Teaching and Learning Lab:
Inclusive Teaching Practices
RISD-specific Resources
- RISD’s Inclusive Education: A short guide for faculty
- “The Room of Silence“, presented by BAAD (Black Artists and Designers), filmed and edited by Eloise Sherrid a short film documenting a small fraction of interviews and testimonials conducted by marginalized students at RISD.
- Literature Review: Mapping Identities. A resource developed by RISD students Naomi Bradford, FAV ’19; Jane Long, MFA ’15.
General Resources: What is Inclusive Teaching?
- The Research Basis for Inclusive Teaching and Universal Design for Learning provide important frameworks through which to think about inclusive teaching.
- Creating Inclusive College Classrooms. Inclusive classrooms are classrooms in which instructors and students work together to create and sustain an environment in which everyone feels safe, supported, and encouraged to express her or his views and concerns.
- Inclusive Teaching Resources and Strategies. This page features a range of online resources that define inclusive teaching and provide specific strategies for practicing it.
- The Harriet W. Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning. Sign up to receive bi-weekly emails announcing news and upcoming events at the Sheridan Center.
- An Approach for Teaching Diversity.
- Reflecting on your practice: applying inclusive teaching principles. A very helpful self-assessment tool.
Language in the Classroom
- RISD's guidelines on the use of racial epithets, slurs, and other potentially offensive material in the classroom
- Think Before you Speak: Using Inclusive Language. A presentation on the use of inclusive language in everyday life and its benefits towards community cohesion.
- ‘Ask Me’: What LGBTQ Students Want Their Professors to Know. Transgender and gender-nonbinary students share what keeps them from feeling safe and thriving on campus.
- LGBTQ+ Glossary.
Diverse Learners in the Classroom
- How to Help First Generation Students Succeed.
- Culturally Diverse Learners. While this resource is designed for the general classroom, there are suggested practices that can be adapted to the studio classroom.
- Teaching International Students: Pedagogical Issues and Strategies.
- Cross Cultural Group Work. Research on teamwork in professional contexts illuminates the issues that arise for students as well.
- Available through Fleet Library: ASHE Higher Education Report (2012) Special Issue: Engaging Diversity in Undergraduate Classrooms: A Pedagogy for Developing Intercultural Competence. Volume 38, Issue 2.
- Please consult our Disability Support Services site for tips on how to support students with disabilities in the classroom.
- Both the University of Washington's and Vanderbilt University's "Teaching Students with Disabilities" sites provide very useful resources and guidelines to help faculty support student learning.
Responding to Difficult Moments
- Managing hot moments in the classroom, the seminal resource by Lee Warren.
- Making the Most of “Hot Moments in the Classroom“.
- Civility in the Classroom: A Better Approach.
Understanding Privilege
- An Instructor's Guide to Understanding Privilege
- White Privilege and Male Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, Peggy McIntosh.
- The Privilege Walk Exercise