Preface
Editors: Michael Kozakowski & Tamara Kamatović
Table of contents
Introduction
The challenges of inclusive teaching are not new. However, it was not until the previous century that inclusive teaching began to slowly take shape as a discursive concept and as a site of work and interest. For this to happen, educational theorists and practitioners had to first recognize – and recognize as a problem – that education (even when offered to all) often fails to meet the needs of many students.
Even today, there is less consensus than one might think about the need for educational approaches that conceptually, physically, and in teaching and learning practice make room for the diversity of students and their diverse abilities, identities, perspectives, and voices. One reason for the lack of consensus is that – notwithstanding the possibility of working definitions, for one, see below[1] – the words, thoughts, and referents of inclusive teaching differ by context. In one context, inclusive teaching may have students with disabilities in mind, use the language of accessibility, and lean heavily on several decades of thought about special needs, integration, accommodation, mainstreaming, universal design and related concepts. In another context, the above will be reconfigured. In yet another context, race, gender, or intersectional concepts may perchance take prominence.
Even today, there is less consensus than one might think about the need for educational approaches that conceptually, physically, and in teaching and learning practice make room for the diversity of students and their diverse abilities, identities, perspectives, and voices. One reason for the lack of consensus is that – notwithstanding the possibility of working definitions, for one, see below[1] – the words, thoughts, and referents of inclusive teaching differ by context. In one context, inclusive teaching may have students with disabilities in mind, use the language of accessibility, and lean heavily on several decades of thought about special needs, integration, accommodation, mainstreaming, universal design and related concepts. In another context, the above will be reconfigured. In yet another context, race, gender, or intersectional concepts may perchance take prominence.
The Challenge
Meaningful consensus is also elusive because inclusive teaching is hard to practice. It constantly runs up against both practical challenges and entrenched, structural issues. Inclusive teaching discomforts. We who are educators are confronted with the incompleteness of our efforts. Students often (and rightly) feel let down by teaching and educational experiences that claim or aim to be inclusive. When taken seriously, inclusive teaching also raises uncomfortable questions about power, privilege, history, and why things are the way they are. Recently, several individuals, some acting in questionable faith, have taken advantage of this discomfort to push back on efforts to make education more diverse, more equitable, and more inclusive. Without dwelling on the merits of individual critiques, we would more broadly remark that little of the politicization of DEI or inclusion diminishes the need for teachers to serve the whole (and each) of their students.
This need is no less urgent in higher education, even if the bulk of resources are for primary and secondary educators. Higher education has seen a robust discussion of many approaches to inclusive teaching or with relevance to inclusive teaching, for example, critical pedagogy, feminist pedagogies of care, Universal Design for Learning (UDL), and decolonizing the curriculum. However, while some academics write of their teaching practices (and university students demand more inclusive pedagogies and curricula), few easy-to-implement resources are available for academics in a way analogous to the handbooks available to schoolteachers. Also, while teacher training in many countries has mandatory courses in meeting the needs of diverse students, on a global level, such inclusive teaching training is infrequently part of early-career academics’ formation. This is in no small part because many countries lack a culture or process for systematically training academics in their teaching.
This need is no less urgent in higher education, even if the bulk of resources are for primary and secondary educators. Higher education has seen a robust discussion of many approaches to inclusive teaching or with relevance to inclusive teaching, for example, critical pedagogy, feminist pedagogies of care, Universal Design for Learning (UDL), and decolonizing the curriculum. However, while some academics write of their teaching practices (and university students demand more inclusive pedagogies and curricula), few easy-to-implement resources are available for academics in a way analogous to the handbooks available to schoolteachers. Also, while teacher training in many countries has mandatory courses in meeting the needs of diverse students, on a global level, such inclusive teaching training is infrequently part of early-career academics’ formation. This is in no small part because many countries lack a culture or process for systematically training academics in their teaching.
The Inclusive Teaching Handbook
All of this points to the need for a collection of practice-oriented resources for academics teaching in higher education institutions. This open educational resource (OER) provides a number entry points for academics to think about making their teaching more inclusive – and crucially, provides suggestions and resources for implementation. Designed with a global audience in mind, it aims not to be comprehensive but to provoke questions – and suggest possible answers.
Each of the ‘chapters’ or webpages features a combination of a presentation of a problem, a conceptualization of an approach, discussion of practices implemented in a specific institution, and resources (often in the form of downloadable handouts) for educators to implement in their home institutions. Most entries include a short video introduction, and in some cases, extended discussion.
The chapter authors – and the institutions from which they hail – represent a uniquely global set of universities, which, until recently, were joined in a fledgling global network, known as the Open Society University Network (OSUN). Generously funded by the Open Society Foundation, and with Bard College in the United States and Central European University in Austria as founding members, OSUN is sunsetting in its current form. This OER, originally conceptualized at a time of considerable optimism, will not be regularly updated. However, a second round of development, bringing together several of the OER contributors and putting them in dialogue with others around the intersections of inclusive and democratic teaching, is currently taking shape in the edited volume, Teaching Democratically in Higher Education.
As the name suggests, inclusive teaching aims to be pluralistic and make room for different students and different student perspectives. The same might be said for different teachers. As editors, rather than as authors, of this Handbook of Inclusive Teaching in Higher Education, we seek to make available a range of perspectives, not all of which are congruent with our own (or our university or funding organization). We hope, however, that all the contributions provide that most precious of things – a way of thinking differently or of bringing into sharper relief our own thoughts and beliefs. We also hope that in many of the contributions you, our readers, will find approaches and specific practices that will enrich your courses and support the diverse students in them.
[1] There are multiple ways of defining inclusive teaching. By way of working definition, we suggest that inclusive teaching can be understood as that set of concepts and practices that aims to make room for the diversity of students and actively support their diverse abilities, identities, perspectives, and voices, in the pursuit of more equitable education.
Each of the ‘chapters’ or webpages features a combination of a presentation of a problem, a conceptualization of an approach, discussion of practices implemented in a specific institution, and resources (often in the form of downloadable handouts) for educators to implement in their home institutions. Most entries include a short video introduction, and in some cases, extended discussion.
The chapter authors – and the institutions from which they hail – represent a uniquely global set of universities, which, until recently, were joined in a fledgling global network, known as the Open Society University Network (OSUN). Generously funded by the Open Society Foundation, and with Bard College in the United States and Central European University in Austria as founding members, OSUN is sunsetting in its current form. This OER, originally conceptualized at a time of considerable optimism, will not be regularly updated. However, a second round of development, bringing together several of the OER contributors and putting them in dialogue with others around the intersections of inclusive and democratic teaching, is currently taking shape in the edited volume, Teaching Democratically in Higher Education.
As the name suggests, inclusive teaching aims to be pluralistic and make room for different students and different student perspectives. The same might be said for different teachers. As editors, rather than as authors, of this Handbook of Inclusive Teaching in Higher Education, we seek to make available a range of perspectives, not all of which are congruent with our own (or our university or funding organization). We hope, however, that all the contributions provide that most precious of things – a way of thinking differently or of bringing into sharper relief our own thoughts and beliefs. We also hope that in many of the contributions you, our readers, will find approaches and specific practices that will enrich your courses and support the diverse students in them.
[1] There are multiple ways of defining inclusive teaching. By way of working definition, we suggest that inclusive teaching can be understood as that set of concepts and practices that aims to make room for the diversity of students and actively support their diverse abilities, identities, perspectives, and voices, in the pursuit of more equitable education.
Editor Bios
Tamara Kamatović is a Lecturer at the Yehuda Elkana Center for Teaching, Learning, and Higher Education Research at Central European University in Vienna. She received her PhD from the University of Chicago, where she researched at the intersection of literature, history, and philosophy. Her current work explores the relationship between civic education and democratic teaching practices, as well as the impact of emerging technologies on education. Both her teaching and research are shaped by interdisciplinary approaches and respond to urgent challenges in a rapidly changing educational landscape. Her recent publications focus on teaching, ethics, and technology. She co-edits this Open Educational Resource with Michael Kozakowski and serves as project lead for the Open Society University Network's “Developing Teaching Professionals” initiative.
Michael A. Kozakowski is Director of the Yehuda Elkana Center for Teaching, Learning, and Higher Education Research at Central European University in Vienna. A graduate of Georgetown University and the University of Chicago, his research spans the fields of history and education, with a focus on democracy, inclusion and exclusion, and Europeanization. Recent publications have focused on migrant education, exclusionary practices in differentiated educational systems, as well as teaching with technology. An international facilitator, he promotes educational research, professional development, teaching excellence, and student learning in his capacity as Center director. He has served on several national and international projects (Horizon, Erasmus+) and expert groups in the European University Association and the Austrian Higher Education Commission. In addition to the co-editing this OER, he is the project lead (together with Tamara Kamatovic) for the Open Society University Network's “Developing Teaching Professionals” project.
