How teachers can foster inclusion with their curriculum

The syllabus is a necessary and important document in higher education classes, not only to outline expectations, policies, curricula, necessary materials and resources, but also to foster students’ feelings of belonging. More recently, faculty have added “identity safety signals” to their syllabi that foster inclusive and equitable learning environments, including personalized statements, accessibility statements, land acknowledgements, content warnings, and inclusion statements.

To measure the effectiveness of this work and how students perceive inclusion in curricula, researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute evaluated more than 150 STEM curricula (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics courses), hoping to identify which elements caught the students’ attention.

The study, published in the journal Nature, Communication in Humanities and Social Sciences In a June review, students were found to value annotating professor pronouns, inclusion statements, and readings and materials written by women and gender minority scholars as inclusive practices.

The study: The study’s authors (professors Francesca Bernardi, Crystal Brown, Lindsay Davis, Michelle Ephraim, Rebecca Moody, and Raisa Trubko) sought to understand how curricula signal inclusion in the classroom, particularly in science, technology, engineering, and math courses, which historically have underrepresented women, students of color, and gender minorities (including nonbinary and transgender students).

To do so, researchers analyzed 163 introductory undergraduate syllabi from various WPI departments to identify how many syllabi included instructor pronouns, an inclusion statement, or diverse learning materials. Researchers then surveyed 145 undergraduate students to measure how much they used the syllabus and how important those three features were with open-ended and multiple-choice responses.

The programs of study spanned six academic years, from 2016–17 to 2021–22, and represented all four WPI schools: Arts & Sciences, Engineering, Business, and Global.

The results: The survey highlighted that students primarily seek information about grades, course expectations, information, academic schedule, and policies within the syllabus. More than three-quarters of students said they believe the syllabus is important (77 percent) and many view it as a tool that provides structure and organization to their schedules.

Among respondents who do not believe the syllabus is important, students shared that they thought its information was redundant because it was available elsewhere (in the LMS, in class instruction, or in email communication) or because the information changed throughout the course, making the syllabus outdated.

Three-quarters of students believe that syllabi that include faculty pronouns are important, and this number increases among gender minorities and women (86 percent). However, only 10 percent of the syllabi analyzed included faculty pronouns. All syllabi with pronouns were from the College of Arts and Sciences, and some of these syllabi also included the pronouns of teaching assistants or peer learning assistants.

More syllabi included inclusion statements (33 percent), and a similar number of students believe it is important to add these statements (71 percent). When inclusion statements are included in a course syllabus, students want the professor to demonstrate those values ​​in the classroom, rather than present a statement as a performative action.

About one in five degree programs featured works written by women and gender minorities, and about three in five students said that including women and gender minority authors in courses is important to their learning experience.

So what? In addition to highlighting how many students desire these characteristics in the classroom, students also shared why these practices are inclusive, noting that:

• Set standards. Including pronouns in syllabi encourages students to share their pronouns, which in turn validates gender identities and creates a more equitable classroom environment. Similarly, an inclusion statement sets expectations for how a professor will treat students and holds them accountable for inclusive actions, which was important to respondents.

• Show respect. Students indicated that having pronouns in the syllabus makes them feel more comfortable addressing their professor correctly, avoiding miscommunication and encouraging relationship building with their instructor.

• Show support to all students. When a professor includes their pronouns in their syllabus or an inclusion statement, students say it can signal the professor’s allyship or recognition of LGBTQ+ or BIPOC issues on campus, helping students feel safe and supported in their studies.

• Encourage diverse conversations. Students believe that including works by diverse authors can broaden their perspectives, ideas and experiences, as well as challenge stereotypes in the academic field.

In the student survey, few respondents indicated that any of the three elements made them feel uncomfortable or affected their learning, making the practices mostly beneficial to students.

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