I will be a teaching fellow at Harvard in Spring 2023. This will be my first official teaching appointment since 2016, and first academic teaching since 2015. One aspect that I'd like to work on this time around is how to be a better resource for students. I'm specifically looking for a good balance in pedagogy - for example, encouraging proactivity and independence, while minimizing student frustration.

These are my notes from "Inclusive Teaching in Yale Computer Science". My immediate impression is that the onus of inclusive teaching lies heavily with the teaching staff. I think it's infeasible to adhere to all best practices (much less implement them while the course is ongoing), but I will do my best. I'll create a followup post at the end of the term to grade myself against these listed metrics.

Part 1: Inclusive Teaching Guidance

Section 1: Accommodate Different Ways of Learning

• Set clear expectations about course pre-reqs. Instead of just a course pre-req, add more detail: "familiarity with subject X"
• Survey students about their backgrounds! Get a feel for students' goals
• Create many low-stakes opportunities for student feedback. Are they keeping up in lecture? Where are they commonly having trouble?
• Diversify student engagement. Explain a concept visually, through text, work through a practice problem
• Normalize failure as a part of learning. Encourage students to ask basic questions, to answer instructor questions even if unsure. The "expert blind spot" can happen when handwaving concepts or underestimate how long it takes to finish a homework.
• Encourage collaboration. Students with less experience can learn from more experienced students, and develop communication and planning skills.

Section 2: Students with Disabilities

• Use person-first language (student with a disability). Include a section in the syllabus accommodating all students
• Upload materials to the course website. Make the content as accessible as possible. High-contrast colors for text. Use microphones
• End lectures on time. Students do not have to face a dilemma of staying to keep hearing, or leaving on time to attend their next obligation.
• Be flexible about alternate assessments. Some students can fall significantly behind,

Section 3: Students who are Struggling

• Collect frequent feedback.
• Advertise resources often. Office hours, appointments, private tutors.
• Be flexible for individual students. It is up to the instructor to support students individually, if they need further extensions for their particular situation.

Section 4: Inclusive Language

• Avoid jargon where unnecessary. Jargon may exclude individuals without prior knowledge, so use it sparingly, and only after explaining their meaning.
• Place people first, and their situations. Avoid victimhood, be aware of mental disabilities. Avoid gendered language. It helps to ask when not sure.

Part 2: Course Structure

Section 5: Course Policies for Late Work

• Late penalties. Be generous (score penalty of 5% per day), but be strict in adhering to deadlines.
• Late days. Incorporate late days to accomodate student deadlines. Students should be able to find out (easily) how many late days used/remaining.
• Dropping assignments. If you do this, make sure you state it at the start of the course. Note, however, that this may lead to students skipping as many assignemtns as needed to still maintain a desired grade.

Section 6: Collaboration

The following section discusses tiers of allowed collaboration during the course.

1. Individual. Assignments are designed for students to work through problems independently. You may ask clarifying questions or search online for general concepts, but never reference any exact solutions.
2. Limited collaboration. You may write on a board for shared discussion, but never take any copy away for personal use. The idea is that you should be able to reconstruct the answer from memory.
3. Open collaboration. Collaboration is encouraged, but you should acknowledge with whom you worked.

Section 7: Teaching Accessibility

• Have drop-in office hours. Avoid meal times or class times. Remember that students often prefer working during evenings or weekends. Consider polling students
• Instructor 1:1 meetings for individual circumstances. These can be with extensions, grades, letters of rec.
• Round-robin answering during office hours. Cycle through different groups of students: give them a few suggestions, let them work on it, and then come back to them to see if they've made any progress. Group students together with similar questions to save time and encourage collaboration.
• Keep remote meeting tools as an option.
• Use online forums as a supplement to office hours. Cutting down on email overhead, getting faster turnaround times to short questions, and asking anonymously, all help with an inclusive learning environment.

Section 8: Syllabus

• Add teaching staff pronouns. Promotes inclusivity in identity.
• Add code of conduct. Make clear the boundaries for respectful and inclusive language, and violations are not tolerated.
• Add academic integrity statement. Discuss plaigiarism.
• Add attendance and lateness policies. Note penalties and flexibilty.
• Add diversity statement. Talk about how the course can support individuals with different educational backgrounds.
• Add accessibility statement. Welcome students with all abilities.
• Add support for well-being, and how to succeed. Encourage students to take care of themselves.