This Week for Faculty: Inclusive moves to start off a new semester
1. Build community in your classroom. Principle 1 in the Guide for Inclusive Teaching at Columbia: establish a class climate that fosters belonging for all students, provides strategies that can be integrated into any course. Build community early in the semester through icebreaker activities and office hours.
→ Participate in the“Building Community in the Classroom: Icebreakers” workshop on January 15 (12:00-1:00pm, online) to experience an icebreaker and brainstorm ways to bring them to your classroom.
2. Set up your CourseWorks sites with your students’ learning in mind. Ensure your CourseWorks sites are accessible with the tips in the CTL resource Four Ways to Make Your CourseWorks Site More Accessible. CTL Learning Designers are available to assist you! Zoom in or walk in during office hours, or schedule a consultation.
→ Participate in the “Making Your CourseWorks Site Accessible” workshop on January 14 (1:15-2:00pm, online) as you set up your CourseWorks sites.
3. Learn your students’ names and pronouns. As Drs. Hogan and Sathy remind us in Inclusive Teaching: Strategies for Promoting Equity in the College Classroom (2022), learning names and saying them correctly is an important inclusive move that helps students feel welcomed in a classroom and thus more likely to fully engage in the classroom.
In A Teacher’s Guide to Learning Student Names: Why You Should, Why It’s Hard, How You Can (2024), Dr. Michelle D. Miller, suggests the ASAR technique for strategic name learning, “which stands for Attend, Say, Associate, Retrieve.” (Miller, 2024: 33).
- Attend: pay attention when students say their name;
- Say: repeat saying each name out loud a few times in conversation with your new students;
- Associate: connect the name to other contextual information, for example the class they are in or what the student shared through an icebreaker activity or “getting to know you” survey.
- Retrieve: practice using your students’ names, recalling them from memory.
Access the ebook to discover strategies for learning students names such as a first-day “introduce each other” icebreaker and table tents and name tags.
The You@Columbia tool allows the CourseWorks users to list their pronouns and record the pronunciation of their name. Find step-by-step instructions from CUIT on using You@Columbia in CourseWorks and guidance for students on the University Life website.
→ Participate in the “Teaching Inclusively From the Start” workshop on January 14 (12:00-1:00pm, online) or “Ways to Be More Inclusive in Your Course” sessions throughout the semester (February 11, March 10, and April 4); and explore the Guide for Inclusive Teaching at Columbia for additional strategies.
Additional workshops this week
Engaging Students in Discussion
January 16, 10:00-11:00am
Related resource: Learning Through Discussion
Engaging Students in Poll Everywhere
January 16, 11:30am-12:00pm
Related resource: Poll Everywhere: Audience Response Systems
Designing Poll Questions That Go Beyond Recall
January 16, 1:00-2:00pm
Related resource: Developing Poll Questions to Engage and Assess Student Thinking
Entering Mentoring: Aligning Expectations
January 16, 4:00-5:00pm
Related resource: Advancing Mentorship Practices: Supporting Mentors of Graduate Students and Postdocs at Columbia
Find additional events and resources on the CTL’s Spring 2025 Offerings page.
The CTL is here to help!
Meet with CTL Learning Designers during in-person Office Hours!
January 21 through January 31, 9:00am-5:00pm
Stop by 212 Butler Library for in-person support to help you get your courses ready for Spring 2025! CTL Learning Designers can assist you with setting up your CourseWorks sites, making your CourseWorks sites more accessible, and helping you integrate other Columbia-supported instructional technologies.
Connect via Zoom or over the phone
Join us for office hours via Zoom (or phone) Monday-Friday, 9:00am-5:00pm to have your teaching with instructional technology questions answered.
Schedule a consultation
Schedule an in-person or virtual consultation to discuss any teaching and learning need by emailing ctlfaculty@columbia.edu or email the CTL Learning Designer assigned to your school or department.