A new online course piloted by the Center for Teaching Innovation (CTI) will address challenges and offer strategies for teaching effectively in diverse classrooms.

Beginning Oct. 15, “Teaching & Learning in the Diverse Classroom” is open to all faculty and teaching assistants, in all disciplines and with any level of diversity expertise. The four-week course is designed to build confidence to address challenges, and to communicate effectively with students across differences. The course explores strategies for inclusive course design and pedagogical practices that effectively support student engagement.

“I hope that the course will help instructors further develop classrooms that engage all students,” said Julia Thom-Levy, vice provost for academic innovation and professor of physics, who oversees CTI. “The learning that happens in such an environment is our greatest chance to grow as an intellectual community.”

The course includes videos, activities, readings and opportunities for face-to-face discussion with peers in the Cornell community. In addition to reviewing inclusive course design and evidence-based teaching strategies, participants will be invited to reflect on their own formative experiences as learners, teachers and members of disciplines. With the incorporation of feedback from the fall pilot, CTI anticipates offering the course again in spring 2019.

The course aligns with the goals of President Martha E. Pollack’s Presidential Task Force for Campus Climate and her commitment to further advancing climate, diversity, inclusion and equity, as outlined in her recent update on Cornell’s diversity and inclusion initiatives.

Mathew L. Ouellett, executive director of CTI, said the course offers an additional contribution to the community of Cornell instructors, “as we continue to think and act together to create and sustain learning environments that support the success of all of our students.”

For more information and to register for the course, instructors can visit the Teaching & Learning in the Diverse Classroom page.

CTI supports the Cornell teaching community with a full complement of individualized services, programs, institutes, and campuswide initiatives.