Equity & Inclusion in Online Teaching

Image of Wheel of Power and Privilege

Though many universities today are making efforts to create a more equitable, inclusive environment, most universities were founded to meet the needs of White, middle-upper-class Christian males, and the practices and policies of those original establishments have not yet adjusted to meet the needs of the diverse groups of learners in institutions today (CUE 2017). In the context of online education, equity can be considered “freedom from bias or assumptions that negatively impact online learners' motivations, opportunities, or accomplishments” (Peralta).

 

Unfortunately, opportunity gaps for certain student groups persist in online courses (Cohen 2021). Jaggars (2014) found that some groups (e.g. firstgeneration students; low-income students; ethnic minority students (specifically Latinx and African-American); and academically underprepared students) are at greater risk of not passing or completing online courses. Other groups that may be at risk, include students with disabilities, foster youth, and military veterans (Cohen 2021). Given these challenges, instructors need to be proactive in implementing strategies to create more equitable and inclusive online courses and to minimize the challenges that these student groups face.

Best practices in creating an equitable, inclusive online course

There are 5 ways to create inclusive and equitable online courses. Click each title to learn more about them.

Apply to your course: Resources & Tools 

The table below outlines questions to ask to make your online courses more equitable and accessible

Action

Rationale

Resources/ Tools

Review your syllabus for equity-minded practice

•  Your syllabus can be a tool for equity-minded practice.
•  Instructors can utilize the syllabus to demystify the “implicit norms and ambiguous policies” that lead to success in a college course (CUE 2017, p. 3).

• Syllabus Review Guide for Equity Minded Practice (The Center for Urban Education, 2017)

Review your course for Inclusion & Equity

• Checklists and rubrics can help you review your course for criteria such as access to technology and support, instructor commitment to inclusion, addressing bias, helping students make connections, and using universal design for learning principles.

• Applying Inclusive Teaching Principles (University of Michigan)
• Peralta Equity Rubric
• Social Justice Syllabus Design Tool (Taylor et al.)

Complete a Value Affirmation Exercise with your Students

• Students from underrepresented minorities often struggle with feeling a sense of social belonging in predominately white colleges; value affirmation exercises have been shown to help reduce those feelings and to improve achievement among these students (Stanford)
• At the start of the course and/or critical moments in the course (midterm, before an exam, etc.), use a survey to ask students to identify some of their personal values (family, friends, interests, etc.), and then describe how taking this particular course reflects and helps reinforce those values (Educause, 2019)

• Watch: What is a Value Affirmation Exercise and why is it effective (STEMneutral)

 

Watch “4 Tips to Make an Online Course More Welcoming” (Educause, 2020)

References

Center for Urban Education (CUE) (2017). Syllabus Review Guide for Equity-Minded Practice. Rossier School of Education: University of Southern California.

Cohen, Chelsea (2021). Online Equity Training. Peralta Community College District. Educause (2019). 4 Tips to Make an Online Course More Welcome.

Harvard University (2011). Project Implicit.

Jaggars, S.S. (2014, Winter). Democratization of Education for Whom? Online Learning and Educational Equity. Diversity & Democracy, 17(1).

Matejka, K., & Kurke, L. B. (1994). Designing a great syllabus. College Teaching, 42(3), 115-117.

Peralta Community College District. (n.d.) Defining the Peralta Equity Rubric.

Shirzadi, A. (2018, Feb. 23). STEMneutral - Value Affirmation. Stemneutral.com.

Stanford University GSB Staff. (2012, May 12). The Value of "Values Affirmation".

Taylor, S. D., Veri, M. J., Eliason, M., Hermoso, J. C. R., Bolter, N. D., & Van Olphen, J. E. (2019). The Social Justice Syllabus Design Tool. Journal Committed to Social Change on Race and Ethnicity (JCSCORE), 5(2), 133-166.

University of Michigan Center for Research on Learning and Teaching. Reflecting on your Practice: Applying Inclusive Teaching Principles.

How to cite this page:

UMass Amherst IDEAS Team. (2024, February). Equity & Inclusion in Online Teaching. https://www.umass.edu/ideas/equity-inclusion-online-teaching