Inclusive Virtual Teaching | Teaching Continuity

The current pandemic offers both opportunities and challenges for instructors committed to equitable, inclusive teaching. On the one hand, lessons of interconnectivity abound as the pandemic reminds of our shared humanity and confirms that our collective well-being depends on individual responsibility as well as communal action. On the other hand, crisis and stress reduce our cognitive and emotional bandwidth, causing us to rely more heavily on mental shortcuts and bias, thus increasing the risk that we reify oppressive structures.

The following strategies offer a few concrete and creative ways to intentionally amplify human connection, acknowledge varied and divergent experiences, and mindfully mitigate the negative impact of diminished bandwidth.

How can I demonstrate my value of inclusivity and equity in the classroom from the beginning of my course?

Check out our First Day of Class checklist for specific ideas.
Consider writing a welcome letter or creating a short video to introduce yourself and your course to students. You can use the media gallery in Collab/Canvas or Flipgrid to invite students to respond with their own short get-to-know-you videos, or you can open up a forum in Collab/Canvas for everyone to respond. Provide a template to help students consider scope and content, and be sure to provide options‒not all students will be comfortable with video or with writing.
Create a "Syllabus" discussion forum where students can ask questions about the syllabus. This allows you to answer questions one time while clarifying expectations for all students.
Consider spending some time to set up and practice interactive formats that you will return to throughout the semester. If you anticipate using a chat page in Collab/Canvas, set up a chat about favorite music or fun facts for students to get to know each other. Require everyone to post so they can get used to using this format. If you will have synchronous meetings, take time to set expectations for dialogue and practice moving in and out of breakout rooms.

Connect students to students | Connect students to instructor
Connect students to field | Affirm students’ values and goals
Explain expectations for assessments | Explain expectations for participation

GENERAL STRATEGY	SYNCHRONOUS APPROACHES	ASYNCHRONOUS APPROACHES
Connect students to students	LESS COMPLEX Create a check-in or check-out question for students to answer via chat. Optional: follow with the phrase checked in/out. Ex: “Today, if I were a song, I’d be _____.” “I’m bringing in ____. Checked in.” MORE COMPLEX Use Zoom’s breakout rooms to give everyone three minutes with a partner at the beginning of class to discuss the reading, brainstorm a big question, or just check in.	LESS COMPLEX Leave an open chat on Collab/Canvas (that you moderate) as a “check-in” space. Optional: Provide a few sentence stems to support engagement. Ex: "I am learning how to ___________." "I’m currently experiencing _________ as a challenge." MORE COMPLEX Set up a group via a social media platform and invite students to share snapshots of their lives that pertain to the class or that they want to share with the class community
Connect students to instructor	LESS COMPLEX If you provide an opportunity for students to check in, participate in the check in yourself. Acknowledge the way current events are affecting you, to the level you are comfortable. MORE COMPLEX Hold office hours via Zoom and encourage students to attend. Attendance at an open office hour or checking in via email might be a great replacement for a participation grade.	LESS COMPLEX Avoid writing to students about how this relates to another hardship you’ve experienced. Focus on providing concise, consistent, frequent communication, perhaps including one or two sentences to acknowledge that this is all new for everyone. MORE COMPLEX Rather than providing weekly information only in writing, create a short accompanying video. Allow students who are participating asynchronously to see your face, meet your pets, and see what you’re doing to move through this time.
Connect students to field *Note: Pay attention to how the identities of guest speakers and highlighted scholars reflect the identities of students in the course.	LESS COMPLEX Replace one of your readings with a recent article on how your specific field is navigating the coronavirus pandemic. Invite students to connect their current experiences and new ways of working to the experiences of the field as a whole. MORE COMPLEX With everyone working from home, now could be a perfect time to organize guest speakers--invite colleagues or friends in the field to drop into your Zoom class or participate in a panel discussion.	LESS COMPLEX Invite students to follow the Twitter accounts or blog of a scholar in your field. Ask them to engage in current discourse and discuss trends they are noticing in a Collab/Canvas forum. MORE COMPLEX Use Kaltura to create a video quiz as students watch a recent keynote or presentation from a scholar in the field
Affirm students’ values and goals	LESS COMPLEX Before the course begins, ask students to complete a "Getting to Know You" questionnaire (this can also be a video or audio clip). Include a question as, "How do you live out your core values?" or "How might your core values connect to this course? MORE COMPLEX At two or three points throughout the semester, ask students to reflect on how they are living out their core values. You can make this a short, ungraded writing assignment. The question and the students' reflection doesn't need to be connected to the course content in order to be impactful. To learn more about the effectiveness of values affirmations, check out this article.	LESS COMPLEX Invite students to respond to a forum question around how their personal values are lived out during this particular time and experience of the course. MORE COMPLEX Invite students to respond to the above prompt, but with a photo, song, or video submission.
Explain expectations for assessments	Take student questions on assignments via sli.do, Zoom poll or Collab/Canvas survey, and take time in class to answer thoroughly.	Ask students to read the assignment rubric and submit questions on an assignment-focused forum. Go through each question to respond.
Explain expectations for participation	Create a “Norms for Zoom” list of expectations. Example: Please mute your audio unless actively speaking. Please avoid using the public chat unless we are using it for class, but feel free to chat to me privately with questions. You can use the “Take a Break,” “Slow Down,” etc. tools freely. I may not be able to respond immediately. If you need to leave the room for a moment, please mute your video so I can see that you’re no longer present. Feel free to situate yourself in whatever way will best support your learning.	Create a “Norms for Asynchronous Participation” to inform students of what you expect. Create a short rubric or list of guidelines around length, citations, formality, etc., and try to provide examples when possible. Use your own responses to Discussion posts to model productive participation.

Key Questions

Inclusive teaching practice is perhaps even more critical as students are navigating virtual learning in widely varying contexts. It’s important that all students have equitable access to learning, but it’s also critical at this time to recognize the ways in which student bandwidth will be stretched in different ways depending on personal circumstances. Physical location, mental health, access to the internet, personal affect from the pandemic, abilities and disabilities that might shape virtual learning--all of these factors mean that every individual is having a different experience in your course. These are a few key ideas to keep in mind as you consider teaching online during this time of crisis:

How do I acknowledge the emotional and physical toll of the crisis?

Normalize distraction, reduced productivity, mental and emotional burdens, etc. Normalize a drive towards productivity, hyper-awareness, over-consumption of media. Normalize too much or too little sleep, loneliness and a desire for solitude, creativity and boredom. This article by Dr. Aisha Ahmad does an excellent job of normalizing a host of responses for faculty; try to do the same for your students.
Introduce all of your assignments for the rest of the semester now, and make all deadlines suggestions, with a final deadline at the end of the semester. There will be times when your students are feeling more capable to be productive, and they can jump in and get things done. There will be other times when they are unable to finish “on time.” Making rubrics, assignment descriptions, etc. available now gives students the agency to self-direct their learning based on their individual circumstances. Providing suggestions (and clarity about how much time each assignment might take) supports them in making those decisions.
In all of your language, de-stigmatize real conversations around mental health. Consistently point to the resources that exist for students. If you are comfortable doing so, talk about how you are supporting your own mental health.
More useful tips on supporting students:
- ‘Do No Harm’: The Coronavirus Crisis Calls for Compassion, Say Faculty Members Sharing Advice
- 10 Tips to Support Students in a Stressful Shift to Online Learning

How can I restructure assignments to allow for students’ differing contexts?

Consider offering 2-3 specific options for how students can demonstrate learning for your assignments. Perhaps you offer the option of a group assignment or an individual assignment. Perhaps reflections can be recorded via video, audio recording, or written text. Perhaps students can choose to research a topic related to the current coronavirus pandemic, or they can choose to research something that’s less intensely relevant to them at this time.
Avoid offering any option, or requiring students to tell you what they want to do with no guiding principles. There are many decisions being made right now, and some students are making more decisions for themselves than others. Avoid contributing to decision fatigue as much as possible, and give a few clear, simple options instead.

How can I demonstrate sensitivity to students’ varying experiences of this crisis?

Rigorously avoid oppressive language, and interrupt any similar language that might be coming from students during your meetings. Notice if language moves towards racism, fatphobia, ableism, or classism. Here are a few thought pieces to support your learning

How should I communicate with students?

Students, like instructors, are moving through untold numbers of emails, news updates, and communication from friends and family. The more clear and concise you can make your communication, the better.
Consider consistency in format, language, and tone. If you are able to maintain the communication tools you utilized before spring break, do so. Otherwise, explain thoroughly how you will use Collab, email, etc., and then stay consistent in your use of these tools.
Consider digital accessibility at all times, for all communication.

How can I shift to virtual assessment in an equitable manner?

If you are requiring that students demonstrate participation in a different way for virtual, asynchronous learning, consider if their contributions must be in writing. Is writing their reflections a learning objective for the course? If not, consider video contributions, audio recording, images, or offering a sentence stem for a one-sentence check-in. For students, writing a well-crafted reflection weekly for every course adds up, so consider if this is necessary for the participation and learning you are assessing.
- Tip: think about varying your feedback with one of these methods, too. Can you send students audio-recorded feedback rather than written feedback? Would that save time for you?
If students are going to collaborate in groups on a project, there are a number of additional logistics they’ll navigate to make their work successful. Consider adding in a “virtual logistics” aspect to your rubric, and move several points to that aspect. Credit students for the difficult labor of figuring all of those details out. Likewise, if you’re expecting students to record presentations online or design other means of presenting their work, consider valuing the additional work of learning a new platform in the grade you’re providing.
Refer to our Assessment page for additional strategies and techniques