preferred terminology:
- Communicating Positively: A Guide on Terminology (Trent University)
- Indigenous Peoples terminology guidelines for usage (Indigenous Corporate Training Inc.)
- Briefing Note on Terminology (University of Manitoba)
- Terminology Guide (Queen’s University)
- Indigenous Terminology Guide (PDF, University of Waterloo)
- Use these culturally offensive phrases, questions at your own risk (Indigenous Corporate Training, Inc.)
- Indigenization of the academy:
- Indigenization as inclusion, reconciliation, and decolonization: Navigating the different visions for indigenizing the Canadian academy
- Decolonization is not a metaphor
- It’s not my job to teach you about Indigenous People
- Want to reach out to an Indigenous scholar? Awesome! But first, here are 10 things to consider
- Pulling Together: A Guide for Curriculum Developers:
- Faculty perspectives, approaches, and strategies for Indigenization and decolonization of courses:
- Indigenization Guides (BCcampus)
