Strategies and tools
In this page, you will find additional tools to reflect more deeply on how members of the teaching team (professors, TAs, lab coordinators, etc.) can incorporate inclusive principles and strategies into their course design and delivery. The goal of this page is to assist you in effectively guiding and supporting student learning in all its diversity.
Small steps method
You can use any of a multitude of strategies to teach inclusively. You are probably already using some, and chances are you will want to select a few more to continue teaching inclusively.
To that end, we encourage you to use the Small Steps Method:
The idea behind this method is to refrain from trying to change everything all at once so as not to become stressed, overwhelmed and feel you have too much on your plate. Taking small steps means you are less likely to become discouraged and to give up on using the strategies, tips, and tools for inclusive teaching.
We suggest that you choose a few strategies with which you feel comfortable and/or strategies that you think are the most relevant and urgent. Then, implement them, ask for feedback, make any necessary adjustments, and apply them again.
Suggested process to implement inclusion strategies
- Start by thinking about your current practices and about what is working well according to you, your students, colleagues, and the literature. Also consider the aspects you should change (attitudes, behaviours, methods, means, etc.). You can do so individually at first, then discuss it with colleagues, either informally (e.g., hallway discussions) or formally (e.g., departmental meetings, communities of practice).
- Next, take a closer look at the practices, concepts, and marginalized groups presented earlier to gain an understanding of issues of diversity, inclusion, and equity in your teaching and learning environment and in your departmental culture (traditions). You could also explore them in more detail to increase your grasp of the topics.
Tip: After exploring previous pages, you will find the information you need to further explore in the Top 25 Inclusion Strategies and the Strategies Inventory below, and in the resources in Page 5 - Resources. - Then, put together a plan to incorporate one or a few of the strategies into your teaching practice so that you can become more comfortable with these new tools and use them properly in your role as teacher and learning guide, before adding more (e.g., in your next course).
Tip: Use a planning chart as a reminder of the strategies and tools that interest you, and come up with an action plan. You can download a planning template (.docx, 56 Kb) and its companion document (.pdf, 470) for that purpose. - Last, think about your progress and the challenges you have encountered so you can make the necessary adjustments both along the way and after you have reviewed your plan or spoken to others if need be (e.g., students, colleagues, TLSS specialists).
Once you are satisfied with how you have applied these strategies, you can choose new ones and repeat the process. You will see that these gradual changes will make things easier and that they will have a lasting and measurable impact on the inclusivity of your classes.
A key realization (is) that small changes could have an important impact. Faculty who initially (feel) overwhelmed by the prospect of redesigning their whole course structure (become) enthusiastic about making small revisions based on (inclusive teaching) principles within the context of their own course content and teaching styles.
(Burgstahler & Cory, 2008, p. 150.)
Top 25 most frequently recommended inclusion strategies1
This section features a list of the 25 most frequently recommended strategies in the resources we reviewed. This list will give you a quick overview of what is available to you.
If you would like to further explore the different strategies based on your context and needs, we encourage you to take a closer look at the Inclusion Strategies Inventory containing over 130 strategies in the next section.
Enjoy exploring and reflecting!
Documents to download
- Consider the diversity of learners in the design of the course. For example, you could ask yourself:
- “Who am I designing the course for? Who am I forgetting in the design? What assumptions do I make about the students’ backgrounds and culture?
- In terms of materials, content, resources, activities, and assessment methods, "How am I working to ensure my course (…) is valuing a diversity of approaches and not privileging dominant forms of knowledge?"
- Design courses in which you talk less and allow more room for student voices.
- Ensure that content and materials are accessible.
- Use images that do not reinforce stereotypes, but rather show diversity.
- Select resources that represent a diversity of authors. E.g. perspectives, identities, regions, etc.
- Include equity, diversity, and inclusion statements in the course syllabus.
- Send students a survey prior to the start of the course to learn about the students’ background, learning needs, interests, and prior knowledge or experience in order to determine the preferred ways of learning.
Inclusion strategies inventory
Here is the complete inclusion strategies inventory with over 135 strategies to help you make your course more inclusive! The strategies are first divided into three categories, each representing a specific time period related to the course:
- The course design period (before the start of term)
- The teaching period (during the term)
- The feedback and adjustment period (after the term).
Within each category, the strategies are then grouped thematically to better guide your reading.
Best teaching practices open the door to inclusion
Preamble note: a best practice in teaching can also be an inclusive teaching strategy!
Many of the strategies you will find in the inventory echo best practices in teaching. They will support under-represented students in your courses and provide an enhanced learning experience for all learners. The scope of the strategies is universal, diverse, and most importantly, inclusive.
Happy exploring!
Documents to download
Course design (before the term)
- Add a passage in the course syllabus stating that you pledge to make the course inclusive and that you encourage students to come and talk to you about their needs, preferences, and accommodations.
- Check the availability and cost of equipment, books, and textbooks required in your course, and check whether digital or more inexpensive options (e.g., older editions, lease, library loan, discounts, bursaries, grants) are available.
- If so, include this information in your course syllabus and inform students during the first class.
- Check the religious holiday calendar before setting your assessment dates, and keep in mind that some students observe religious rites (e.g., fasting for Ramadan).
- Clearly state expectations and how the course will proceed in the course syllabus, and make sure they align well with the course content.8
- Design SMART learning objectives, incorporate them into your course syllabus, and explain them to your students so they understand the goal of an exercise, a lesson, or an activity and know what to aim for.9
- SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound)
- Include a disclaimer in the course syllabus if some of the subject matter or material presented includes aspects that some might find offensive.
- Include the pronouns you use (she/he/they/her/him/il/elle/iel) in your course syllabus and in your email signature.11
- Use positive and empathetic wording in your course syllabus. Avoid negative and repressive wording.
- Example: Instead of writing “No work handed in late will be accepted,” you could put “All assignments must be submitted by the date indicated. If you think you might be unable to hand in an assignment by the deadline, please notify me as soon as possible.”16
Teaching (during the term)
- Carefully choose the images, messages, and opinions you intend to use in class, and take the time to ponder what they convey.
- Do the images convey stereotypes (e.g., photo of a Black athlete or an Asian person working for a high-tech company)?
- Are the messages tinged with prejudice (e.g., a person who doesn’t have a post-secondary education is automatically poor)?
- Are the questions you ask your class to solicit opinions unbiased?34
- Facilitate notetaking in a variety of ways.
- Organize course notes using a classification system (consistent order, numbers, colours, captions, symbols, etc.).
- Add visual elements to synthesize information (graphics, diagrams, images).
- Provide course materials, exercises, and notes in advance.
- Provide partial PowerPoint presentations or course notes to be completed in class.
- Incorporate memory strategies (key phrases, memory joggers) into your teaching and course notes.
- Prepare lesson outlines or plans and provide them at the beginning of each class to help students follow along and organize their notes. Bullet points, a summary, or a table of contents will suffice.
- Create checklists to guide students in the course (procedure for handing in assignments, steps to follow, activities to be completed during the week).
- Review your material (particularly PowerPoint slides) to ensure information is clear, layout is consistent, and language is understandable (no superfluous jargon).
- Make sure that documents provided to students are accessible and inclusive.
- Aim for a simple presentation (a simple font, a minimum font size of 20 points and a contrasting background) when creating PowerPoint presentations (or equivalent).
- Use the Accessibility Checker in Brightspace and the “Check Accessibility” feature in Wordand PowerPoint when you create or edit documents.
- Add alternative text to describe each image, video, animation and table in a PowerPoint presentation, Word or PDF document, web page or Learning Management System module.
- Choose Word documentsand accessible PDFs, or put two versions of the same document online.
Feedback and adjustment (after the term)
- Check the material used during the course (notes, presentations, videos, podcasts, etc.) and determine what could be improved in terms of accessibility and inclusion (transcripts, multiple versions of documents/files, etc.) before teaching the course again.
- Assess the accessibility and effectiveness of your virtual course space. Note how you could minimize browsing steps (number of clicks), information searches, and page scrolling the next time you teach the course.
- Plan for time to review your course in order to diversify the resources used (e.g., videos, podcasts, readings). Remember that providing material in different formats for a given activity is beneficial to all students in the class.
- Create a Frequently Asked Questions page from questions asked often during the course or on a given topic.
- Explore new resources (websites, readings, information sheets) and new services (on campus, in the region, or online) with the aim of proposing them to the class the next time you teach the course.
Burgstahler, S. E. & Cory, R. (2008). Universal Design in Higher Education. From Principles to Practice. Harvard Education Press.