Equity-Focused Teaching

Group of diverse figures
The idea of inclusive teaching emerged from the civil rights movement as a way to foster respect, and equity   for various groups of people (Banks 2001:77, cited in Warren 2005 and Hockings 2010). This definition of inclusive teaching  is particularly interesting as it encapsulates a wide range of differences including, but not limited to, students with special needs, international students, first generation students, students with different racial/ethnic groups, and students with different sexual orientations, etc.
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Evidence-Based Teaching Practices

Two figures sitting at computers with papers

What makes effective teaching? Is it some innate ability? does it solely relate to the type of personality of the instructor? or is it the use of sound, research-based teaching strategies coupled with some common sense? 

As it happens, much is known from both research and experience about what makes effective teaching in higher education and the following guides are opportunities to explore some of these concepts.

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Group Work

Various figures working in groups

Understanding how to work collaboratively is a vital skill set that employers are actively searching for. What they're finding, however, are a lot of gaps in group/team/collaboration skills. How can faculty successfully incorporate collaborative learning into their courses? Support the development of trust and communication within the groups? Assess if the collaboration is effective?

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Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

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At the center of higher education is excellence in teaching to foster student success. The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning is fundamentally about  enhancing teaching practices and thus improving student outcomes.
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Teaching Large Classes

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When we think about the relationship between class size and instructional quality, the general consensus is that smaller is better. A low student-faculty ratio is assumed to be an indicator of high educational quality. In an ideal world, all classes would be small. However, in the real world, and mainly  due to the current state of higher education, the growing perception of college degrees as a sine qua non for employment, and the rise of educational costs, offering small classes is becoming a challenge for higher education institutions.

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