The Teachers Day of WUR will take place on 12 December this year. The focus is on innovative university teaching and the experience of teachers involved in education innovation. An attractive programme has been composed with sessions on e.g. ‘diversity in the classroom’, ‘Peer review’ and ‘FeedbackFruits’. You will find the programme here. Note that the links in the programme only work for employees of WUR. Are you a lecturer from one of the other TU’s and would you like to have more information or participate in the Teachers Day, please contact Emiel van Puffelen, 4TU.CEE coordinator for WUR. You can also register directly.
Keynote
The keynote speaker is Jessica Duncan, assistant professor at WUR in the rural sociology group, she talks about ‘ diversity in the classroom’ . Promoting diversity across campus and within our classes is a widely shared goal. However, in practice, achieving this goal is harder than it first appears.
When we speak about diversity we tend to focus on points of difference or marginalization, for example, gender, race, class and sexual orientation. These are important forms of difference and have important implications for how we teach and learn. However, diversity also extends to how teachers and students view the classroom, about what students can be expected to know, how they are expected to behave, and also the ways they are motivated to learn. Being aware of diversity, and planning for inclusivity is key to creating a supportive learning environment.
The interactive lecture will start by making a scientific case for taking diversity seriously. Focus will then turn to reflections on some of the ways in teachers at Wageningen University can, and do, promote diversity in their classes. This will lead to an interactive discussion around the key challenges and concerns in promoting diversity in university classrooms. Together, we will strategize about inclusive teaching strategies and how we can better think about, and plan for, diversity so as to increase feelings of adequacy and belonging. By so doing, we can take concrete steps to make our classes more inclusive spaces for students and faculty alike.