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McGill University Policies, Guidelines & Resources

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McGill University Policies, Guidelines & Resources

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McGill University Mission
Acknowledgement of the Traditional Territory

Charter of Student Rights
McGill Email Policy

Student Assessment Policy

Policy on Harassment, Sexual Harassment and Discrimination Prohibited by Law

Policy for the Accommodation of Religious Holy Days

Policy Concerning the Rights of Students with Disabilities

McGill Social Equity & Diversity Education (SEDE) Office

Employment Equity Policy

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Words matter...

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Here is a quick checklist to help you prepare. If you have any questions about this checklist, please contact your Program Manager.

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Developed by Dr. Liza Trimble for CPD Course Lecturers, this workshop material is a treasure cove of tips & resources.

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McGill_Next Level Teaching Workshop (Liza Trimble)

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McGill SEDE

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Social Equity and Diversity Education Office

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In some cases, when individuals seek access to a space, those who hold power or privilege in that space require that those joining the group change aspects of themselves to conform to already established norms. When those seeking meaningful inclusion protest this requirement, those holding power in the space often think that it "isn't a big deal." However, being told - even implicitly - that some aspect of yourself is inappropriate, unprofessional, or unattractive can take a significant mental toll on someone. The expectation that one must alter something about themselves to be included in a group or space can create feelings of shame, self-hatred, self-doubt, and inadequacy. Real inclusiveness accepts and celebrates difference, whereas assimilation attempts to erase it.
2. Diversity is Pointless
Though some might say that diversity in a given space, workplace, or club is useful only for fulfilling requirements and scoring "political correctness" points, it is important for many reasons. Increasing diversity allows for a profusion of distinct perspectives to coexist and complement one another. Everyone comes to a space informed by their own upbringing, personalities, and experiences, and these perspectives can vary significantly depending on one's cultural background, gender, sexuality, ability, class, and racialized identity. Groups that include only individuals who share similar upbringings and experiences result in the perspectives held by excluded individuals being completely absent from consideration. Moreover, including only one individual who holds an underrepresented identity can create a tokenizing effect whereby one individual comes to be expected to represent the needs and wishes of a diverse group of people. This phenomenon can be especially harmful if, for example, a white woman becomes representative of the needs of all women because then the specific barriers excluding women of colour from the group might go ignored.

Meaningful diversity is especially important to ensure in academia, at all levels and in all disciplines. In addition to the important role played by equitable hiring and admission in combatting systems of oppression, diversity in academia reduces bias, brings in new ideas, and offers valuable perspectives. When multiple minds work together they produce more and better ideas, and are able to solve more complex problems than a single mind can by working alone - this advice applies as much to the importance of encouraging diversity in universities as it does to encouraging kids to cooperate while working on a group project together.
3. Diversity is Divisive
Some may say that welcoming or acknowledging difference is a leads only towards divisiveness, or that pointing out how we are not all the same causes conflict to occur where it otherwise would not. While it is of course possible that disagreements might arise from conversations about diversity, it is important to consider the nature of the disagreement and whom stifling it harms.

In fact, the problems that arise from encouraging diversity often are caused by those invested in maintaining the status quo - one in which many are excluded from academia, jobs, or other institutions based on their race, gender, ability, sexuality, etc. To some extent, the conflict that arises from commitments to diversity are just inevitable growing pains. Even if increasing diversity results in some pushback, it is important to prioritize people over avoiding potential disagreement. Temporary tension in a group over the need to expand our worldview may be uncomfortable, but is necessary and fruitful when the result is the long-term promotion of diversity and acceptance of individuals who would otherwise be excluded from employment, academia, or a community.
4. Safe(r) Spaces Are About Being PC
Safe(r) spaces do not exist to create bubbles in which debate or disagreement is banned, or to satisfy a requirement that we not offend one another. Rather, safe(r) spaces exist, or are worked towards, to carve out areas wherein certain oppressive attitudes are challenged rather than accepted, expected, or celebrated. Safe(r) spaces are necessary because in most of the spaces we spend time in, people's right to self-definition, or to express experiences of discrimination, are denied and silenced. Part of safe(r) spaces might include attending to, and ceasing to use, oppressive language, but being "politically correct" is not a goal in and of itself. Instead, creating safe(r) spaces means respecting people's needs and identities, particularly when they are not respected outside of these spaces. Safer spaces create environments that foster creativity, openness, and learning among all who share the space.
5. Feelings of Discomfort Are a Violation of the Safe(r) Space
The goal of safe(r) spaces is not to make everyone comfortable, or even to make everyone happy. Not only would this goal be impossible to meet, but it would direct energy and attention towards the wrong problem, and ignore the necessity and utility of discomfort being felt by some people. Being confronted with one's own privilege, and how one benefits from and is complicit with oppression is rarely comfortable, but it is impossible to work towards combating a problem if you do not first acknowledge that it exists. Feeling uncomfortable is much different than feeling unsafe, and in some cases feeling comfortable requires that we do not challenge each other to address the ways that we are contributing to making others feel unsafe. A safe(r) space is one in which safety is prioritized over desires for comfort or avoidance of awkwardness.
6. Every Safe Space Should Welcome Everyone Equally
The idea that every safe(r) space must be available for everyone's use is often mobilized by people who are privileged in a certain way and are excluded from a space open exclusively to people who are not. For example, a white person might become angry to hear that they are not welcome at an event organized by and for people of colour. The privileged person who is excluded might even condemn this space for appearing to replicate the same oppressive and discriminatory forces they're ostensibly made in response to.

However, just like a given safe(r) space is not dedicated to the goal of everyone feeling comfortable, but rather to serve a sort of refuge from prevailing systems of oppression, closed or designated spaces are created because of the understanding that sometimes even well-intentioned people make mistakes that might disrupt the feeling of safety for the people those spaces are designed to help.

There is an important difference between being surrounded by people who share your experience and being surrounded by people who are simply open to, or accepting of it. The criticism of closed or designated spaces almost always ends up prioritizing privileged perspectives and feelings. Real allyship means accepting that sometimes you are not wanted or needed, and taking direction from the people you are committed to supporting rather than prioritizing your own interests or comfort.
7. ​The Myth of Meritocracy
A meritocracy is a system in which people advance or are rewarded exclusively based on merit, or the quality of their work. If universities were meritocracies, it would mean that climbing the ladder of academic success, ie: receiving praise in classes, or being promoted to better academic jobs, is solely a function of one's intelligence or ability. However, universities, like many other institutions, are not meritocracies; numerous studies and countless personal accounts have proven that the same material will garner more positive responses when people think it is coming from a white man than from anyone else. Thus the classroom is not an equal playing field if conscious or unconscious bias can result in certain students gaining favour over others based simply on aspects of their identity. In the university context as well, all the intelligence and effort in the world will not make a difference in one's academic success if one cannot afford to attend university in the first place. Structural oppression creates, for many people hoping to attend and succeed at university, countless barriers and hurdles, making success less a reflection of merit and more a reflection of pre-existing access to privilege and power.
8. Equal and Equitable Mean the Same Thing
Equal treatment and equitable treatment are much different approaches to supporting people at university. Put simply, equal treatment means that everyone is treated the same, and equitable treatment means that people are treated according to their individual needs in the context of power imbalances. Equitable treatment is an important part of combatting oppression at universities because it acknowledges that not everyone is coming from the same background or experiences the same barriers. Equity work is based on a fundamental belief that people deserve to have their needs acknowledged and accommodated for, even if others do not have those same needs.

People who do not receive support in breaking down barriers to access may interpret equity work as simply "special treatment" for some at the expense of others. However, belonging to a privileged group means that one already receives naturalized, automatic, benefits and special treatment. Many institutions, including universities, were built on assumptions that the people who attended would fit a certain role (ie: be physically abled, be white, be a man, etc) and it takes active, deliberate effort to enable those historically excluded from universities to be able to access, and have a positive experience at, these institutions.
9. Only Those Who Can Handle University the Way It Is Belong There
Many people who struggle to gain access to, or succeed in, universities are told that if they cannot handle university the way it is - without personal accommodations - they do not need or deserve to be included. However, because many universities were built with a very specific, privileged person in mind, to not institute equitable treatment at universities would be to condemn someone for not fitting seamlessly into a system designed at best without them in mind and at worst directly meant to exclude them. Many equity measures are simply temporary fixes until we are able to make universities truly inclusive and accessible to all. For example, allowing individual students to take exams in wheelchair accessible buildings while the rest of their class takes the exam in another space is just a temporary solution until all university buildings are physically accessible to everyone.
10. If a Group Isn't Represented, It Means They Can't Succeed
One element of structural oppression is the tendency for the success or failure of an individual from a marginalized group to be taken as representative of that group, while those who are relatively "unmarked" are seen as representing only themselves. This phenomenon comes to support the assumption that the absence or underrepresentation of a group from a university indicates that they are incompetent or undeserving. In addition to the extreme pressure this can put on marginalized individuals to exceed in university, it fails to consider the effect of systemic oppression, which causes people from marginalized communities to have to fight against stereotypes and implicit and explicit bias at every step.

Many people who have more than enough competence in an area cannot or do not pursue it because of the likelihood that they will not be given opportunities, or even the bare minimum chance in their field. University can be a hostile and alienating climate for people historically and currently excluded, making it less likely for them to feel able to seek access, and more necessary for equity efforts to be put in place to remedy this exclusion.

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Terms Myths and Misconceptions Videos Readings to support inclusive classrooms Terms Calling Out/Calling In - Practices of identifying oppressive behaviours and statements, asking for accountability, and (sometimes) working together to resolve the harm done. Both practices leave room for anger on the part of members of marginalized groups impacted by the action.

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How do I know if my biases affect my teaching?

Have you ever mumbled, under your breath, "Oh, goodness, here comes Chris" as a response to an "active" student who frequently disrupts the flow of class?

Have you attached certain identifiers to this particular student based on your perception of the "ideal" student? Have you considered where your understanding of the ideal student was conceived? Is it founded in privilege, a dominant narrative and/or white supremacist thinking?

Have you reflected on having built expectations for certain students, whether they are White or of color, male or female, able-bodied or with disabilities?

How are you thinking about your students?

All of these questions consider the biases that ultimately affect your teaching. As teachers, we often believe that we can be "objective" with our students. In fact, many of our teacher education programs emphasize the importance of objectivity in assessment. Although we may try to be neutral, we all have values, beliefs, and predispositions that impact how we relate to others. These assumptions are not necessarily a "bad" thing since they often help us understand unknown situations or try to make sense of what is happening around us. But when our assumptions are manifested as implicit biases that can lead to imposed identities, we often reinforce negative stereotypes and negative school climates without even knowing it (Hanselman, Bruch, Gamoran, & Borman, 2014). In fact, teachers' hidden biases can often lead to a goal reduction or diminished expectations for students of color and from under resourced communities (McKown & Weinstein, 2007). Similarly, teacher bias can lead to differing gendered expectations for girls and boys in STEM (Robinson-Cimpian, Lubienski, Ganley, & Copur-Gencturk, 2014). Understanding hidden associations, assumptions, or biases allows us to better understand our "self" so we can work with "others" towards a mediated identity where positive academic and social identities can be affirmed and nurtured through an asset model for identity construction (Delpit, 1995; Nieto & Bode, 2011).

By analyzing institutional bias based on social difference in classrooms, Chen, Nimmo, & Fraser (2009) offer a framework for teachers to reflect and re-examine their practice. This framework is rooted in teacher self-study. The self-study is broken down into four sections: self-awareness, physical environment, pedagogical environment, and relationship with families and community. By critically analyzing each section, teachers can become more aware of how their preconceived notions and implicit bias can interact with institutional structures to perpetuate bias and inequity. Through self-study, teachers can re-examine practices, programs, and policies, so as to embrace culturally responsive pedagogy and provide more equitably opportunities for their children to learn.

Similarly, Carime Bersh (2011) explores White prospective teachers' understandings of their own cultural identities. This study posits that White teachers must understand their own cultural identity, privilege, and the ways they are inscribed and often perpetuate institutional bias if they are to "deconstruct, reconstruct, and recreate" their own multicultural practice.Below are tools you can use to examine your own biases and how they may affect your teaching.
Do you experience implicit bias?
Challenge yourself to reflect on your own cultural identity and implicit bias. The Implicit Association Test (IAT) is a research-based way of examining one's hidden biases or comfort level about interactions with people of races different from their own. The basic finding of research on this test is that almost everyone is vulnerable to the influences that result in bias or unease in dealing with people of different races and ethnicities.

Explore your hidden bias by taking the IAT. Click on the link above, read the test information, then select "I wish to proceed." You will see tests for a range of differences, including race, disability, religion, sexuality, and so forth. We recommend that you challenge yourself on implicit associations by taking the IAT on "Race" and at least a couple of additional identity categories. After completing the IAT, think about the following questions:

How did the IAT inform your understanding of hidden bias?

To what extent were you surprised or not by your results?

How does understanding your own implicit bias better equip you for respectful engagement with diverse populations?

How can our assumptions about race be wrong?
What happens when these incorrect assumptions influence how we see our students? This belief serves to perpetuate stereotypes and unintentional racism. Race: The Power of an Illusion is PBS series produced by California Newsreel. This series tackles the construct of race and what race means. In deconstructing race as a social construct and discursive modifier, California Newsreel offers a number of interactive activities to raise awareness and reflexivity in the same vein as the Implicit Association Test. Among these is the Sorting People activity where you are asked to sort people into racial categories based on your response to individual pictures.

Akin to the PBS series, Understanding Race, a project of the American Anthropological Association (AAA), deconstructs the power of race as socially constructed. Similar to the sorting activity above, the AAA offers an activity where you have to determine Who is White? (You can get there by taking the link for Lived Experience.)

Go ahead! See if you can tell who is White just based on a picture. Could you determine someone's race by simply looking at the person?

After completing "Sorting People" and "Who is White?" think about the following questions:

To what extent were my assumptions about individuals' racial categories "accurate"?

How can my assumptions influence how I see and interact with people in negative ways?

How can I be more aware of my implicit bias??

What about our teaching?
If these implicit associations influence how we see people in general, then how do they influence our interactions with students? How do they influence our expectations for students? Consider the following questions posed by Teaching Tolerance (2015):

What influences teachers' perceptions of student potential?

How do educators' perception of this potential influence their expectations and student performance?

What factors do you consider - consciously or not - when you first encounter a student?

References
Carime Bersh, L. (2009). Deconstructing Whiteness: Uncovering prospective teachers' understandings of their culture-A Latina professor's perspective. Multicultural Perspectives 11(2), 107-112.

Chen, D. W., Nimmo, J., & Fraser, H. (2009). Becoming a culturally responsive early childhood educator: A tool to support reflection by teachers embarking on the anti-bias journey. Multicultural Perspectives 11(2), 101-106.

Delpit, L. (2006). Other people's children: Cultural conflict in the classroom. New York: The New Press.

Hanselman, P., Bruch, S. K., Gamoran, A., & Borman, G. D. (2014). Threat in Context: School Moderation of the Impact of Social Identity Threat on Racial/Ethnic Achievement Gaps. Sociology Of Education 87(2), 106-124.

Nieto, S & Bode, P. (2013). Affirming diversity: The sociopoltical context of multicultural education. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Robinson-Cimpian, J. P., Lubienski, S. T., Ganley, C. M., & Copur-Gencturk, Y. (2014). Teachers' perceptions of students' mathematics proficiency may exacerbate early gender gaps in achievement. Developmental Psychology 50(4), 1262-1281.

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How do I know if my biases affect my teaching? - NAME Learn

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Have you ever mumbled, under your breath, "Oh, goodness, here comes Chris" as a response to an "active" student who frequently disrupts the flow of class? Have you attached certain identifiers to this particular student based on your perception of the "ideal" student? Have you considered where your understanding of the ideal student was conceived?

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Are you planning to teach online courses? This eLearning Toolkit created by the School's ISET team is your reference to all things related to online teaching.

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Adult Learning Principles

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Knowles' theory of andragogy is an attempt to develop a theory specifically for adult learning. Knowles emphasizes that adults are self-directed and expect to take responsibility for decisions. Adult learning programs must accommodate this fundamental aspect. Andragogy makes the following assumptions about the design of learning: (1) Adults need to know why they need to ...

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Safer Spaces Workshops

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Social Equity and Diversity Education Office

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Equity education involves a range of training services and individual consultation on diversity issues to partners from every sector of the University. Please note that previous training and advising activities normally taken up at SEDE are now being handled in a different area of the Office of the Provost.

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One of the most important aspects of research, professors will tell you, is asking the right question. The "right question" for a researcher is important, interesting, and answerable through a particular methodology. Asking the right question is the cornerstone of inquiry. It orients the investigation and guides the researcher's thinking. In other words, how a research question is worded frames the approaches available to answering it. The answers are often used to support arguments about educational policy for change.

This essay examines three pressing, often implicit questions currently being asked in educational policy research:

1) What is educational equality?

2) What is educational equity?

3) What is a just education?

Although they are seemingly similar terms, the concepts of equality, equity, and justice orient thinking about policy in different and important ways.

On the surface, the goals implied by the above questions might seem to be aiming at the same result-even the terms might seem to be about the same idea. But, in fact, when thought about rigorously, each concept carries different assumptions about students and the goals of a policy outcome. All three concepts are important, but each can easily be misapplied. Misunderstood or poorly understood ideas of equality, equity, or justice, when enacted in policy, can inadvertently harm certain groups of students. This is why understanding the differences between these three ideas-and asking the right questions-is important.
Equality and Equity in Education Policy
The ideas of equality and equity are often misunderstood and misused. Each concept carries implicit underlying assumptions about what is "fair" as they relate to the types of schools children should attend. Each concept also carries implications about how students should be treated and how resources should be distributed. A common understanding of educational equality is that schools should offer all students the same education. This way all students will have an equal chance. A common understanding of educational equity is that all children should be given the education they need to achieve certain outcomes. Both of these ideas make sense at first glance, and they clearly connect to ideas of fairness. However, when these ideas are used to orient policy approaches, undesirable consequences might arise.

[A viral image demonstrating the difference between equity and equality]

As demonstrated by this pithy cartoon, the assumed logic of equality gives all students the same amount of a good, such as the same number of boxes to stand on. In contrast the equity orientation acknowledges the different needs of individuals and how they all require specific support to be able to reach a goal, such as achieving proficiency on standardized tests, or in the case of the cartoon watching a baseball game. To extend the metaphor in this picture, the educational equity orientation reframes the policy discussion and orients it around ensuring that schools help all students to achieve, even if that means distributing resources "unequally."

The difference between thinking about equity and equality is important because the rhetoric around major policy changes such as the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) includes terms such as equal and equitable.[1] ESSA's website claims that the law "Advances equity by upholding critical protections for America's disadvantaged and high-need students" and that it is committed "to equal opportunity for all students." The statement of purpose in section 1 of the ESSA amendment reads: "The purpose of this title is to provide all children significant opportunity to receive a fair, equitable, and high-quality education, and to close educational achievement gaps."

The ESSA incorporates the idea of equity into its policy orientation, and based on the reasoning above, equity seems to be "fairer" than the idea of equality. However, there is a problem with the concept of equity when thinking about school policies. Although an equity orientation is more sensitive to the differences and diversity between students, equity assumes that there is a sameness of the "good" to be achieved in education. This "good" could be everyone graduating from high school, or everyone reaching certain testing benchmarks. But the goal has to be the same for all students, because that is what makes reaching equity possible from a policy standpoint. What happens when, for example, a student does not want to watch baseball? Will policy force that child to watch baseball? This is the current tension that the ESSA will be struggling with as it is implemented in the coming years.

Although an equity orientation is laudable in its sensitivity toward different students, this orientation leads to problems surrounding the definitions of what is good, what is success, and what is progress. Simple answers, such as achievement on tests and graduation rates are the common responses, and are not, superficially, controversial. However, when looked at more deeply, ensuring that all students reach testing benchmarks can oppress the wide variety of values and goals within U.S. society. For example, policies specifically geared towards equity, such as the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), have created a narrowed curriculum, because reaching equity is reaching proficiency on state standardized tests. This lowers the importance of non-tested courses, such as social studies, music, arts, and athletics, which is a common criticism of NCLB. The resources devoted to achieving a specific outcome narrow and limit the potentials of students. While the orientation of equity is one based on students' fundamental rights, and positive ideals, the implementation can actually hurt students unintentionally. Time will tell if the ESSA policies help remedy this issue.
A Just Education as Compared to Educational Equity and Equality
In contrast to equality and equity, a just education is focused on ensuring that each student has the opportunities to find, figure out, and develop their skills and abilities based on their values and their communities' values. A just education does not assume the same means or the same ends for every student. Instead, it is oriented around the value of liberty and the pursuit of one's own goals by ensuring that students are prepared to make informed, knowledgeable decisions and have the skills and understandings necessary to achieve their goals. It is about seeing students as agents in their own education who have rights and inherent abilities. Finally, implicit in the idea of justice is that education is about ensuring that historical in justices are addressed, such as a historical lack of access to quality education faced by poor and marginalized students.

There are also problematic assumptions inherent in the idea of a just education. The first issue is that it is difficult to know what justice is and looks like for each student. Expanding definitions of success is complicated because success defined broadly does not allow for the same methods to measure student academic achievement-standardized tests. Standardized tests are controversial for exactly the reason asking questions about educational equity are not sufficient; testing limits the definitions of success and homogenizes the diversity of skills and experiences that students enter school with, as well as the variety of skills, knowledge, and abilities they can develop with the caring help of teachers and their communities.

Despite these issues, asking questions about justice has been sorely missing in large "school improvement" projects such as the recent overhaul of Newark public schools. Instead of ensuring that communities had a significant voice in decision making, an aspect of liberty, the policy makers focused on top-down policies that, although focused on equity by trying to improve the failing schools, in fact created chaos and upheaval. The improvement effort ultimately failed to have the desired impact. Perhaps one of the reasons was that the improvement effort was overly focused on equity at the expense of justice.

Policy makers are beginning to realize the importance of justice and liberty in education policy. The ESSA has scaled back much of its direct oversight of accountability measures, leaving that to state governments-a move that has been praised by many education experts. However, the legal stance of the ESSA policy is still oriented around the idea of equity and has not yet taken the next step towards a just education: an education focused on liberty while ensuring quality. The focus on equitable education is an important part of any educational policy, but another step remains to be taken. It may not be politically feasible at the national level, but local authorities, teacher leaders, and policy makers may be in a position to think of creating policies that offer quality education while still ensuring that students have the liberty to reach their own unique potential, the core strength of a democratic society. In other words, a just education ensures that each citizen has agency in their own education.
Asking the Rights Questions to Find Appropriate Answers
When trying to answer one specific question it is easy to get overly focused and lose sight of the many goals, needs, and values that are embedded in the American school system, and in the lives of each of its students. Even simple, related terms, such as equality, equity, and justice, which might seem to be the same at first glance, need to be carefully understood. Implicit assumptions about policy goals have far reaching consequences when made into law. This is why asking the right question is so important.

When education policies are oriented solely around the issue of equity, they can lose sight of the needs for justice and liberty. Like the federal government, checks and balances for education policy are necessary. Asking "does the policy improve equality, equity, and justice?" provides a more comprehensive framework for creating fair and good policies that meet the needs of all students and communities. As the push for every student to succeed continues, we must not achieve equality or equity at the expense of justice.

Joseph Levitan is a Foreign Language and Area Study Graduate Fellow and PhD Candidate in Educational Leadership and Comparative and International Education at Penn State. Levitan's work focuses on how self-conceptions, attitudes, and aspirations influence learning for students from marginalized populations, and how schools can become spaces for responsive teaching and learning to ensure marginalized students' success. Levitan is also the co-founder and Director of Educational Programing and Operations at the Sacred Valley Project, a non-governmental organization dedicated to ensuring that Quechua young women are able to attend secondary school and become powerful leaders in the Peruvian Andes. Prior to his work in Pennsylvania and Peru, Levitan received an MA in International Educational Development at Columbia University Teachers College and taught History and English Language Arts in an urban public middle school in Baltimore City.

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The Difference Between Educational Equality, Equity, and Justice... and Why It Matters by Joseph Levitan

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One of the most important aspects of research, professors will tell you, is asking the right question. The "right question" for a researcher is important, interesting, and answerable through a part...

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Examine your own beliefs, attitudes, perceptions and biases when it comes to cultural diversity:
Mark A. Williams, The 10 Lenses: Your Guide to Living & Working in a Multicultural World: 2001, Capital Books, Inc.

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HRPA's Cultural Competency Pre-Assessment Tool is designed to explore individual cultural competence.

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Learn as much as you can about your students before the first class:

Access & review class list in Athena Instructor Portal for Non-Credit courses

Conduct Introductory Student Survey. You might want to use Survey feature in myCourses, or poll students using McGill Student Response System, or simply print a short paper-based survey:

Introductory Student Survey

The Interest Inventory

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Foster student engagement through Video Introductions. Explore Flipgrid – it is free and works with any device from anywhere!

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McGill Teaching & Learning Services (TLS)

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McGill Teaching & Learning Services (TLS)

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Course Design Workshop and other events

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Description

Would you like to design or redesign one of your courses and enhance your teaching skills? Join a group of fellow faculty members led by facilitators from Teaching and Learning Services to discuss strategies for course design and teaching that focus on enhancing student learning. Bring an existing course or your ideas for designing a new one. You will leave this session with new insights about teaching and a draft course plan.

Please note that the Course Design Workshop is designed for McGill instructors. For a complete description of programs designed for graduate students, please check Graduate Education Initiatives.

Goals

During this workshop participants will:

1. Become familiar with learning-centered course design principles and strategies;

2. Apply these principles to the (re)design of one of their courses;

3. Exchange feedback with peers to improve course design and teaching approaches.

Strategies

The workshop has four components:

1. Pre-workshop preparation:
Upon registration, participants will be asked to complete a short questionnaire and read an article.

2. Day one:
The workshop includes interactive activities, mini lectures, and exercises where participants apply course design principles to a specific course in their discipline. Please see Agenda Tab.

3. Day two:
Participants exchange feedback on their assessment plans and consider strategies to prepare students to succeed on their assignments. Please see Agenda Tab.

4. Online component:
Participants of the workshop will gain access to an online myCourses site for workshop alumni. This site features regular discussions on topics related to course design and teaching and contains additional resources to help you plan your courses.

Agenda (tentative)

Day One

Day Two

Date, Location & Registration
Dates:

Day 1: December 11, 2018 (9:00am to 5:00pm)

Day 2: December 13, 2018 (9:00am to 4:00pm)

Location: Frank Dawson Adams Building, Room 211, 3450 rue University, Montreal, Quebec Canada

Please use this form to register for the Course Design Workshop. Once you submit the form, you will receive an email confirmation of your registration.

Contact

For further information about the workshop, please contact Dr. Mariela Tovar by or phone at (514) 398-5996.

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Registration is closed Description Agenda Date, Location & Registration Contact Description Would you like to design or redesign one of your courses and enhance your teaching skills? Join a group of fellow faculty members led by facilitators from Teaching and Learning Services to discuss strategies for course design and teaching that focus on enhancing student learning.

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Reading list

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I am

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Are you biased? I am | Kristen Pressner | TEDxBasel

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Key Principles of UDL

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The UDL Guidelines are a tool used in the implementation of Universal Design for Learning, a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn. Learn more about the Universal Design for Learning framework from CAST. The UDL Guidelines can be used by educators, curriculum developers, researchers, parents, and anyone else who wants to implement the UDL framework in a learning environment. These guidelines offer a set of concrete suggestions that can be applied to any discipline or domain to ensure that all learners can access and participate in meaningful, challenging learning opportunities.

Reenvisioning the UDL Guidelines

Because the UDL Guidelines are meant to be informed by feedback from the field as well as new research, they have been updated several times in the past. We are in the process of updating the Guidelines once again in our UDL Rising to Equity initiative.

This update will focus specifically on addressing systemic barriers that result in inequitable learning opportunities and outcomes. CAST aims to develop a transparent, inclusive, and community-driven process. If you are interested in collaborating and staying updated on our progress, we invite you to complete a brief survey.

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The UDL Guidelines are a tool used in the implementation of Universal Design for Learning, a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn. Learn more about the Universal Design for Learning framework from CAST.

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A Comprehensive Faculty Development Guide

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Skip to Main Content

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About UDL-Universe

Developed as a project of the California State University system, UDL-Universe (UDL-U) supports postsecondary faculty and staff by providing resources and examples to improve postsecondary education for all students, including those with disabilities. UDL-U is designed to be useful for individual inquiries related to small UDL topics, issues, or problems, as well as scalable to larger faculty development efforts (e.g., Faculty Learning Communities). UDL-U frames course redesign as a three-tier professional development process:

1. Application of UDL principles to enhance teaching and learning

2. Utilization of accessible instructional media and practices

3. Awareness of assistive technology enablers and barriers

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

UDL-U Faculty Development Curricula

The following guides support various levels of UDL professional development and course redesign. Each guide offers numerous resources including: campus promotional materials, UDL session planners, UDL curricula, UDL course implementation exemplars, and evaluation instruments. These resources have been successfully utilized by numerous postsecondary institutions in support of enhanced teaching and learning, for all students.

Throughout UDL-U, you will find content boxes that will provide faculty developers with additional strategies and resources for leading the implementation of UDL at your institution. These boxes are identified by an orange colored header, as well as the title "Faculty Developer Tips."

UDL Universe Site Attributions

This site and contents of this site were originally developed through the Ensuring Access through Collaboration and Technology ( about EnACT) project, funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education (P333A-080027). Additional funding has been provided through California State University, Academic Technology Services.

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LibGuides: UDL-Universe: A Comprehensive Faculty Development Guide: Home

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Inclusive Education & Teaching Diverse Learners

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The Three Block Model of UDL is the "how to" piece we need for creating socially and academically inclusive classrooms. However, there is much more to it than just the practical how - we have to understand why we are doing what we are doing - what is our vision? What are we trying to achieve, for our students, ourselves as teachers, and our communities?

We often talk about UDL as being driven by the goal of accessibility - we want all students to have access to the social and academic life of the classrooms. However, recent conversations I have had have made me realize - ACCESSIBILITY IS NOT ENOUGH. We can have access to a building, to a social gathering, to a learning opportunity - and not really be MEANINGFULLY able to participate or be included. Just wheeling a student into a room, or adapting the lesson for them and having them working on a separate task away from their peers does not allow them to meaningfully participate in the life of the classroom, with their peers, not alongside them. Accessibility is the first step, but it doesn't end there - it has to be meaningful - for the student, for the learning community, for their teachers and families. This is a much deeper level than just the practical act of differentiating our instruction, it forces us to wrestle with the roots of our humanity - what does it mean to feel connected, included...like we belong? How do we help all students feel that they have something worthwhile to contribute - including those with significant disabilities, behavioral challenges, or trying to learn English as an additional language? What about students from poverty? From minority cultures?

There are no simple answers to these questions - but as a profession, they are ones we must wrestle with, and creative a vision for our field and ourselves as professionals in that field in terms of the fundamental human desire to connect and be valued. All children deserve that.

Thus the Three-Block Model promotes four pillars: Self-worth, Belonging, Cognitive challenge, and Social learning. Research tells us self-worth and belonging are critical factors in mental health, student engagement, achievement, and attendance. Cognitive challenge means that all students are met where they are, and provided with an appropriate learning environment and instructional design for them. The challenge of social learning - the opportunity to learn in interaction with peers - is to design instruction that allows students of different background and skills to learn TOGETHER.

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The Three Block Model of UDL is the "how to" piece we need for creating socially and academically inclusive classrooms. However, there is much more to it than just the practical how - we have to understand why we are doing what we are doing - what is our vision?

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Diverse learners call for diverse teaching strategies

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Diverse learners call for diverse teaching strategies

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Use cooperative learning strategies such as group work on a shared activity with a shared goal to break down barriers, to prevent student clustering by ethnicity, to encourage collaboration, communication and teamwork:

Small Group Work to Explore  Divergent Perspectives

Moderating Complex Meaningful Discussions

Consider integrating Community Engagement projects

Invite guest speakers from diverse backgrounds

To encourage dialogue and learning, provide students with opportunities to express themselves in different ways by engaging multiple intelligences: not only verbal and mathematical intelligences but also visual, spatial, musical, interpersonal, and intrapersonal intelligences (Gardner, 1983).

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Invert your classroom - focus on practical application and your learners, not basic concepts.

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Incorporate multiple and frequent forms of assessment

Provide multiple means of expression: written, oral, visual

Remember that McGill Students have the right to submit their written assignments in French.

Special accommodations for students with disabilities

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These resources range from general introductory information about assessment approaches, to themed resources addressing the assessment of writing, exams, and group work. General Resources **Classroom Assessment Techniques: A handbook for college teachers (book). T.A. Angelo and P.T. Cross (1993).

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Office for Students with Disabilities Workshops

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Office for Students with Disabilities Workshops

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Though the first appointment and the ongoing dialogue with the Access Advisor will focus on removing barriers, the OSD is part of student services and also has the complimentary role of providing a holistic approach to student well-being and success. As such it deploys part of its resources to providing ancillary resources which students should feel free to explore if these respond to their specific needs or situations.

There are a number of workshops offered by the OSD. The list below highlights workshops currently offered and is updated each semester. All our workshops are free.You can register for all our workshops through myInvolvment.

Participants of this 90-minute webinar learn principles on how to set, maintain, and achieve academic goals while maintaining a healthy student-life balance. Participants gain organization and time management skills.

FALL 2018 dates:

Monday, September 24th, 2:00 - 3:30 pm.

Thursday, October 4th, 2:00 - 3:30 pm.

Friday, October 12th, 10:00 - 11:30 am.

You can register for this workshop through myInvolvment.

Participants of this 90-minute webinar gain self-awareness about their learning strengths and how to enhance their personal learning styles. Strategies such as memory, concentration, study organization, solutions to procrastination, study environments, note taking, and self-talk are explored to improve learning.

FALL 2018 dates:

Wednesday, October 24th, 10:00 - 11:30 am.

Wednesday, October 31st, 2:00 - 3:00 pm.

You can register for this workshop through myInvolvment.

Participants of this 90-minute webinar learn about how to approach exams and academic tasks with a mindset that would help students achieve academic success. Students will learn about how stress impacts their learning, how to apply stress-management strategies and attain a well-balanced student life.

FALL 2018 dates:

Monday, November 19th, 2:00 - 3:30 pm.

Friday, November 30th, 10:00 - 11:30 am.

You can register for this workshop through myInvolvment.

This interactive workshop for undergraduate students, will provide an overview of the fast changing notions of disability, impairment and access. A series of interactive tasks structured around recent statistics concerning disability on campus will lead the participants to re-examine certain preconceptions about the nature of disabilities in higher education, the models for services and best designs for universal access. Using case studies and discussion, participants will have the opportunity to gain an understanding of emerging notions of disability, to identify obstacles to inclusion, and to begin a personal reflection as to how best facilitate universal access as members of the McGill community.

FALL 2018 dates:

To register, simply complete the online registration form.

For practical skills and tips on how to navigate alternative applications available to enhance your writing skills, please explore the slides from the Beyond Microsoft Office. If you have any questions or would like to review this information with the OSD Technologist, please contact timothy.swiffen [at] mcgill.ca (Timothy Swiffen) .

To learn how to manage and organize information such as course notes, readings, office hours, due dates, exams, etc. please explore the slides from the Organizing your digital clutter. If you have any questions or would like to review this information with the OSD Technologist, please contact timothy.swiffen [at] mcgill.ca (Timothy Swiffen) .

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The OSD's holistic approach Video of McGill OSD Workshops in 60 seconds Though the first appointment and the ongoing dialogue with the Access Advisor will focus on removing barriers, the OSD is part of student services and also has the complimentary role of providing a holistic approach to student well-being and success.

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Affirming Diversity: The Sociopolitical Context of Multicultural Education

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Sonia Nieto and Patty Bode look at how personal, social, political, cultural, and educational factors affect the success or failure of students in today's classroom. Expanding upon the popular case-study approach, Affirming Diversity: The Sociopolitical Context of Multicultural Education examines the lives of real students who are affected by multicultural education, or the lack of it.

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Putting the pieces together with real-world assignments.

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Teaching for Learning @ McGill University

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This is the seventh post in our Assessment for Learning (AfL) series as we anticipate Beyond Grading: Effective Assessment Strategies for Better Learning, a McGill University symposium taking place on December 7, 2018.

Reflecting on my time as a philosophy student at McGill, I initially found it quite difficult to recall an assignment that was "real-world" or "hands-on" in the way that those terms are typically understood: I never journeyed to Greece to work at a school for moral education or sculpted a bust of Plato. However, when I took those terms less literally, it became quite clear to me that I was constantly asked to make connections between theory and the "real world" in my assignments. These real-world connections made my studies much more meaningful and increased my understanding of often dense texts. I have the suspicion that many students in other disciplines would feel the same way.

Fellow grad student Simone Tissenbaum accompanied me on an expedition through McGill University's downtown and Macdonald campuses to ask students about the types of assignments that have really helped them learn. Two students, one from the Faculty of Engineering and another from the Faculty of Education, shared with us their experiences with assignments that allowed them to apply their learning to real-world scenarios.

This student recalls a project in which they were tasked with designing an amplifier for a microphone. They found that they needed to implement a variety of concepts that they had used to solve practice problems in class, exclaiming, "It was cool to see how they all fit together."

The other student describes an assignment for which they attended a cultural event. They note how they particularly appreciated being able to "actually use" what they were learning and "put it into practice."

Read about why instructors might want to involve students in "hands-on" projects and how they can implement such activities.

Need ideas for creating authentic writing assignments? Check out some examples.

Beyond Grading: Effective Assessment Strategies for Better Learning - December 7, 2018

Do you teach at McGill University? You're invited to a symposium where we will engage our community of instructors in learning about creative and effective assessment strategies to help improve students' learning and motivation to learn, and inform teaching practices. View the symposium program and register to attend.

Check out the other posts in the Assessment for Learning series:

Kira Smith is an MA student in the Department of Integrated S tudies in Education at McGill University. She received her BA in English and P hilosophy from McGill in 2017 and has been working as a project assistant at Teaching and Learning Services (TLS) since. An avid unicyclist and voracious reader of pretty much anything, Kira enjoys good chats about student affairs and TLS coffee.

Project Assistant at TLS. MA student in the Department of Integrated Studies in Education. An avid unicyclist and voracious reader of pretty much anything. Enjoys good chats about student affairs and TLS coffee.

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Assessment for learning: Putting the pieces together with real-world assignments

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This is the seventh post in our Assessment for Learning (AfL) series as we anticipate Beyond Grading: Effective Assessment Strategies for Better Learning, a McGill University symposium taking place on December 7, 2018. Reflecting on my time as a philosophy student at McGill, I initially found it quite difficult to recall an assignment that was...

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McGill Experiential Community-Engaged Learning & Research (ExCELR)

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McGill Experiential Community-Engaged Learning & Research (ExCELR)

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A teaching and learning approach that integrates volunteer community work with academic study to enrich learning, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities.

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Social Equity and Diversity Education Office

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Experiential Community-Engaged Learning & Research (ExCELR) is a teaching and learning approach that integrates volunteer community work with academic study to enrich learning, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities.

Undergraduate or graduate students who participate in classes with an ExCELR option have the opportunity to work on a project with a community organization, and apply the learning that occurs in this community setting to their academic studies. ExCELR has a particular format that involves the use of intentional reflection as a key component of the learning experience, and students are supported throughout the ExCELR experience.
Why participate in ExCELR?

Increased student engagement in class material and increased retention

Allow students to develop professional skills in a real-world setting

Increase in emotional empathy and civic engagement

Provides organizations with additonal knowledge and human resources to leverage their work

Opportunity for faculty to add new dimensions to classroom learning

Creates opportunities to accommodate variety of learning styles and sources of knowledge

How to Get Involved

Take an ExCELR course

Fall 2018

Winter 2019

Integrate ExCELR into a course you teach
SEDE facilitates the partnership between you and the given community partner to co-create projects for students to complete.

Increased student engagement in class material and increased retention

Allow students to develop professional skills in a real-world setting

Increase in emotional empathy and civic engagement

Provides organizations with additonal knowledge and human resources to leverage their work

Opportunity for faculty to add new dimensions to classroom learning

Creates opportunities to accommodate variety of learning styles and sources of knowledge

Mandatory ExCELR projects that all students registered in the class are required to complete. ​This generally takes the form of one or more projects that individual students or teams work on over the course of one semester, and potentially using some class time to complete or reflect on this work.

Optional ExCELR project in which interested students choose to fulfill the project objectives and produce a deliverable in the form of a research paper and/or final report shared with the community partner. The student does the project in lieu of other coursework and is assessed accordingly.

ExCELR project undertaken as part of an Independent Study/Reading Course.

If you already offer community-based projects in your course, SEDE can provide pre-placement training for students on equitable community-university collaborations. We can also help facilitate reflection discussions to help students process their experiences and deepen their learning.

The ExCELR component must be clearly defined, with concise learning objectives​

The student should be evaluated on their learning rather than their service​

Reflection must be a key part of the experience, and serves as a valuable tool for evaluating students' learning​

ExCELR components should relate to the course material, so that students have a understanding of the relation between the two​

Ideally, the service-learning should be project-based, so that students are filling capacity gaps in the organization with their unique skills​

Projects should be co-created with community partners, to ensure the community's needs are being met​ and that there is agreement between faculty, students and community partners about project objectives, tasks, and deliverables

Students should be made aware of the validity of multiple forms of knowledge (i.e. students should be encouraged to cite community-based knowledge along with academic research in their assignments)

I'm interested! How can I start?

If you are interested in integrating a ExCELR component into your course, SEDE's Community Engagement staff can help you through the process. We are able to help you pair your course with one or more projects in community organizations which would be relevant to the course material.

You can explore more ExCELR resources or please complete the Faculty Interest Form to help us understand your needs, and we will be in touch shortly.

Become an ExCELR community partner

Receive additional support to help achieve organizational goals from students who have chosen to work with your organization

Gain access to useful, accessible academic research related to your work and use this knowledge for grants, program evaluations, annual reports, AGMs, etc.

Grow the organization's volunteer pool

Increase public awareness of key issues with youth

Projects can be built upon with each new course placement at your organization.

Fostering long-term relationships with a university partner and student volunteer base

Projects are co-developed between at least 2 months in advance of the beginning of a course (ExCELR projects start in late September and late January).

Students volunteer 3-4 hrs/week for approximately 8-weeks with their community partner on their project, and will have until the end of the semester to produce the final deliverables.

The professor and the community partner will both be responsible for the student, and will both agree to contribute to the students' education; often, the student will also sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the organization to ensure their accountability.

Project specifics will be determined by the community partner and co-developed with a SEDE staff to ensure tasks and deliverables are realistic and have a connection to the course learning objectives.

SEDE staff act as a facilitator in the co-development of projects, and will also provide specific training, reflection activities and resources for students to ensure they are prepared and supported during their community projects.

I'm interested! How can I start?

If you are interested in hosting a ExCELR project at your organization, members of the SEDE staff can talk you through the process. We will discuss your needs and ideas, and can help pair you with a professor and course that complements the project and your work. Please complete this form to help us understand your needs, and we will be in touch shortly.

For more info download our ExCELR Community Partner Manual ( English or French)
Contact:
Anurag Dhir, Engaged Learning and Access Coordinator, 514-398-3745, anurag.dhir [at] mcgill.ca

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Experiential Community-Engaged Learning & Research (ExCELR) is a teaching and learning approach that integrates volunteer community work with academic study to enrich learning, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities. Undergraduate or graduate students who participate in classes with an ExCELR option have the opportunity to work on a project with a community organization, and apply the learning that occurs in this community setting to their academic studies.

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Engage your students in meaningful experience outside the classroom.

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You can learn more about how to develop and implement experiential learning by accessing the following articles and useful links. Useful Articles Best Practices in Experiential Learning by The Learning & Teaching Office, Ryerson University Best practices to incorporate experiential activities.

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Challenge yourself to reflect on your own cultural identity and implicit bias. The Implicit Association Test is a research-based tool allowing to examine one’s hidden biases.

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Preliminary Information

On the next page you'll be asked to select an Implicit Association Test (IAT) from a list of possible topics . We will also ask you (optionally) to report your attitudes or beliefs about these topics and provide some information about yourself.

We ask these questions because the IAT can be more valuable if you also describe your own self-understanding of the attitude or stereotype that the IAT measures. We would also like to compare differences between people and groups.

On the IAT, you may find it easier to pair certain attributes with one group of people compared to another. Your IAT results may depart from your personal beliefs.

Note: This site is designed for adults, aged 18 or older.

Data Privacy: Data exchanged with this site are protected by SSL encryption. Project Implicit uses the same secure hypertext transfer protocol (HTTPS) that banks use to securely transfer credit card information. This provides strong security for data transfer to and from our website. IP addresses are routinely recorded, but are completely confidential. For research purposes, data without directly identifying information is made publicly available. You can find more information on our Data Privacy page.

Important disclaimer: In reporting to you results of any IAT test that you take, we will mention possible interpretations that have a basis in research done (at the University of Washington, University of Virginia, Harvard University, and Yale University) with these tests. However, these Universities, as well as the individual researchers who have contributed to this site, make no claim for the validity of these suggested interpretations. If you are unprepared to encounter interpretations that you might find objectionable, please do not proceed further. You may prefer to examine general information about the IAT before deciding whether or not to proceed.

If you have questions about the study, please contact Project Implicit at questions@projectimplicit.net. To obtain more information about the study, ask questions about the research procedures, express concerns about your participation, or report illness, injury or other problems, please contact:

Tonya R. Moon, Ph.D.
Chair, Institutional Review Board for the Social and Behavioral Sciences
One Morton Dr Suite 500
University of Virginia, P.O. Box 800392
Charlottesville, VA 22908-0392
Email: irbsbshelp@virginia.edu
Website: https://research.virginia.edu/irb-sbs
Website for Research Participants: https://research.virginia.edu/research-participants

I am aware of the possibility of encountering interpretations of my IAT test performance with which I may not agree. Knowing this, I wish to proceed I am aware of the possibility of encountering interpretations of my IAT test performance with which I may not agree. Knowing this, I wish to proceed using a touchscreen OR using a keyboard.

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On the next page you'll be asked to select an Implicit Association Test (IAT) from a list of possible topics . We will also ask you (optionally) to report your attitudes or beliefs about these topics and provide some information about yourself.

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Athena Instructor Portal

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Athena Instructor Portal - General Instructions (version 1.2)

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Creating the foundation

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Teaching Tips

Richard J. Harnish, Rory O'Brien McElwee, Jeanne M. Slattery, Sue Frantz, Michelle R. Haney, Cecilia M. Shore, Julie Penley

Although the course syllabus is often overlooked or undervalued as the first form of communication between students and their instructors, it plays an important role for both. For students, the syllabus communicates information about the course that they require throughout the semester. For instructors, it assists with planning and demonstrates to students the instructor's concerns for the course and for them (Hammons & Shock, 1994). Importantly, the syllabus creates a first impression about the instructor and his or her attitudes toward teaching (Grunert, 1997). In this column, we identify six characteristics that contribute to a warm syllabus tone, whereby instructors create a classroom environment in which they are seen as approachable and in which students become engaged. We also provide concrete examples of syllabi sections using "cold" language and improved versions using a "warm" tone.

Much has been written about how to create an effective syllabus. There appears to be widespread agreement about what the requisite components are. A good syllabus communicates to students: 1) basic information about the course and contact information; 2) course purpose including goals and objectives; 3) instructor's teaching philosophy and beliefs; 4) assignments and course calendar; 5) required and optional materials including textbooks and supplemental readings such as journal articles; 6) methods of instruction and course delivery; 7) grading procedures; and 8 ) learning resources for students (see Altman, 1989; Appleby, 1999; Davis, 1993; Matejka & Kurke, 1994; McKeachie, 2002; Slattery & Carlson, 2005; Suddreth & Galloway, 2006). Indeed, the presence of these areas has been part of the criteria used by Project Syllabus, an arm of The Office of Teaching Resources in Psychology (OTRP), in evaluating and sharing excellent syllabi in psychology (see http://teachpsych.org/otrp/syllabi/syllabi.php).

Only recently has attention shifted from the elements of a good syllabus to how such information is conveyed. Students can glean the instructor's interpersonal style and approachability from a syllabus's messages about expectations for classroom climate (DiClementi & Handelsman, 2005; Rogers & Abell, 2008; Sanz de Acedo Lizarraga, Sanz de Acedo Baquedano, Goicoa Mangado, & Cardelle-Elawar, 2009). A syllabus that talks at length about penalties for not following protocol or instructions can convey "coldness" about the instructor and the class climate, and can signal an undesirable class (Rubin, 1985; Slattery & Carlson, 2005). In contrast, a syllabus that provides course information in a positive or friendly manner can build a sense of belonging and community. A positive syllabus tone removes unnecessary and unhelpful barriers between instructors and students, making the classroom a comfortable and safe place for discovery.

The Characteristics of Warm Syllabi
Both the literature on syllabi and that on other types of motivating relationships suggest six strategies for warming syllabi (i.e., tone, rationale, self-disclosure, humor, compassion, and enthusiasm). These are illustrated in Table 1 (on pages 26-27) and discussed below.

(1) Positive or Friendly Language. Use positive, friendly language so students feel comfortable and welcome. Positive or friendly language should be used throughout the syllabus, as this triggers students' implicit personality theories (Asch, 1946) about the instructor and the course. For example, note the difference in tone in the two examples of office hours, with the warm version indicating, "Individual assistance is always available by appointment. I look forward to seeing you during student hours."

(2) Rationale for Assignments. Providing the rationale for assignments can help motivate students by making it clear how each assignment relates to the course goals and their own learning (Zinn, 2009). Instructors can also supplement their assignment rationale with strategies to help students further develop their metacognition about their learning (e.g., providing students with strategies for monitoring and regulating their study behavior). Students will be more likely to approach coursework with zeal when they recognize the work's value and feel able to succeed. For instance, in the example on Optional Readings, the "warm" instructor notes, "too often students simply accept what they see in a text as truth without critically evaluating the information," and suggests that students will have a different experience in this course.

(3) Self-Disclosure. One way a syllabus can facilitate a warm and inviting classroom environment is through the sharing of personal experiences that lead to liking (Collins & Miller, 1994). For example, Sorenson (1989) argued that self-disclosure in the classroom, whether it is relevant to subject content or not, can provide insight into an instructor's interpersonal style. As in the warm example on Learning Resources (i.e., "We've all needed help in something at some point in our lives."), this can be minimal, yet effective. The examples also create positive self-disclosures by speaking in first person (e.g., "I developed..." "My hope...").

(4) Humor. Humor or not taking oneself so seriously can help with tone, but humor can be tricky and requires tact (see Pollio, 2002). Mester and Tauber (2004) suggest, "to be effective, humor need only be pertinent, brief, tasteful and nonhostile" (p. 161). There is no reason why a syllabus cannot contain a cartoon, joke or anecdote about the course topic matter. Indeed, humor seems to be characteristic of master teachers and an indicator of their enthusiasm for their disciplines (Buskist, 1998). Humor can capture attention to important details in the syllabus and increase motivation for learning the course material (e.g., in the section on Teaching Philosophy, the instructor notes that she cannot make students eat what she prepares, but that she hopes they come to class hungry).
Conclusions
(5) Compassion. Compassion is perhaps best illustrated in the attendance policy, when acknowledging unexpected (and unwelcomed) life events. Instructors should strongly encourage students to attend class while also acknowledging that unforeseen events may occasionally prevent perfect attendance. In such cases, where the student is experiencing illnesses, death in the family or other traumatic events, a supportive word may be needed. Providing a limit on the number of missed classes is acceptable, with the syllabus noting that when students surpass the allotted excused absences, they are overextended and it may not be the best semester in which to take the course.

(6) Enthusiasm. Use the syllabus as an opportunity to show your students your passion for teaching and for your subject matter (e.g., in Course Goals, "Think for a moment about how test scores impact people's lives - in schools, jobs, health, and many other important domains of life. Understanding test scores is vital..."). Enthusiasm has been found to foster active learning and student engagement (Patrick, Hisley, & Kempler, 2000). Other research has shown that student-rated instructor enthusiasm is positively correlated with other aspects of student-rated teaching effectiveness (e.g., structure of the course) and with self-ratings of student learning (Jackson et al., 1999).

In this column, we have attempted to provide a list of the prominent characteristics of a warm and inviting syllabus. We encourage instructors to review their syllabi for warmth to help their students feel welcome, comfortable, and excited about their courses. As Rubin (1985) noted:
... [I]f students could be persuaded that we are really interested in their understanding the material we offer, that we support their efforts to master it, and that we take their intellectual struggles seriously, they might respond by becoming more involved in our courses, by trying to live up to our expectations, and by appreciating our concern. (p. 56)
Providing friendly and positive language in the syllabus promotes understanding between students and teachers and sets the stage for a rewarding educational experience for all. Other aspects of a warm syllabus, such as infusing humor, compassion, and enthusiasm about the course, helps students immediately connect with the professor and course.

Furthermore, transparency regarding the rationale for assignments and appropriate self-disclosure within the syllabi help students recognize an approachable professor who is open to questions and discussions. Overall, a conscious effort to construct a syllabus warm in tone is a small investment with far reaching benefits for a successful course.
Examples of Cold and Warm Syllabus Sections
Additional examples of exemplary syllabi that convey warmth are available at the Project Syllabus website.

Table 1

Office Hours:
Office Hours:131 Psychology T & R 8:30 - 9:30 a.mjsmith@edu.edu

If you need to contact me, you may email me or contact the department and leave a message. I will return your call.

Student Hours:131 Psychology T & R 8:30 - 9:30 a.m.jsmith@edu.edu

Individual assistance is always available by appointment. I look forward to seeing you during student hours. Stop in.

Course Description
This course is an introduction to the principles and theories of the self. Students will be required to examine one's own sense of self and others' identity, beliefs and assumptions, and behaviors that form identity.

Who are we? Am I a son or daughter, a mother or father, a brother or sister? Am I a student, a worker, an athlete? How did we become who we are? How do we manage to play so many diverse roles? And what dictates the roles that we play? In this class, we will learn what science can tell us about development of the self and how scientists figure these things out. Your efforts in this class will help you understand who you are in new ways and prepare you to study the self scientifically.

Course goals and objectives
Course Goal The course will provide you with a broad and general introduction to scale development, scale transformation, norms, standardization, validation procedures, and estimation of reliability. Course Objectives By the end of the course, you should be able to. . .

Course Goal Think for a moment about how test scores impact people's lives - in schools, jobs, health, and many other important domains of life. Understanding test scores is vital both to psychology as a science and to society as a whole. In this course you will have the opportunity to learn about scale development, scale transformation, norms, standardization, validation procedures, and estimation of reliability. You will complete the course with the ability to use test scores appropriately and to evaluate their use by others. Course Objectives Some of the specific skills you will obtain in this course are listed here. All of these will help you to become a critical consumer of test scores and to be a better decision-maker about testing in your professional and personal lives. . .

Instructor's teaching philosophy and beliefs
This course is a bit like a restaurant. You order and pay for the food. I serve it. I cannot and will not make you eat it. That is your choice. To assist you in understanding the prominent ideas, theories and principles in testing and measurement, I have assigned the following tasks for you to complete. . .

If you take a moment, I bet you can think back to the first time you ordered something off the menu at a restaurant when you were out with your family. This course is a bit like that - ordering something off a menu at a restaurant. You selected this course off of a menu of courses and certainly, I don't have to tell you the price you paid for your "meal." My job is like the chef in the restaurant. I want to serve you the most appetizing and nutritious food I can. But unlike that meal with your family, I will not hound you if you are not hungry. Why? Well, from my experiences with my own kids, I know I cannot make you eat what I prepare. That is your choice. But I hope that you come to this class hungry. I will present the prominent ideas, theories and principles developed that form the foundation of testing and measurement. To assist you in learning the course material, I have assigned the following tasks for you to complete. . .

Required and optional materials
Optional Readings Each has been placed on e-Reserve.

Optional Readings Why optional readings? I developed the optional reading list for a number of reasons. Foremost, the readings provide an opportunity for those interested in social psychology to go beyond the material provided in the required text and examine in more detail specific topics that are of interest to social psychologists. Second, too often students simply accept what they see in a text as truth without critically evaluating the information. My hope is that you will start (if you haven't already) being critical of what you are reading by drawing upon your own experiences and other knowledge. I have carefully selected the optional readings because they are provocative and provide a different perspective to the required text. Each has been placed on e-Reserve.

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Portions of this column were presented at the 117th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Toronto, ON, August 6-9, 2009. Send correspondence to Richard J. Harnish, Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, New Kensington Campus, 3550 Seventh Street Road, Route 780, Upper Burrell, PA 15068-1765, Phone: 724-334-6735, email: rjh27@psu.edu.

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Creating the Foundation for a Warm Classroom Climate

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Richard J. Harnish, Rory O'Brien McElwee, Jeanne M. Slattery, Sue Frantz, Michelle R. Haney, Cecilia M. Shore, Julie Penley Although the course syllabus is often overlooked or undervalued as the first form of communication between students and their instructors, it plays an important role for both.