This workshop focuses on building learning environments that promote equitable access to the skills and knowledge students need to succeed in their classes, and that utilize the strengths students bring to the classroom. Leave the workshop with several concrete practices that are known, from recent higher education research, to promote inclusivity—ranging from techniques that can be implemented immediately to ideas for re-designing the curriculum at the assignment or course level.

An educational framework that takes a proactive approach to accessibility, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is rooted in a commitment to equitable learning for students with disabilities, and is known to enhance learning for all students because it reminds us that learner variability and difference is the norm. The workshop invites participants to explore the framework in relation to their design of course curricula, assignments, and syllabi, as well as to their delivery of accessible content.

Beginning from the foundational notion that every student will have a different relationship to the dominant classroom language and culture, this workshop invites instructor teams to consider how classroom communication, assignments, and methods of providing feedback on student work can be attentive to and inclusive of linguistic and cultural differences.

In this workshop, participants explore rubrics as tools for aligning expectations about students’ proficiencies, for inviting students to reflect on their learning and evaluate how they can improve, and for developing a shared classroom language about learning particular proficiencies and skills. Participants have the opportunity to workshop and develop rubrics related their own teaching contexts. Currently facilitated by faculty in the Writing Program.

Drawing from current research on academic integrity, including research conducted with UC Santa Cruz students, this workshop focuses on developing classroom cultures that value academic integrity. Workshop activities support instructors to develop effective approaches to addressing academic integrity with their students, and to craft or revise assignments that encourage academic integrity.

Drawing from current research in academic integrity in engineering fields, this workshop is designed with the particular teaching contexts of the Baskin School of Engineering in mind. Participants explore methods for promoting academic integrity, especially for program-based assignments, and tools for both detecting and addressing academic dishonesty effectively.

Drawing from evidence-based practices and research on mentorship, this interactive workshop invites department faculty to: consider together the key "skillfulnesses" of mentoring graduate students; examine tools for practicing effective and equity-minded mentorship that can particularly support marginalized students; and surface implicit expectations for graduate student skill development. Our goal is to create space in which we can collectively consider both personal and departmental practices, surface ideas for effective mentorship, and share strategies and resources for strengthening mentoring approaches and relationships. This workshop draws from evidence-based practices promoted by the National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN) and the Center for Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research (CIMER).

Follow-up workshops on equity-minded mentoring of graduate students are available after department faculty have participated in the "Mentoring Graduate Students" workshop. These follow-up workshops currently include “Creating a Culture of Wellbeing” and “Science Identity & Sense of Belonging" and support faculty participants to go into more depth around topics like: graduate student mental health and wellness; practicing critical mentoring; supporting science identity and STEM persistence; strategies for supporting racially minoritized graduate students; inclusive and intentional communication; addressing microaggressions; and more. These workshops draw from recent research in equity-minded mentoring practices.

This workshop supports faculty to develop their evidence of excellence in teaching to provide a holistic and representative picture of themselves as educators, both for the personnel review process and for formative self-reflection. Acknowledging the research on limitations of Student Experience of Teaching (SET) data, the workshop provides guidance both for using SET data and for developing additional methods of documenting teaching.