Equitable and Inclusive Teaching at Cal Poly
As an instructor, your role in promoting a culture of equity and inclusion at Cal Poly is an important one—you have the opportunity to help ensure that your students have equitable chances for academic success in your course(s) and to help them feel a sense of belonging in your classroom and on our campus.
The information on this page, and in the resources included below, provides teaching strategies that support equity and inclusion in the classroom.
Inclusive Teaching
Inclusive teaching is an orientation to teaching that includes a commitment to equity and to fostering a sense of belonging for all students in a course, with special attention paid to students’ social identities. More broadly, according to the University of Michigan Center for Research on Learning and Teaching,
“Inclusive teaching involves deliberately cultivating a learning environment where all students are treated equitably, have equal access to learning, and feel valued and supported in their learning. Such teaching attends to social identities and seeks to change the ways systemic inequities shape dynamics in teaching-learning spaces, affect individuals’ experiences of those spaces, and influence course and curriculum design.” (University of Michigan: Overview of Inclusive Teaching)
Though developing an inclusive and equitable orientation to teaching is a process for any educator, there are a number of small changes that you can make in your teaching that can have an impact on students' sense of belonging in your classrooms.
Resources for New Faculty
The pages linked below have been selected to help you think about how you can make your classroom more inclusive as you begin the fall quarter.
These resources are intended as a starting point for you to consider the ways in which you can intentionally build equity and inclusion into your courses at Cal Poly. The strategies presented here are intended to provide you with easy to implement, concrete suggestions for making equity and inclusion a priority in your courses.
Instructors may find it useful to identify strategies they plan to use at the beginning of the quarter, as well as those they may return to at a later stage during the term.
Explore the following resources to learn more:
Building Community and Creating an Inclusive Learning Environment
Recommended Resources for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Learn More
The CTLT has a number of opportunities each quarter for you to learn more about diversity, equity, and inclusion in teaching. Opportunities will be advertised in the CTLT newsletter, which you will all receive as new faculty.
If you'd like to spend more time perusing resources on your own, we recommend that you check out our list of Recommended Resources for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in teaching.
Dr. Sarah Macdonald, CTLT Assistant Director for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Teaching is available to answer your questions and provide guidance and resources. You can email Dr. Macdonald directly at smacdo05@calpoly.edu to set up a consultation or just to meet and chat.
DEI at Cal Poly
In addition to connecting with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) committees and initiatives in your department and college, you can learn more about campus-wide initiatives through the Office for University Diversity and Inclusion. You may also want to familiarize yourself with our campus' Diversity Learning Objectives.
We encourage you to learn about the many offices and individuals on our campus that work together to support the diversity and belonging of Cal Poly students, and particularly those students who experience marginalization. A more complete list of student care and support resources is included on the page for Building Community and Creating an Inclusive Learning Environment. Below, we name a few resources that you may want to learn more about:
- The Disability Resource Center (DRC) cultivates an accessible and inclusive community where students with permanent and temporary disabilities have an equal opportunity to participate in all aspects of campus life. The DRC facilitates student learning and access through partnerships with students, faculty, and staff.
- The Cal Poly International Center supports international students and scholars, connects students with opportunities to study, intern and research abroad, facilitates international travel for faculty and staff, and more.
- Student Diversity and Belonging is a collective of campus resource centers supporting and empowering students experiencing marginalization through intersectional advocacy and cultural connections to build a more just and equitable Cal Poly community. We recommend you sign up for the Student Diversity and Belonging Newsletter to keep up-to-date on their work at Cal Poly. Student Diversity & Belonging is comprised of the following campus community centers organized into two cluster areas:
- The Transfer Center empowers and supports transfer students to succeed and thrive at Cal Poly while advancing institutional support for transfer students.
