Sal Meyers, Professor of Psychology at Simpson College, presented at the Lilly Conference Online a recorded twenty-minute session entitled “Writing an Inclusive Syllabus that Students Read.” Meyers introduced the Social Justice Syllabus Design Tool: bit.ly/SJSDT22Lilly The tool draws on syllabus best practices, stereotype threat interventions, and social justice pedagogy principles. The researchers involved in the Social Justice Syllabus Design Tool identified three focus areas: relationship, community, and process. The tool has 19 reflection questions. Meyers shared course design items from the tool and recommended using Open Educational Resources. Meyers recommended LibGuides and reading the syllabus carefully. Meyers spoke about the 10% deduction for late work (per day) and other policies that are more inclusive and supportive for students. Suggestions included a 48-hour grace period, no penalties for late work, and “only natural consequences for late work” such as no peer feedback. In a course Meyers teaches, students do peer evaluations. Meyers also suggested de-emphasizing rules and shared an example with a rationale for why cell phone disruptions result in ten-minute attention disruptions. Meyers shared examples of warm and friendly language and emphasized including explanations. Meyers shared their syllabus for a Research Methods course. Communicating excitement and rationale for the skills taught is highlighted. I also like how Meyers specifically mentions setting time aside to meet with students. Meyers has boxes for sections of the syllabus and includes photos of the staff for several campus resources. I was happy to learn that Meyers suggests the Learning Scientists infographic too! Meyers uses Perusall to annotate the syllabus online. I use Hypothes.is and have thought about using the Perusall LMS integration available for Moodle. Meyers shared resources and the syllabus mentioned. This session had several great suggestions I had not heard about before!
