12: Weaving Promising Practices for Inclusive Excellence Into the Higher Education Classroom

Abstract

Higher education is faced with an increasingly diverse student body and historic opportunities to foster inclusive excellence, meaning a purposeful embodiment of inclusive practices toward multiple student identity groups. Although the benefits of inclusive excellence are well established, college faculty often cite barriers to promoting it in classrooms, and this creates an opening for faculty developers to support them in weaving promising practices for inclusive excellence into their teaching. This chapter highlights the practices of inclusive faculty and the methods faculty developers can use to promote inclusive excellence along five dimensions: (1) intrapersonal awareness, (2) interpersonal awareness, (3) curricular transformation, (4) inclusive pedagogy, and (5) inclusive learning environments.

Confronting racism and white privilege in courses on religion and the environment: An inclusive pedagogical approach

“…The principles of inclusive pedagogy can help instructors deal with environmentalism's exclusionary legacy. María del Carmen Salazar, Amanda Stone Norton, and Franklin A. Tuitt argue that inclusive teaching is imperative because traditional models for learning are based on white, heterosexual male culture (Salazar et al, , 209). These models, they observe, “often [leave] students of color, women, and members of gay, lesbian, and bisexual communities isolated in their learning” (Salazar et al, , 209).…”

“…María del Carmen Salazar, Amanda Stone Norton, and Franklin A. Tuitt argue that inclusive teaching is imperative because traditional models for learning are based on white, heterosexual male culture (Salazar et al, , 209). These models, they observe, “often [leave] students of color, women, and members of gay, lesbian, and bisexual communities isolated in their learning” (Salazar et al, , 209). Religious ethicist Jack Hill similarly argues that U.S. higher education is characterized by “interlocking systems of oppression” by presenting Anglo perspectives as the primary set of interpretative lenses for viewing reality.…”

“…Guided by Salazar, Norton, and Tuitt's contention that inclusive faculty must “critically examine [their] own ideas, assumptions, and values, and how those beliefs have an impact on one's pedagogies,” I have fundamentally transformed my approach to teaching religion and ecology (Salazar et al, , 211). As a white, straight, able‐bodied cis‐female from a middle‐class background, my own relationship with environmentalism has been shaped by white privilege, and my limited viewpoint influenced my decisions as I developed my first course syllabi.…”

“…In the area of “curricular transformation,” Salazar et al recommend integrating multiple identity groups and incorporating multiculturalism throughout the course, not in a single unit on “diversity.” Published scholarship focusing on religion and the environment among African Americans can begin to support that goal (Harris, ; Clay, ; Carter, ; Baugh, ), but teaching resources that incorporate other identity groups is limited. The assignments I discuss below address that limitation by using another set of inclusive practices – “recogniz[ing] students' experiences as worthy knowledge,” and “collaborat[ing] with students as co‐constructors of knowledge” – as students draw from their own knowledge to help me identify and correct biases that shape my field of study (Salazar et al, , 211).…”

“…When my students first learn about the paradox that American environmentalism is dominated by white people, even though minority communities express commitments to ecological principles, students express skepticism and retain their assumption that people of color are not active in environmental causes because they do not prioritize environmental issues (Taylor, ; Stoll, ; Ybarra, ). But self‐reflexive conversations about our ecological footprints shift students' perceptions of their own values and behaviors, and support the inclusive practice of seeing their own life stories and experiences as worthy knowledge that has remained invisible in religion and ecology scholarship (Salazar et al, , 211). At that point they can see that the problem is with limiting assumptions in the category of environmentalism, not their own communities' lack of concern.…”