Better Together: Creating Inclusive Learning Environments

Workplace Writing and International Writers, Alan Ackmann (LAS), Margaret Poncin (LAS)
The session will begin by describing the creation of WRD 202x, a course on business writing taught by Writing, Rhetoric, and Discourse faculty. Like traditional sections of WRD 202, WRD 202x fulfills the writing credit for Driehaus College of Business students, but these X sections are specifically designed for students who are non-native speakers of English. We will cover how WRD 202x came to be, how it fits within the International population of the Driehaus college, how the course was developed and administered, and the specific demographics that it serves. From here, we’ll discuss how WRD 202x incorporates practices that make the course inclusive for students from a variety of international backgrounds, including addressing the cultural and linguistic challenges these students face when writing in U.S. professional contexts. Margaret Poncin, a WRD 202x instructor, will share her experiences with the class, and the work she has done with International students. The presentation will conclude by emphasizing the key transferable insights that faculty teaching other courses can take away from WRD 202x, including an understanding of how to help International students understand business customs and some strategies for assessing writing from International students.


Developing Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences, James Montgomery (CSH)
This session will focus on the design and implementation of Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs), with particular focus on a CURE I have developed in my 300-level environmental science course (ENV 310-Environmental Soil Science). A CURE is a learning experience in which whole classes of students address a research question or problem with unknown outcomes or solutions that are of interest to external stakeholders. CUREs afford students opportunities to make discoveries that are of interest to the broader scientific community or other stakeholders outside the classroom. In this session I will discuss the history of CUREs, including their features and how they are different from other types of lab experiences, the benefits of a CURE to students and faculty, and how my ENV 310 CURE, called the What’s in Your Soil?, has transformed my pedagogy.


Incorporating Open Access into Information Literacy Sessions, Ana Lucic (University Library), Susan Shultz (University Library)
This session will highlight the complex publishing landscape and the implications of it on students and their learning. More particularly, the session will focus on the open access issues and the barriers that various types of paywall and restricted access to information present for all. Finally, I will demonstrate how I started incorporating the complexities of publishing landscape into information literacy sessions.


Curriculum Design and Mapping using Coursetune, Zoaib Mirza (SNL)
Demonstrate use of Coursetune and how it can benefit in curriculum planning and course design.