Resources

Diversity Statements (DVS)

Our Diversity Statement Workbook contains an overview of what constitutes a Diversity Statement, thinking questions to guide your development and writing of a Diversity Statement, and suggestions for how to include one more visually in your teacher-scholar website. It also contains the Inclusive Teaching Audit checklist so that you can ensure that your course design and facilitation also address the inclusion of diverse identities, abilities, and interests. Watch a short video about the Diversity Statement for a brief overview.

What is a Diversity Statement?

The Diversity Statement (DVS) is a document that articulates your experiences with and commitment to working for justice, diversity, inclusion, and equity for all students; to demonstrate your awareness of the importance of embracing diversity and working for inclusivity and equity in education as part of the larger global need for connected and inclusive communities.

It has a broader scope than your Teaching Philosophy (TPS) in that it is grounded in your own complex identities and past experiences of privilege and barriers in your educational journey, and it includes activities beyond the classroom.

Why make a Diversity Statement?

To articulate your values, beliefs, goals, and methods as a teacher.
To have a guiding document to stand firm and advocate for justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion.
To share with students and others as part of an inclusive and equitable teaching approach.
To have a document that you can modify as needed for specific applications and promotions.
To reflect on your values, beliefs, goals, and approach to teaching and learning, so you can express yourself effectively and succinctly in responding to interview questions.

What does a Diversity Statement look like?

A 1-2 page single-spaced essay that presents a coherent narrative of your perspectives on justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion is supported with examples and commentary from experience and practice.

What Should be Included in a Diversity Statement?

Use this DVS Checklist to refine and structure your ideas.

Need More Resources about the Diversity Statement?

Find more information and resources explaining what a diversity statement is, ways to articulate your values and approach to teaching, and provide guidance on the writing process by accessing the Diversity Statement Workbook

This workbook can help you:

Review, reflect, and gather ideas for your diversity statement.
Engage in planning and writing practice.
Organize and begin composing a draft.
Review and revise your draft.
Need to talk to someone about crafting your Diversity Statement?

Make an appointment with a CAFE team member to brainstorm ideas, review your reflections to shape your DVS, and get feedback on your DVS drafts.

Course Design

Syllabus SLO Workbook: This workbook walks you through developing student learning outcomes as part of your course design process. Based on Wiggins and McTighe’s (1998) work with backward design, the workbook begins the process of course design by facilitating your thinking about your teaching goals, and especially about the learning outcomes you set for your students.

Syllabus Design: This handout provides an overview of the functions of a syllabus, and key design and content selection considerations in designing a syllabus.

Zinger, J. F., Lee, D. J., & Su, C. C. (2023). It’s in the Syllabus: The Relationship Between Syllabi Word Use and Teaching Evaluations. Journal of Language and Social Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X231198513

Abstract: The authors analyzed 1,472 course syllabi written by 611 professors to determine whether communion-related and/or agency-related word use in professors’ syllabi predicted those same professors’ end-of-semester teaching evaluations. Linguistic inquiry and word count (LIWC) analyses revealed that professors who used more communal language—including third person plural pronouns (e.g., we), social words (e.g., discussion), and positive emotion words (e.g., please)—received significantly higher teaching evaluations, but agentic language did not significantly predict evaluation scores.

Syllabus Inclusivity Checklist: Double-check your syllabus for inclusivity and important information.

Syllabus Storyboarding: In creative syllabus design, storyboarding helps us think about learning as a coherent process of development from start to finish.

Rice Center for Teaching Excellence: Workload Estimator: Estimate how many hours per week your course assignments should take students to complete.

AACU Value Rubrics: The AAC&U developed a set of excellent rubrics as part of their LEAP (Liberal Education and America’s Promise) project. The VALUE initiative (Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduate Education) was a comprehensive and broad-ranging effort to improve learning assessment in higher education. The VALUE initiative, from 2007 to 2009, engaged faculty and other educational professionals from more than 100 institutions to develop, test, and refine a set of rubrics for capacities that all educators should strive to help their students develop. The rubrics include Inquiry and analysis, Critical thinking. Creative thinking. Written communication, Oral communication, Reading, Quantitative literacy. Information literacy, Teamwork, Problem-solving, Personal and social responsibility. Civic engagement – local and global, Intercultural knowledge and competence, Ethical reasoning, Lifelong learning, Global Learning, and Integrative learning. Read more and download the rubrics.

iRubric: iRubric is a free online tool that offers a database of rubrics that you can download for your own use. With a free account, you can search the extensive database for a rubric for your course, then duplicate it to edit the criteria to suit your course and level of teaching.

Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Statements for Syllabi: Here are some examples and ideas to think about when writing diversity, inclusivity, and equity statement(s) in syllabi. These examples are a great starting point, but I would caution you that they should be tailored to your own style and personality. It will seem inauthentic if students see the same text in multiple classes or it does not match the rest of your syllabi’s style.

Grading Calculator: This link leads you to a grading calculator that automatically calculates the grade for a course based on the percentages and scores you input. There are multiple calculators at this link for standard grades and final grades.

Albright College: This link will automatically download a pdf with multiple examples of DEI statements for syllabi that all have slightly different styles, foci, and wording.

University of Wyoming: This link automatically downloads a pdf of example DEI syllabi statements from the University of Wyoming, as well as a set of general tips on how to create a unique DEI statement for yourself.

Carnegie Mellon University: You will be directed to a specific Carnegie Mellon University page concerning DEI statements for syllabi that offers prompts and multiple samples.

Brown University: You will be directed to a Brown University page that offers insight into what a DEI statement for syllabi is, along with helpful questions, samples, and other syllabi instructions including how to write a curricular statement.

Student Engagement & Learning

Promoting student growth with engagement credits: Possibly a better way to handle attendance, participation, and other forms of engagement by Robert Talbert. “Students should earn experience points for doing successful “quests” in my classes.”

Teaching Techniques Video Library at the K. Patricia Cross Academy. Short videos explaining techniques to engage and assess your students.

ABLConnect: An online database of active learning efforts in post-secondary classrooms. ABLConnect is curated by the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning at Harvard University. 1. ABLConnect lets educators easily search the ideas of others in a structured way, reducing the costs of developing content and bringing active learning to their classrooms. 2. ABLConnect collects resources and information about specific activities, creating a common resource repository. 3. ABLConnect helps collect data on college-level teaching practices across academic disciplines.

Learning Theories Index: An index of learning theories. Each theory is described briefly, with key principles and terms explained. Good references for follow-up reading. The site also has short descriptions of the main paradigms of behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism, and humanism.

‘Learning Theory’, The Encyclopedia of Informal Education: Good overview and explanations of different learning theories. Smith keeps this pretty well updated. Part of Infed – the Encyclopedia of Informal Education.

Instructional Design: If you want to really get into different learning and motivation theories this website is great. It’s got all the main theories and then some – from Algo-Heuristic theory and adult learning theory to Modes of Learning, Multiple Intelligences, and Social Learning Theory and Transformational theory. Each theory is briefly presented, with applications, examples, principles, and further links and readings.

Learning Knowledge Index: This is a very useful site with good information on learning, learning theories, and links to other learning theories sites. I found this personal motivation for this site intriguing:

“When I was going to school I often asked myself; what is it all for? Now that I am 62 years old I ask myself again; what was it all for? It is not an easy question to answer, for most of what I had so called ‘learned’, I had no use for in my life, and have forgotten. At school I was one of the students who enjoyed learning school work. So now I can not help but wonder, if I who enjoyed school work, have lost and not retained so much, what of the experience of those who disliked school work? I seem to remember they were the vast majority, and us nerds were the minority. The answers I believe are determined by the answer to a single question. Did they retain it and was it useful and influential in their lives? For most of them, the answer is most assuredly no. So again what was it all for?”

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