Making courses more equitable and inclusive

Making courses more equitable and inclusive

The Queen鈥檚 Centre for Teaching and Learning has new resources dedicated to several priority areas including anti-racism and inclusion.

October 14, 2021

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The Centre for Teaching and Learning has recently added three new educational developers and is continuing the Student Educational Technology Assistants Team launched in 2020.

Every term at Queen鈥檚, instructors at all levels look to innovate in the classroom or adopt new approaches to their teaching informed by the latest research. The Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) is there to support their pedagogical needs and has recently expanded the resources it offers on key topics related to equity, diversity, inclusion, and Indigenization (EDII) in the classroom as well as its dedicated resources for graduate students and post-doctoral fellows.

鈥淭he Centre for Teaching and Learning has a wide array of resources available to help Queen鈥檚 instructors and now we are better positioned to support them in equity-related areas such as curricular globalization and anti-racism,鈥 says Associate Vice-Principal (Teaching and Learning) Klodiana Kolomitro. 鈥淭hese are some of our institutional commitments, and I encourage any instructor at Queen鈥檚 to explore how we can help them make their courses more equitable and inclusive.鈥

The CTL has added new educational developer positions to create these new EDII resources and facilitate related professional development opportunities. One of the new educational developers, Yunyi Chen, focuses on program and curriculum globalization and another, Yasmine Djerbal, on anti-racism and inclusion. They both offer consultations, workshops, teaching observations, and other services available to all Queen鈥檚 instructors.

Integrating these priorities into supports for graduate students, teaching assistants, teaching fellows, and post-doctoral fellows is Karalyn McRae (Educational Developer, Graduate Students and Post-Doctoral Fellows). In this role, McRae facilitates the Professional Development in University Teaching and Learning online module series as well as the Educational Development Associate (EDA) program.

The EDA program mentors a team of graduate students to serve as educational resources for teaching assistants and teaching fellows. Three Queen鈥檚 graduate students are serving as educational development associates in the program for the 2021-2022 academic year: Clarissa de Leon, Monica L. Garvie, and Samantha Twietmeyer.

鈥淭here are many facets to successful teaching at the university level, and graduate students and post-docs sometimes need guidance as they develop,鈥 says Andy Leger, Interim Director, CTL. 鈥淥ur complement in the CTL can help in a wide variety of areas, including leveraging the strengths of teaching assistants, integrating active learning, and finding ways to make use of the physical space of the classroom.鈥

The CTL鈥檚 Student Educational Technology Assistants Team is returning this year to help instructors implement technology in their courses. The team was created in the 2020-2021 academic year to assist with remote teaching and learning, and it is continuing this year to support a wide variety of technological needs for both in-person and online courses. The student team works under the guidance of the CTL鈥檚 Educational Technology Team.

Learn more about these resources and how to access them on the Queen鈥檚 CTL website