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Inclusive Teaching Week

Inclusivity isn’t a goal. It’s a journey.


Teaching for EquityAs the semester winds down, we acknowledge the various ways in which the past year has been trying. A global pandemic; ongoing, systemic racial injustice; and political extremism have tested our sense of community, as well as our individual wellbeing. These crises have brought into sharper relief both the inequities and the resiliencies distributed among our faculty, students, and staff. From faculty struggling to balance childcare with new modalities of online teaching, to remote students seeking reliable devices and stable wifi signals, this year has given us vivid examples of the invisible labor that even in the best of times can make a Harvard education seem barely sustainable.

Before we consign this longest of years to the history books, we would like to invite the Harvard community to take stock of our ongoing journey to create a culture of teaching and learning in which every instructor and every student feels seen, heard, and supported in our classrooms. Please join us for our first-ever Inclusive Teaching Week this May 10–14.

Jump to...  Case Studies series  |  STEM Journal Club  |  Curated resources  

Case Studies in Inclusive Teaching with Marya Mtshali

When it comes to creating equitable and inclusive classrooms, instructors and students often express their desire for a set of institution- or discipline-wide guidelines that they might share on their syllabi and in person. While these kinds of guidelines and best practices—like the University of Michigan's popular inclusive teaching framework, or the Bok Center’s own inventory of inclusive teaching practices—have an important role to play in rendering our courses more equitable and inclusive, they cannot be sufficient to achieve a learning environment that is adaptive and responsive to the ever-changing dynamics surrounding the challenging conversations we and our students want to have. Robust and empathetic classroom communities are not legislated; they are made, and re-made, and made again through our daily practices of listening and facilitation.

Join the Bok Center and WGS faculty member Marya T. Mtshali for a series of five case-based discussions focused on key aspects of equity and inclusivity in teaching, ranging from the content we include in our syllabi to how we structure our mentoring relationships. You may register for as many or as few of the sessions as your schedule allows; the only preparation required is to read the two brief cases that correspond to each of the sessions you plan to attend. Dr. Mtshali will frame each session before opening the floor for a lively discussion of the case materials. Participants may also choose to draft a diversity statement and workshop it with Bok Center staff.

Learn more about the series
Register at right 

Inclusive Teaching at the STEM Journal Club

Our biweekly STEM Journal Club meetings offer attendees an opportunity to discuss the most recent research on science education. In concert with Inclusive Teaching Week, the May 13 Journal Club will focus on “How to enhance inclusive teaching practices in STEM domains.” You can find the selected article on the Journal Club Canvas site, linked below.

Learn more and register 

Curated Resources on Inclusive Teaching

Inclusive Teaching in the Bok Center's Online Resource portal. Look here for advice about topics ranging from inclusive syllabus design to managing difficult conversations in the classroom.

Equitable and Inclusive Teaching: Check out this new module on our Hit the Ground Running Canvas site to become more familiar with key terminology, explore inclusive teaching strategies, and reflect on your own teaching practice. Make sure you're registered for the Canvas site to access the module.

Bok Guide: How Can I Build a LGBTQ+ Inclusive Classroom? Review this one-page resource, designed to be a starting point for ideas on how to increase inclusivity in your teaching through your syllabus, course content, and the language you and your students use.

Bok Seminars are designed for GSAS PhD students at every stage of teaching. Equity and Inclusion-themed Bok Seminars cover topics such as critical pedagogy and classroom culture.

  • Teaching with Purpose: Critical Pedagogy in a Time of Pandemic (upcoming, Summer 2021)
  • Classroom Culture: Fostering Equity and Inclusion in Community (completed, Fall 2020)
  • Teaching to Transgress: A Critical Pedagogy Reading Group (completed, Spring 2021)

Viji Sathy and Kelly A. Hogan, "Advice Guide: How to Make Your Teaching More Inclusive," The Chronicle of Higher Education (22 July 2019).

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) Action Collaborative from the Office of Gender Equity: As part of its commitment to maintaining a safe and healthy work environment in which no member of the University community is, on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity, excluded from participation in, denied the benefits of, or subjected to discrimination in any University program or activity, Harvard has joined an Action Collaborative founded by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM), to address and prevent sexual harassment across all disciplines and among all people in higher education.

The Next Gen Initiative's Resources for instructors on inclusivity in Advising and Mentoring, Teaching for Student Success, and Actionable Interventions.