Want to Build Inclusive Digital Classrooms? Here Are 5 Ways

Between fiddling with new teleconferencing tools, reworking projects for a virtual environment and revising course syllabi and due dates, this has been a tumultuous time in academia. No matter the discipline, faculty have one question in common: How do you foster an inclusive classroom community online?

UMD’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI) is hoping to help faculty members build welcoming, respectful online classrooms through a series of new twice-weekly Zoom meetings in which instructors can talk with ODI staff about how to incorporate best practices in an unfamiliar setting.

“It is now more critical than ever to observe and reinforce our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion,” said Georgina Dodge, UMD vice president for inclusion and diversity. “Our move to an online environment provides us with an opportunity to develop even better inclusion practices. We need to ask ourselves: How can we make classes and meetings more accessible for people with disabilities? For people with limited web access? For people with different degrees of comfort in online spaces?”

ODI offers the following five tips for faculty members and instructors to build diverse, inclusive spaces in the virtual world.

• Establish community norms and practices. In the first virtual check-in, held last week, Carlton Green, director of diversity training and education, said part of the goal was to model for faculty members an approach to conducting online classes. Reviewing technical guidelines, such as telling people explicitly how to use the mute/unmute audio functions and specifying whether to turn their video cameras on or off demonstrates how to “have a community functioning together,” said Green.
• Start by asking how people are feeling. Green asked faculty participants to share one word or phrase that described their emotional state. Doing so can be instructive for the person leading the class in a synchronous classroom, and also “says to students that we’re interested, we’re curious about how you’re managing right now,” he said.
• Share your pronouns. Online gatherings are ripe for presumptions and guessing, said Green. “We could be looking at people and making assumptions about their gender identity, which can be really distressing and anxiety-provoking for transgender, nonbinary and gender non-conforming individuals.” Having everyone share their pronouns at the beginning of class will normalize the practice and lay a groundwork in which everyone is comfortable.
• Consider the diversity of personalities present. Extroverts and natural socializers may take swimmingly to video chatting, but introverts, shy people and non-native English speakers may feel hesitant. Encourage people to use a typed chat function if they prefer.
• Reflect at the end. What went well? What went awry? How are you feeling? Ask for feedback and suggestions from students. “This is a great approach to collaborating with students to build community,” Green said.

Green hopes that the Tuesday and Friday check-ins will help faculty members create a sense of community among themselves, too. “One of the things we wanted to do was to bring faculty together from across the institution to help them understand they’re not the only ones having some of the experiences they’re having,” he said. “Cognitively, we can all know we’re not alone, but it’s a different thing to be sitting with other people who can reflect back to us that they’re having similar experiences.”