This section is full of timely and evidence-based practices to apply in your teaching.
- Accessible Color Choices: Color can bring life to online content, but it can also detract from your message, becoming a distraction and even a barrier for some in your audience. Use of color with a secondary indicator along with good color contrast will prevent color from becoming a distraction, and it will also ensure that your content is accessible to people with vision and cognitive disabilities. The Use of Color video from the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) shows some examples of how color can be a barrier to your audience, and also discusses how to use color in a way that will be accessible to everyone.
- Inclusive Teaching Toolkit: Did you know that ACUE maintains an inclusive teaching toolkit? The toolkit features 10 concrete practices that instructors can immediately implement in their teaching practices to create more open and inclusive learning spaces for all students. Each practice contains links to additional resources for further guidance. These small changes can have a transformational impact on your students and lead to an increased sense of belonging in the classroom.
- VOISES Recap | LatinX Student Experiences: Last week’s VOISES panel was with our LatinX students. These students felt happy to finally be in an institution of learning where they could be proud of their heritage and culture. Most were first generation students so had to navigate a lot to get here. Overall LatinX students were looking for faculty who recognized and tried to understand their culture. Faculty who communicated clearly realistic class expectations, engaged in activities inside and outside the classroom, gave them an opportunity to engage in joint research and overwhelmingly they were looking to connect with and form a lasting relationship with faculty as mentors. A full summary can be read here.