Units: The IE Planning "Scorecard" (opens in .pdf) builds on the "Equity Scorecard" model that AAC&U uses for the Inclusive Excellence initiative. UW-L's IE Implementation Taskforce adapted the AAC&U Scorecard model to provide some action ideas and possible assessment measures in each of the four IE Scorecard categories. All units, including academic unitis, can use this document for strategic planning.

Instructors: The Inclusive Excellence Inventory of Practices for Instructor Roles (open to UW-L only) can help both individual instructors and academic departments plan and enact specific changes specific to the responsibilities of instructors. The Inventory categories align with the Planning Document above. The system will return an individual report to the user with instructions to enter your participation into UW-L's electronic portfolio. Department chairs can also request a department-level report that summarizes the inventory results for all the members of the department.

Non-Instructional Staff: Try the IE Self-Developer This tool helps non-instructional staff plan ways to enact Inclusive Excellence, either on your own or with your unit. It returns a record of your choices to you by email to save on your computer or within your email account. At the end, it takes you to the IE Ideas page (with a link to the Reading page), where you'll find specific suggestions for each option in the Self-Developer.

Inclusive Excellence

Contact

Deb Hoskins
Inclusive Excellence Coordinator and
Chair of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

161 A Wing or 4302 Centennial Hall
608785-8734

Overview

What Is Inclusive Excellence? Given that higher ed institutions are more than just places for teaching and learning (e.g., they are also workplaces, and for some, home), UW-L has adopted this definition of IE: Inclusive Excellence is our active, intentional, and ongoing commitment to bridge differences with understanding and respect so all can thrive."

AAC&U's Inclusive Excellence initiative focuses on teaching and learning and advocates four goals: 1. Achieving academic equity in inclusive, welcoming settings. 2. Teaching and learning the skills, knowledge, and mindsets needed to make constructive contributions in an increasingly diverse society. 3. Creating a climate in classrooms and on campus that supports all students. 4. Getting students working together across social groupings. IE asks us to shift our thinking from diversity as a goal in itself (typically focused on numbers) to diversity as part of the educational process, a real-world factor that helps everyone learn better when it is engaged deliberately. Start with AAC&U's commissioned reports on the IE initiative: http://www.aacu.org/inclusive_excellence/papers.cfm The first and third are the most useful.

IE in Teaching and Learning includes four components (links go to additional pages on this site for each component):

The UW System definition of diversity includes "individual differences (e.g., personality, life experiences) and group/social differences (e.g., race/ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, country of origin, and ability as well as cultural, political, religious, or other affiliations) that can be engaged in the service of learning."

Inclusive Excellence challenges both students and faculty to think in new ways.

CATL IE's Goals

to support current diversity efforts related to teaching and learning
to infuse thinking about diversity into teaching and learning
to help faculty stay on the cutting edges of their disciplines
to close achievement gaps in student learning
to create inclusive, challenging, innovative learning environments that help all students to excel
to grant all students equitable ways to demonstrate learning
to improve critical thinking and problem-solving in all students

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Services

Workshops:

CATL Colloquium/Workshops. See the CATL Calendar. The IE Coordinator participates in many CATL events as well as providing IE-focused workshops. IE events for Fall 2009 include two workshops on Universal Design of graded assignments and a session exploring issues of standard English for college students whose first language is not English.
The IE Coordinator will also provide custom-designed workshops for departments or colleges, including workshops in collaboration with other elements of CATL and/or colleagues and offices in Student Affairs.

Seminars and websites:

Teaching For Diversity, a seminar for instructors interested in the role diversity plays in improving the learning of all students and in in teaching all students well, as well as those who are the face of diversity themselves.
TFD's website includes resources for faculty who represent diversity themselves, help with technology, and other resources.
This website provides resources for addressing the four components on IE in teaching and learning noted above.

Research: the IE Coordinator can provide literature reviews and other research for individuals and departments related to faculty development and Inclusive Excellence.
Possibilities might include:

Provide background research in secondary literature to support current diversity efforts
Design a departmental faculty development program that incorporates Inclusive Excellence (IE) in teaching and learning
Find student participants for sessions, surveys, focus groups, or collaborative teaching and learning projects
Conduct focus groups

Consultation: both group and individual, the IE Coordinator can help you with specific teaching and learning agendas.
Possibilities might include:

Troubleshoot a particular pedagogical or course content issue, or an Equity Scorecard or assessment finding
Develop a new teaching strategy that engages all students
Design or redesign a course or a unit to experiment with innovative pedagogies aimed at reducing achievement gaps or different learning styles
Design assessments that might identify group-based inequities in learning
Develop grant proposals on teaching and learning or faculty development