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Content Matters:
An Inclusive Syllabi Project
About the Diversity Institute
Mission, Goals & Strategy
The Diversity Team
The Diversity Scholars
Teleconferences
Kickoff
CIRTL Forum 2005
Teleconference Agenda
May 5, 2005
Today's teleconference will highlight the diversity efforts of the College of Engineering at the University of Michigan. Levi Thompson, Professor of Chemical Engineering and Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education will discuss the success of U of M in graduating underrepresented minority students, and the changes that have occurred in their strategies for admission in light of the recent legal actions against the university.
1. Ice Breaker
Why is it desirable to foster diversity among the students, faculty and staff of institutions of higher learning?
What strategies do you believe are necessary and warranted to achieve such diversity?
2. Resource Highlight
Levi Thompson will discuss the strategies used in the College of Engineering at the University of Michigan to diversify the pool of successful engineering graduates. The University of Michigan has achieved great success in graduating large numbers of women and underrepresented minority engineers. The recent legal actions against the university have increased their visibility, and caused the institution to radically rethink its role in defining the importance of and methods to achieve diversity in higher education.
Appended you will find two PDF files:
1) Slides to accompany the presentation
2) a talk given by Amy Gutman, President of the University of Pennsylvania , at the recent Leadership Alliance Presidential Forum (the talk was originally given while she was Provost at Princeton).
3. Registration for the CIRTL Forum 2005 will officially close this week. If you are planning to attend and have not already done so, you must register by the end of the week. Please contact Mary Fish at <mjfish@wisc.edu> or 608-263-0630 immediately.
4. Diversity Institute Assignments
This is the last teleconference of the Diversity Institute.
Our resource book, "Reaching All Students" went to press last week; thanks to all of you who contributed by reviewing the material. The final version will be distributed at the Forum to those of you who attend, and by mail to those who do not.
Our casebook, "Case Studies in Inclusive Teaching in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math" will be sent to print this week; thanks to all of you who discussed the cases and provided possible solutions.
The Literature Review will be the last of our resource put into final form. One more round of reviews will be sent out; if you have reviews of any of the other materials we will be happy to receive them anytime before the end of June.
Thank you all for your participation in the Diversity Institute and the teleconferences.
Your participation is greatly valued and appreciated!
Teleconference Agenda
April 7, 2005
In an inclusive teaching and learning environment, the learning experiences of each and every student are valued. How do we create such environments? What can be done to enrich student learning experiences and enhance student learning outcomes? Which aspects of inclusive teaching and learning are essential to the process and warrant further investigation? To help answer these questions, today's teleconference will focus on a new student-centered model of inclusive teaching and learning.
1. Ice Breaker
How do you reflect on, think about, or try to improve your teaching practices?
2. Resource Highlight
Shihmei Barger, postdoctoral scholar at CIRTL, will present her student-centered model of inclusive teaching and learning. The model provides a conceptual framework for describing, analyzing, and researching the teaching and learning process, highlighting significant elements of the process and demonstrating the relationships between these elements. Faculty and instructors are encouraged to use the model as a tool for reflecting on their teaching practices and discovering ways to foster inclusive learning environments.
Click here for an overview of the model. As you review the model, think about the interactions between the elements of the model: students<->students, students<->instructor, students<->content, students<->pedagogy, instructor<->content, and content<->pedagogy. What questions might you consider to better understand these interactions and their impact on diversity and your practice of teaching? For example, for the student<->student interaction, one might ask, "Do my students show consideration, respect, and sensitivity when speaking to one another?"
3. Register for CIRTL Forum 2005 (May 25-26 in Madison , Wisconsin )
Please contact Mary Fish at <mjfish@wisc.edu> or 608-263-0630 to register for the CIRTL Forum 2005. Mary will provide additional details regarding travel arrangements once you have registered. Also, please let Mary know if you will be attending the Forum as part of an institutional team. Please check the Forum web site regularly for additional details: <http://cirtl.wceruw.org/Forum2005/>.
4. Upcoming Diversity Institute Assignments
The last round of Literature Review summaries will be sent out this month. We are still eager to receive comments on prior summaries; it is not too late to send in reviews.
Teleconference Agenda
March 3, 2005
If we are to improve the retention and success of underrepresented students in STEM, we need to understand how our students experience college. Today's teleconference will focus on understanding how students come to be in our classrooms, particularly the pathways to college taken by underrepresented students.
1. Ice Breaker
What is the probability that a high school sophomore will secure a bachelor's degree within 10 years?
Are there different paths to a four-year degree? If so, which one is most likely to lead to a baccalaureate degree?
Is the probability of and the pathway to securing a degree different for poor and underrepresented students?
What factors matter most in securing a bachelor's degree? Are those factors equally important among poor and underrepresented students?
2. Resource Highlight
Alberto Cabrera will discuss his research on Pathways to College, focusing on the experiences of underrepresented students. The article by AAC&U summarizes from a practitioner perspective recent research on pathways to college and the Pathways to a Four-Year Degree presentation further summarizes this research.
3. Register for CIRTL Forum 2005 (May 25-26 in Madison , Wisconsin)
Please contact Mary Fish at <mjfish@wisc.edu> or 608-263-0630 to register for CIRTL Forum 2005. Mary will provide additional details regarding travel arrangements once you have registered. Also, please let Mary know if you will be attending the Forum as part of an institutional team. Please check the Forum web site regularly for additional details: http://cirtl.wceruw.org/Forum2005/.
4. Upcoming Diversity Institute Assignments
The last round of Literature Review summaries will be sent out this month. We are still eager to receive comments on prior summaries; it is not too late to send in reviews.
A small group of scholars will be asked to review the revised Resource Book: Reaching All Students. We are also looking for a few graduate student Teaching Assistants to review this document: if you know potential volunteers please pass their name and contact information to Judith Burstyn.
Teleconference Agenda
February 3, 2005
1. Ice Breaker
Lawrence Summers, the president of Harvard University, created considerable controversy when he suggested that innate differences between the sexes may help explain why there are fewer women than men in science and math (see "Boston Globe” file). Had you been in the audience, how would you have responded to his comments? Do you imagine that your response might have been different if you were 1) of a different gender or 2) of a different race or ethnicity?
2. Resource Highlight
The resource to be highlighted at this teleconference is the casebook we are developing. The case selected for discussion is "Dan Reilly". Please read and think about this case before the teleconference. During the teleconference we will identify issues raised by the case and come up with a set of possible solutions.
3. Register for CIRTL Forum 2005 (May 25-26 in Madison, Wisconsin)
Please contact Mary Fish at <mjfish@wisc.edu> or 608-263-0630 to register for CIRTL Forum 2005. Mary will provide additional details regarding travel arrangements once you have registered. Also, please let Mary know if you will be attending the Forum as part of an institutional team. Please check the Forum web site regularly for additional details: http://cirtl.wceruw.org/Forum2005/.
4. Upcoming Diversity Institute Assignments
This week two cases from the casebook will be sent to those of you who are STEM faculty. We ask that you get together with other Diversity Institute Scholars at your institution to discuss the cases, identify issues, and suggest possible solutions. Your input will help greatly in the development of the casebook!
Teleconference Agenda
December 15, 2004
1. Ice Breaker (20 minutes)
For those of you who teach, how are issues of student diversity addressed in your syllabus, in your course content, or in your teaching methods?
For those of you who don't teach, why is it important to address the issues of student diversity in syllabi, course content, and teaching methods?
2. Resource Highlight (30 minutes)
The resource to be highlighted in this teleconference is Inclusive Syllabi.
Mary Wyer, Assistant Professor of Psychology at the North Carolina State University, will present her work on creating inclusive syllabi and lead the discussion afterwards.
Prior to the conference call, please visit the "Classroom Atmosphere" web page at:
http://www1.umn.edu/ohr/teachlearn/syllabus/class.html
and the "For Openers...An Inclusive Syllabus by Terry Collins" web page at:
http://wtscenarios.com/TRScontent/hmco/s100012content2_5/e1.r.2a.html
Please also read "Implementing an Inclusive Curriculum for Women in Engineering Education" by Mills and Ayre (pdf file attached below). If you're short on time, we suggest you focus on the following: "Key issues", "Providing help with adapting the curriculum" (p. 206) and "Suggestions for designing an inclusive engineering curriculum, Table 3" (p. 208).
As you peruse the materials, please consider the following questions:
- If you teach, are the materials useful to you? Would you make use of these materials in designing your syllabus?
- If you do not teach, would you recommend this information to a faculty member, teaching staff member, or teaching assistant who is looking for guidelines on how to design an effective and inclusive syllabus?
3. Upcoming Diversity Institute Assignments (5 minutes)
The second round of literature review assignments were sent out for evaluation this week.
For those of you who haven't had a chance to complete prior reviews, we know that you're very busy at the end of the semester. Once the semester ends, if you would take a moment to review the literature we sent you earlier we would be most appreciative. Your feedback is very important to our project.
In early January, we will be sending cases/vignettes for your input. Details will be provided to those of you who receive this assignment.
4. Discuss dates and times for Spring teleconferences (5 minutes)
Teleconference Agenda
November 22, 2004
1. Ice Breaker (15 to 20 minutes)
Can you recall an incident in which race, nationality, gender, age, religion, disability, or academic preparation affected your ability to empathize with a student or a colleague?
2. Resource Highlight (30 to 35 minutes)
Two resources will be highlighted in this teleconference:
- ITOW: the "In Their Own Words" learning enhancement video and workshop developed by the Engineering Coalition of Schools for Excellence in Education and Leadership (ECSEL) at the Penn State University; and
- AWE: the "Assessing Women in Engineering" web site developed by the
University of Missouri and Penn State University.
The targeted audience for ITOW is engineering faculty members; for AWE, it is directors/administrators of WIE and WISE programs, student services administrators, and coordinators of outreach programs for girls and women.
Barbara Bogue, Associate Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics and Women in Engineering at the Penn State University, will introduce the discussion by describing the goals of these programs. She will then invite input from all participants.
Prior to the conference call, please visit the "In Their Own Words" web site at:
http://www.engr.psu.edu/itow/cd/
and the "Assessing Women in Engineering" web site at:
to learn about these projects. As you peruse the materials, please consider the following questions:
- If you teach, are the materials useful to you? Would you make use of these materials in your instruction?
- If you do not teach, would you recommend these sites to a faculty member, teaching staff member, or teaching assistant who is looking for guidelines on how to effectively teach diverse student audiences?
- If you organize outreach activities, are the AWE materials useful to you? Would you make use of these materials to measure the impact of your programs/activities?
- What additions or changes would you recommend?
3. Upcoming Diversity Institute Assignments (5 minutes)
Evaluation of selected web sites and web-accessible documents for inclusion in our web site directory.
Evaluation of literature summaries for the annotated bibliography.
Teleconference Agenda
October 21, 2004
1. Ice Breaker
Please reflect on your own experience as a student (or any time during your education). Describe one classroom experience where you felt included and/or validated by the instructor.
2. Resource Highlight
The resource to be highlighted in this teleconference is the Inclusive Teaching website developed by the Center for Instructional Development and Research (CIDR) at the University of Washington.
Dr. Wayne Jacobson, Associate Director of CIDR, will introduce the discussion by describing the goals and intentions for the site. He will then invite input from all participants in response to three guiding questions.
Prior to the conference call, please visit the Inclusive Teaching website at :
http://depts.washington.edu/cidrweb/inclusive/
As you peruse the materials, please consider the following questions:
- If you teach, are the materials on this site useful to you? Would you make use of these materials in your instruction?
- If you do not teach, would you recommend this site to a faculty member, teaching staff member, or teaching assistant who is looking for guidelines on how to effectively teach diverse student audiences?
- What additions or changes would you recommend for the site?
3. Updated Diversity Institute Web Site
The updated Diversity Institute web site will be online on October 20th. Please visit it at http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/cirtl/DiversityResources/. We welcome your feedback!
4. Upcoming DI Assignments
Evaluation of select websites for inclusion in Diversity Institute website links. Evaluation of sections of the resource book, "Reaching All Students." Let us know if you have a preference for evaluating a website or evaluating the text of the resource book.
Teleconference Notes
September 22, 2004
Participants: Shihmei Barger, Judith Burstyn, Alberto Cabrera, Marquita Chamblee, Katherine Friedrich, Concha Gomez, Jana Gearhart, Maya Holtzman, Wayne Jacobson, Sally Leong, Greg Moses, Rob Maleczka, Donna Nelson, Laura Pauley, Ann Redelfs, Sherrill Sellers, Levi Thompson
The meeting began with an icebreaker in which each person discussed their professional role and their interest in diversity. The group spans a wide range of interests. Some common themes were: researching issues relevant to underrepresented students, mentoring, interest in collaborating with faculty groups to effect institutional change, desire to share research results with a larger community, and having been a member of an underrepresented group in STEM.
Judith began by discussing the goals of the Institute:
- To synthesize the existing knowledge base on inclusive teaching
- To generate tools and disseminate them to help facilitate inclusive teaching.
We are currently soliciting resources. Over the course of the next 9 months, we will be evaluating these tools for their usefulness to future faculty and current practitioners. Our goal is to provide instructors with the tools to facilitate success for underrepresented students.
Judith reiterated Richard Tapia’s statement that international students have a different experience from U.S. minority students. In STEM departments, we often have more foreign-born minority students than native-born ones.
The group proceeded to review the evaluation form. This form applies to two resources: the annotated bibliography and the Resource Book. At the Kickoff, the Diversity Team found that we needed to modify the form. We discussed the new form. The following ideas were raised:
- Will we include graphics in the summaries? Unfortunately, this was not possible due to limitations of the computer software that we are using.
- Can we cross-link the information to the reference? Yes, this is currently done.
- Can we add a question “Who is this useful for?” Yes.
- Do we have room for both predisposition questions and open-ended questions? Unfortunately, we cannot do this and keep the form to one page. However, we do have both types of questions on the online feedback form.
- In question 1, there was some confusion as to whether the “reference” or the “practice” was useful. The question is being rephrased.
- Should the form have a due date? Yes. The due date will be on the letter that goes with the form.
Following this discussion, Judith went over the new information on the annotated bibliography. The bibliography has almost doubled in size. The Diversity Team will send out two articles to the Scholars to review. The articles will be assigned using a stratified random assignment that partially depends upon the readers’ interest areas. The entry structure of the bibliography has changed. The Team welcomes feedback from Institute members. Comments can be sent to 
or written on the back of the feedback form. Please inform us if you notice any “bugs” while visiting our web site.
Every time we add 34 more entries, we will send out another letter to everyone. Some of the source references are available online via web links. Others may not be so easy to access.
There is a self-guided workshop online based on a training held in 2003 to inform UW CIRTL staff about diversity. The Team would appreciate feedback on this resource, which is still under development.
There are many resources in existence that we do not yet have in our database, such as foundation reports. The Diversity Team welcomes all input and suggestions for new resources, including web sites of interest, which will be included in the annotated bibliography (and, possibly, in a “links” section of the site).
Our next meeting will be on Thursday, October 21st, at noon Central Time. We will take notes, but not record the conversation.
Our next goal is a plan for evaluation of the Resource Book. If you are interested in a specific section of the Resource Book, please inform the Diversity Team. We will talk more in October/November about additional resources that we might want to generate.
Diversity Resources | Site Map | Provide Feedback | Contact Us
Comments, questions or problems? Please e-mail diversityteam at cirtl.net.
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0227592.
Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in
this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect
the views of the National Science Foundation.
Copyright © 2004, The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System. All rights reserved.
