Inclusive Online Teaching: A toolkit

Culturally responsive teaching, critical pedagogy, and social justice remain commonly used seminal lenses for defining inclusion across education. For example, Gay defined culturally responsive teaching as “using the cultural knowledge, prior experiences, frames of reference, and performance styles of ethnically diverse students to make learning encounters more relevant to and effective for [students]” [1]. Critical pedagogy as defined by Freire involves teaching learners to think critically and engage in dialogue with the goal of creating a critical awareness of inequities that exist and lead to action [2]. Social justice provides an approach to identify oppressive patterns that affect learners as individuals as well as others in society [3]. Several other inclusive frameworks and models have evolved in recent times [4, 5], particularly relative to underrepresented students and the unique challenges they may face within some online learning environments [6]. With the plethora of frames and definitions around inclusive teaching, online educators continue to ask: How might we best operationalize and integrate inclusion in our virtual spaces?

In this article, four scholar-practitioners keen on inclusion for distance learning offer an open-access toolkit resource for online instructors seeking to operationalize and strengthen inclusive practice. Arising from critical, culturally responsive, and social justice lenses, we have defined inclusive teaching as “intentional practices designed to eliminate marginalization and exclusion, and to support all learners in accessing and engaging in all aspects of quality education." Our definition has also evolved from observing patterns around learning challenges that serve as barriers to inclusion.

The Need for Inclusion Online

Online learning is a modality that has historically catered to a diverse learner population that may be unable to participate in traditional learning environments for a variety of reasons including access, competing responsibilities, and health barriers [7]. It allows for participation from almost anywhere, anytime, especially with asynchronous online learning. While online learning can offer greater flexibility and accessibility to content, learners can often feel isolated and may encounter unique challenges that can easily go unnoticed. Virtual spaces can lack the kinds of inherent communication that come with in-person learning, potentially resulting in marginalization and exclusion. Online learning also brings additional challenges for facilitators as they work to meet the needs of a diverse learner population. Online facilitators are tasked with alleviating the common feelings of isolation that can be common among dispersed learners. As well, like the educators who teach face-to-face, online educators can find it challenging to address diverse audiences from a wide variety of backgrounds including learner demographics, identities, and instructional needs.  These various factors create unique situations and circumstances that necessitate online educators to carefully consider and implement inclusive practices in their teaching. One might even argue that the importance of creating an inclusive online learning experience is even more imperative than within in-person classes because of the online learner profile [8].  

Inclusive Practices

Inclusive teaching has rightfully been given much attention in recent years [9–14] with a focus on areas such as universal design for learning, strategies for reducing microaggressions, women in STEM, artificial intelligence, and much more. Although in 2020 the majority of educational institutions moved online for the purposes of continuing education [15], there are very limited resources exclusively focused on integrating inclusive teaching practices in the online environment. Many who teach online have been left to reflect upon how best to transfer inclusive teaching strategies to the online modality. Similar to the instructional strategies utilized in face-to-face environments not directly translating to online modalities, inclusive classroom strategies also require adaptation to be implemented online.

Inclusive teaching practices often align with best practices in online teaching. So, what differentiates one from the other? There is a significant literature base related to best practices in online teaching that aligns with inclusive practices [16–18], yet inclusion is not identified as the catalyst for utilizing these practices. Many best practices for online learning support an inclusive experience simply because online educators have been catering to the diverse learner population [8]. Although historically, the intent has been to create a successful learning environment for their learners rather than considering inclusion in intentional ways. After much deliberation, we determined that inclusive practices go a step further than best practices for teaching online as they deliberately focus on equity and success for all learners through engagement, representation, and supports. Intentionality is paramount to the successful design and facilitation of an inclusive experience and, as practitioners and scholars, we believe for an online experience to be successful it must be inclusive.

To address this issue, we created a “Toolkit for Inclusive Online Teaching” designed for both instructors and designers in higher and adult education [19]. It consists of immediately applicable practices online practitioners can implement to create an inclusive online learning experience. The tools are derived from literature on best practices in online teaching and learning, inclusive teaching practices, and adult education literature.  We draw upon scholarship in the areas of andragogy, culturally responsive teaching, critical pedagogy, and distance education, to name a few, along with our decades of experience as scholar-practitioners, with scholarly activities in the areas of distance education and inclusive teaching practices, to formulate inclusive practices for implementation online. The toolkit is an accessible resource for online educators of all contexts (formal, non-formal), modalities (synchronous, asynchronous, blended), learner populations (undergraduate, graduates, adults), and disciplines.

Content and Application of the Toolkit

The toolkit is available for open access and is designed to allow users to discover topics that are most relevant to their needs. It is divided into four main domains: course design, interactions, discussion, and assessments. These four were chosen as they encompass the main aspects that online educators need to be aware of in their course planning and facilitation, and they are also domains that are specifically germane to distance learning. For example, course design within a learning management system is unique to online classes, interactions and discussions need to be planned around distances in space and (often) time, and assessments need to be created to be manageable at a distance. Each of the four toolkit domains is divided into several specific categories of inclusive practices (see Table 1). For each category, there is a short introduction on why it is an inclusive practice specific to online learning. There are then several tips/suggestions offered for how the category can be implemented online. These tips are phrased so they are immediately applicable. There are also several additional applicable resources offered in each category for users who may want or need to find out more about that particular topic. Figure 1 shows the layout and content of one of the toolkit pages.

Table 1. Toolkit for Inclusive Online Teaching: Domains and categories

Figure 1. Example Toolkit Page

The toolkit also includes a section on good online practices. This is foundational information for teaching online, but it is not specifically focused on inclusion. We decided it was necessary to include this section for instructors who are new(er) to distance education as it is critical information to address for a successful online class. The inclusive practices contained in the toolkit will not be effective if they are not built upon these basic online practices. Instructors who are already familiar with these good online practices may not need to access this area of the toolkit.

The toolkit is designed to allow users to easily access applicable information and resources that can immediately be used to improve inclusivity in online settings. As well, its design is agile, allowing us to revise and update information in a field that is constantly changing and where knowledge is always improving. It is not a static technology, but one that we consider a “living” resource and that can be responsive as information and practices evolve.

Conclusion

While inclusivity should be considered for all learners, online learners often have unique needs and characteristics that make this even more crucial for educators to consider and utilize. The toolkit is built on frameworks of culturally responsive teaching, critical pedagogy, and social justice and fills an existing gap by sharing practical information on inclusive practices directly relevant to online teaching and learning. The creation of the “Toolkit for Inclusive Online Teaching” is our collaborative contribution to the field of distance education and our fellow practitioners who strive to support their learners with inclusive online learning experiences.  

References

About the Authors

Kelly McKenna is an associate professor in the adult education and training graduate program at Colorado State University. She is a Fulbright Scholar, past Presidential Leadership Fellow, Faculty Institute for Inclusive Excellence Mentor, and Global Teaching Scholar with Semester at Sea. She completed her Ph.D. in educational technology and earned a master’s degree in education and human resource studies with a specialization in adult education and training. Dr. McKenna has been the recipient of multiple teaching awards and has experience with face-to-face, blended, and online instruction. Her scholarship is in the field of adult and higher distance education, with research objectives aimed to support learners in their educational and occupational endeavors by creating optimal learning environments and facilitating successful experiences for all learners.

Leann M.R. Kaiser is an associate professor at Colorado State University in the adult education and training master's degree specialization. She graduated from the University of Wyoming with her Ph.D. in adult and post-secondary education. She also holds a B.S. from the University of Wyoming and an M.S. from Arizona State University, both in outdoor education. Dr. Kaiser's main interests lie in distance education and she publishes and presents on topics related to online facilitation, design, inclusive practices, and the formats in which distance education is offered. She served two terms as a board member of the Commission of Professors of Adult Education and two additional terms as a board member of the Commission for Distance Learning and Technology.

Kayon Murray-Johnson is an adult educator with more than 20 years of experience in teaching, training, and learning design contexts. Her scholarship passions surround critical dialogues on race, ethnicity, and racism, faculty development, and creative teaching approaches in person and online. Dr. Murray-Johnson’s equity-themed contributions have yielded national award recognition from the POD network and the Multicultural Education SIG of the American Educational Research Association. She especially enjoys serving diverse journals, organizations, and initiatives within the field of adult education and currently teaches in the College of Education at the University of Rhode Island.

Kalpana Gupta is a professional development lead for the Center for Teaching and Learning at the University of Colorado in Boulder. Her background is in adult and post-secondary education. Her focused areas of interest include creating inclusive online learning environments that encompass self-directed and transformative experiences. Dr. Gupta specializes in faculty development, program management, and instructional design. The core of her teaching, scholarship, and service centers on fostering student growth and improving teaching and learning for both faculty and learners.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License.