Put inclusion and equity at the forefront of teaching
It is essential to create an inclusive and equitable learning environment where all students can learn and succeed. UC Berkeley is committed to providing high quality education to everyone in our diverse student body.
Here are some ways you can ensure equity and inclusion in online teaching:
- Conduct a pre-class survey. In addition to getting to know more about your students’ educational backgrounds, prior knowledge and skills, interests, and business experience, you may want to survey students about any barriers they may face in learning online.
- Adopt inclusion and equity as a pedagogical mindset. Let what you’ve learned about your students inform your teaching. Ask yourself if your approach is inclusive of all your students and their needs. Include a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion statement in your syllabus to communicate your goals to students.
- Request a DEIJB consultation with queen jaks, DEI Instructional Support Consultant.
- Design with accessibility in mind. Check out the Accessibility section below for more information.
Resources:
- Are You an Inclusive Instructor? (Berkeley Center for Teaching and Learning)
- Culturally Relevant Teaching (Gloria Ladson-Billings)
Incorporate Universal Design for Learning
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework that has been adapted for teaching and course design. When followed, the principles in UDL will ensure that your teaching is inclusive of all learners’ abilities and backgrounds. While accessibility is a key component of UDL, the framework also addresses creating equitable learning environments. Today, students may face various difficulties when learning online, such as lack of access to proper technology or a suitable learning space, inadequate communication with instructors or peers, and limited opportunities to exercise higher-order thinking skills. By following some of the guidelines in the UDL framework, you will create a more equitable learning experience for your students.
Resources:
- CAST UDL Guidelines
- Universal Design Principles (Berkeley Disability, Access and Compliance)
- Universal Design for Learning (UC Berkeley)
- UC-Wide DEI Course Design Rubric
Build Your Course with Accessibility in Mind
- What is digital accessibility? (Berkeley Digital Accessibility)
- Digital Learning Services Accessibility Hub
- Intro to Course Accessibility
- Using the Ally Tool in bCourses
- WebAim.org
As part of our commitment to accessibility, Haas Digital designs media with:
- Closed-captions, transcripts, and slides for course videos
- Meaningful descriptions of images
- WCAG 2.0 compliant color contrast ratios for text
- Color-blind safe color combinations
Educational technologies that we support will also go through a campus accessibility review.
Feedback
We welcome your feedback on the accessibility of course content and educational technologies. Please let us know of any accessibility issues you encounter at [email protected]. We try to respond to feedback within 2 business days.