A Tool for Fostering Inclusion

As featured in Inside Higher Ed and the book What Inclusive Instructors Do: Principles and Practices for Effectiveness in College Teaching, the Who’s in Class? Form, developed in collaboration with students, faculty, and staff members, helps instructors foster an inclusive learning environment early on and throughout a course by increasing their awareness of the diverse assets that their students bring to the classroom. Instructors administer the anonymous form online in their courses at the start of the semester, and students complete it on a voluntary basis. Instructors view results in aggregate, and partner with their center for teaching and learning to discuss small, focused steps for making their courses more inclusive. Instructors administering the form are expected to have some basic understanding of bias and inclusive instructional practices prior to using the form, use the responses solely for the purposes of building an inclusive classroom, and delete responses at the end of each academic year. Many instructors have coupled the Who’s in Class? Form with a non-anonymous course survey to develop a better understanding of their students. 

  • If you are a Lafayette faculty member who is interested in using the Who’s in Class? Form, please contact citls@lafayette.edu. Feel free to read the published article and freely access the form in the supplementary materials to see the questions and the context in which it has been used. 
  • If you are from an outside institution and are interested in using the Who’s in Class? Form, please read the published article and freely access the form in the supplementary materials to see the questions and the context in which it has been used. 

References 

Addy T.M., Dube, D., and Mitchell, K.A. (2021). A Tool to Advance Inclusive Teaching Efforts: The Who’s in Class? Form. Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education.

Addy, T.M., Dube, D., SoRelle, M., Mitchell, K.A. (2021). What Inclusive Instructors Do: Principles and Practices for Effectiveness in College Teaching. Stylus Publishing. 

Addy, T.M., Dube, D., Mitchell, K.A. (August 5, 2020). Fostering an Inclusive Classroom. Inside Higher Ed (Opinion). Available from https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2020/08/05/small-steps-instructors-can-take-build-more-inclusive-classrooms-opinion