Throughout my years in higher education, I have experienced a variety of classroom environments that contained a very diverse group of students. Classes that were based on conversations and student interaction often considered inclusive pedagogy in framing the class. Though the engineering classes I experienced hardly integrated inclusive pedagogy into their classrooms and this seem to be a trend among peers, but should these class to be integrating inclusive pedagogy?
My answer to this would be yes! I see that principles that guide inclusive pedagogy would only benefit these classroom environments and generate a mutual respect environment for all students to learn and interact in class.
Three principles that I see implementing into an engineering classroom and that I would like to incorporate in my future classes include 1) Attentive environment to the individuals in class 2) Implementing Brave Spaces principles 3) Allowing working groups.
Generating an attentive environment for the individuals in class will create a space where students feel heard and respected. This could first start with having the students fill out a survey towards the beginning of the semester where they could answer simple questions about themselves, like how they would like to addressed and where they are from. This could then be used to implement examples of engineering projects from the varying students’ cities or interests.
Implementing Brave Space principles as presented in “From Safe Spaces to Brave Spaces” by Brian Arao and Kristi Clemens generates an environment where students feel that they can express their views and ideas in the class. This not only set up an environment where students can contribute as they see fit it also could create a space where students can challenge thoughts or question why certain engineering principles are being applied, thus allowing the students to actively engage in learning.
Lastly, allowing working groups for a class mitigates the isolation that students can feel when trying to complete assignments and learn difficult concepts. This can be implemented in a way that allows students to work together to learn outside of the classroom and challenge their thoughts and question to other students but also still have them complete and turn in their own work. Higher education can be tough and isolating for students especially if they are forced to learn all the concepts on their own without others to discuss and engage with. However, I think that the implementation of working groups is only successful in a classroom environment that integrates something like the above two points so that professors can easily note when students are not engaged and have a hard time learning classroom concepts.
All of these principles will help guide and generate an environment where students of all backgrounds and identities feel heard and are free to contribute to the class. Additionally, it will create a space of mutual respect and unity. Also, it will allow for other ideas and thoughts to be expressed in class or in groups. All of these concepts are virtual in creating an engaging respectful and thought-provoking environment for students.