Join the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT) for one of our Online Teaching Certificate (OTC) multi-week courses:
Please register in advance. Email celt@stonybrook.edu if you have any questions.
By Hyunjin Jinna Kim Ph.D., Curriculum & Instruction
Postdoctoral Associate
Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT)
hyunjin.kim.4@stonybrook.edu
Practicing inclusive teaching, especially in the STEM fields, is recognized as a challenge. A 2017 study by Oriana Aragón and colleagues found that an instructor’s values provide a clue as to their ability to implement pedagogies that embrace equity.
In the article Colorblind and multicultural ideologies are associated with faculty adoption of inclusive teaching practices, which ran in the Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, researchers investigated the relationship between faculty beliefs and the adoption of inclusive teaching practices in STEM. Results demonstrated higher adoption of inclusive teaching practices from those who endorsed multicultural ideology compared to the endorsement of a colorblind ideology.
Using survey data from 628 attendees of the National Academies Summer Institutes on Undergraduate Science Education, the study measured faculty ideologies and the influence on inclusive teaching adoption processes. In terms of ideologies, the study measured colorblind and multicultural ideologies as opposing viewpoints. The colorblind ideology refers to beliefs that emphasize sameness and equal treatment with no attention to students’ differences. The multicultural ideology, on the other hand, is a set of beliefs that embraces differences and seeks to support underrepresented or marginalized students. The measurement of adopting equitable teaching practices included instructor actions such as adopting diverse teaching methods, reducing implicit biases, or providing classroom content with contributors from diverse backgrounds.
The Summer Institute curriculum was designed based on an EPIC model: Expose, persuade, identify, and commit. In the study, educators were exposed to inclusive teaching practices; then persuaded by personal values, a sense of duty to the organization, and the negative consequences of not implementing them. Next, educators identified with the inclusive teaching practices by seeing the compatibility of the practices with their teaching approaches. Commitment is the final step where educators implemented new teaching practices. This was measured by asking participants to indicate the inclusive teaching practices they applied to their teaching as a result of the Summer Institute.
The data collection started in October 2014, when a request to respond to a survey was distributed to all who attended the National Academies Summer Institutes between 2004-2014. The Summer Institute was sponsored by the National Academies and funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and ran annually from 2004 to 2015. Typically, the program is a 4-day intensive training where participants focus on active learning, assessment, and inclusive teaching practices. Results of the study showed a higher rate of changes in the implementation of inclusive teaching practices after attending the Summer Institute.
The results are important to educators as they suggest that critical self-awareness is key for faculty who seek to eliminate exclusion of traditionally underrepresented students in STEM courses. Despite the self-report biases and the well-intended faculty who committed their time to attend the Summer Institute, it is critical to recognize that faculty ideologies and orientations could potentially affect efforts in implementing inclusive practices. The good news is that faculty can play an active role in reviewing their own biases regarding their teaching ideologies and in revising their teaching practice.
What are your thoughts on this study? On making your own teaching practice more inclusive? Leave a comment below.
Reference
Aragón, O. R., Dovidio, J. F., & Graham, M. J. (2017). Colorblind and multicultural ideologies are associated with faculty adoption of inclusive teaching practices. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 10(3), 201-215. https://doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000026
Part of the “Network of Advocates for International Students” (NAIS) Initiative, join us for Understanding and Supporting International Students Post-2016 and Post-Pandemic on Friday, 9/23 from 1pm -2:30pm either in person in the Faculty Commons or over Zoom.
The current pandemic, combined with the recent national political environment has contributed to an especially taxing state of increased emotional distress, social isolation, and financial hardship among our international students. We invite faculty and staff to come together In solidarity with our international students and each other to discuss the challenges we face and collaborate on how to best meet this moment and ensure that all of our students have the opportunity to thrive here at SBU and beyond.
Please register prior to the event.
Welcome Back!
Join us for one of our upcoming events:
You can also schedule a consultation with a CELT specialist by emailing us!
Get to know CELT better! This week we find out more about Jinna Kim, Postdoc.
What is your favorite part of your job?
The team members! Everyone is friendly, welcoming, and always willing to help. The team members say a lot about the job–and I enjoy the presence of every member. 🙂
What did you do prior to working in CELT?
I was an Academic Program Specialist at the University of Florida. I developed academic programs and coached students who are often underrepresented in postsecondary education to lead them to success.
Coffee or tea?
Always coffee–nothing added. Just dark black coffee.
Where would you like to visit (real or fictional)?
Where would you like to visit (real or fictional)?
What was the last book you read?
Get to know CELT better! This week we find out more about Amie Cohen, Assistant Director of Faculty Development – Testing Assessment, & Evaluation.
What is your favorite part of your job?
The opportunity to work with faculty to help them incorporate new and innovative ways to assess student learning in their courses.
What did you do prior to working in CELT?
Prior to working in CELT, I worked more directly with students, most recently as an Undergraduate College Advisor for first-year students at SBU, and previously as a Career Coach in the Career Center. In all of my previous positions in higher education, my position involved taking the lead on the assessment of student learning in both courses and programs, which is what led me to my current role with CELT!
Coffee or tea?
Coffee, but I also enjoy a good Iced Tea!
Where would you like to visit (real or fictional)?
It is hard to narrow down to one place, but if the length of travel was less of a deterrent, I would love to visit Australia!
What was the last book you read?
I recently reread Little Women, after watching the most recent screen adaptation!
Get to know CELT better! This week we find out more about Jenny Zhang, instructional Designer.
What is your favorite part of your job?
Working with amazing educators and colleagues in an academic setting is the most exciting part.
What did you do prior to working in CELT?
Before joining CELT, I worked as an instructional designer at other universities and colleges in New York and Florida.
Coffee or tea?
Tea. I am a certified tea master.
Where would you like to visit (real or fictional)?
Turkey. It has a rich history and culture with Asian and European heritage.
What was the last book you read?
Small Teaching Online by Flower Darby and James Lang
Carol Hernandez, Senior Instructional Designer
Jennifer Carter, Ph.D., a lecturer teaching in the Department of Philosophy and the College of Business, is one of six SBU adjunct faculty members selected for the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Adjunct Teaching given by the State University of New York (SUNY). The awards are conferred to acknowledge and provide system-wide recognition for superior professional achievement and to encourage the ongoing pursuit of continuous academic excellence. The Excellence in Adjunct Teaching is a new award category, which recognizes consistently superior teaching at the graduate, undergraduate or professional level.
During the past year, Carter has worked closely with the instructional design team in the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT) to redesign and build a completely asynchronous online course, PHI 108: Logical and Critical Reasoning. The philosophy course has the largest enrollment for any course in that department, with about 550 students per semester. With the help of CELT’s instructional designers, Carter transformed the course from a face-to-face model to a completely online and asynchronous model where students move through as a cohort, but with weekly online assignments where they engage with each other, the instructor, and the course content. Carter has taught the redesigned course twice so far and student feedback is positive, she said. Students have commented on the high level of interactivity and real-time engagement with the instructor and their peers, all despite connecting in a virtual classroom. While the course tends to be taken mostly by freshmen and sophomores, it can be useful for upperclassmen as well because it supports critical thinking and lifelong learning. The course addresses the Stony Brook Curriculum as both an ESI: Evaluate and Synthesize Researched Information, and an HUM: Address Problems Using Critical Analysis and the Methods of the Humanities.
Working with CELT, she said, was a high point in her teaching journey. “There were times during the pandemic when I was discouraged and working with CELT was really great.”
Carter, who is originally from California, earned both her doctorate and master’s degrees at Stony Brook University. She has been teaching for about a decade. Carter typically has 2-4 undergraduate teaching assistants in the redesigned philosophy course, which is critical for a course that provides a high level of interaction for students. A best practice for online course design and facilitation is to create a sense of “presence” by establishing community and interdependence. However, that also requires real-time human facilitation by the instructor and teaching assistants. In addition to philosophy courses, Carter also teaches BUS 447: Business Ethics, first-year seminars, and a spring special topics course for undergraduates.
As an educator, Carter is passionate about developing and mentoring both undergraduate and graduate teaching assistants. Each year, Carter mentors 4 to 6 Ph.D. Philosophy students and 3 to 8 undergraduate teaching assistants. With the doctoral students, she instructs them on course development, lecturing, grading, and “how to arrange the course and information so that it is digestible for students and keeps their interest,” she said. For undergraduates, Carter provides overall mentoring and leadership guidance, while also facilitating reading groups, guiding the teaching assistants, advising students on graduate school applications, and directing the honors theses.
Carter was nominated for the Chancellor’s Award by her department colleagues. “It made me feel really special,” she said. “I think there were a few important factors that made me stand out. Innovation was one element. I think developing the new course and the new curricula – especially those that address the future of SBU students.
“The course that I developed with CELT addresses not just the needs of students on campus today but also the needs of the students coming to the campus in the future. In the sense that it accommodates the widest variety of students: students with disabilities, students in different disciplines, and with different backgrounds . . . but it’s still rigorous and it still piques students’ interest.”
Carter said she is proud of the award because it highlights her dedication to teaching. She says she has put a lot of effort into developing future educators from a variety of disciplines: medicine, economics, finance, psychology, sociology. “It is absolutely what I thrive on and it really gives me a lot of satisfaction to help others to have the skills to create their own learning as a way of life.”
In addition to serving the SBU community as an educator and mentor, Carter was elected in 2021 to serve as the secretary for the Stony Brook Center Campus Chapter of the United University Professions (UUP). The UUP represents academic faculty, students affairs personnel, librarians and others who work on campus. The chapter Carter is involved in has more than 2,300 members.
For Carter, teaching and learning is not just her profession, but a way of life. Carter is also a parent, and delivered four of her children at Stony Brook University Hospital. Imagine her surprise when the pediatric resident came in to examine one of her newborns and it turned out to be one of her former SBU students. “We were just so happy. We had talked a lot during the class, so we fell right back into our usual pattern. It was really sweet.”
The six adjunct professors at Stony Brook University who won the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Adjunct Teaching given by the State University of New York (SUNY) are:
Happy Summer! Join the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT) for one of our Online Teaching Certificate (OTC) multi-week courses:
Get to know CELT better! This week we find out more about Rose Tirotta, Director.
What is your favorite part of your job?
How can I choose just one?! I love working with faculty and staff on innovative projects around teaching and learning, but also like to take the time to reflect on the data we collect and explore what we can offer to better support and collaborate with folks across campus!
What did you do prior to working in CELT?
I started my career as a high school English teacher, but most recently was at Hofstra University for over 13 years prior to joining CELT.
Coffee or tea?
I love, love, love coffee, but am always up for some herbal tea as well…after my coffee 🙂
Where would you like to visit (real or fictional)?
I’ve been to Walt Disney World in Florida and Disneyland Paris, but I’d love to visit the rest of the Disney parks across the world!
What was the last book you read?
The Light of Lunar Park by Addison Armstrong