Inclusive Teaching Practices
Accommodations
Tufts University provides reasonable accommodations to students with disabilities such as impaired hearing, speech, mobility, or vision and students with learning disabilities and attention deficit disorder. Assistance is also provided to students coping with serious illnesses. The Student Accessibility and Academic Resources (StAAR) Center and the Office of the Dean of Student Affairs are our central resources for fostering an inclusive and safe community for all students.
Student Accessibility and Academic Resource Center Office of the Dean of Student Affairs
Generous Listening and Dialogue Center (GLADC)
The Generous Listening and Dialogue Center (GLADC) was launched in 2021 in collaboration with the Vuslat Foundation to promote authentic connection through dialogue and generous listening, even across differences. Generous listening is broadly defined as the art of listening to ourselves, to nature, and to others—especially when people disagree or when they confront differences of perspective, experience, power, and/or status.
GLADC works with schools and departments across Tufts, building on the expertise of faculty, research centers and civic engagement programs, while also collaborating with national and global partners. Our programming and interdisciplinary initiatives help students, staff and faculty develop skills and awareness, address hard issues, and generate new knowledge.
Inclusive Teaching (CELT)
The Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching (CELT) collaborates with faculty, departments and schools to advance a culture of learner-centered, critically reflective teaching and leadership rooted in evidence and equity. Tufts faculty will find a curated collection of articles to guide you in creating an inclusive, learner-centered student experience. If you would like a consultation with CELT staff about these practices, please email celt@tufts.edu.
- Difficult Dialogues
- Six habits to increase access to online courses
- CELT Course Design - Canvas Tutorial
Initiative on Social-Emotional Learning and Civic Engagement
Social-emotional learning involves developing the skills needed to recognize and manage emotions, handle conflict constructively, establish positive relationships guided by empathy, engage in perspective-taking, make responsible decisions, and handle challenging situations effectively. As part of a growing recognition of the importance of these skills for a young person’s educational development and lifelong wellbeing, the Tisch College Initiative on Social-Emotional Learning and Civic Engagement (SEL-CE) seeks to further integrate them into educational practices, campus programs, and research throughout Tufts University, with a special focus on its connections to student engagement in civic life.
One of the initiative’s primary activities is a year-long faculty development program, offered in partnership with the Tufts Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching (CELT) that aims to help Tufts faculty develop: 1) a deep understanding of the vital role of social-emotional learning to cultural competence and civic engagement; 2) a strong commitment to integrating SEL into their Tufts courses; and 3) the social-emotional skills needed to efficaciously engage in and promote constructive dialogue with students and colleagues, both for faculty member's professional development and for the benefit of student learning in the classroom.
Online Teaching at Tufts
Online teaching may require us to reconsider some of the ways we engage with students compared to our face-to-face experiences. Teaching@Tufts has created resources that will help you get started in planning effective teaching interactions with your students online.
Unpacking Whiteness Dialogue Program
Understanding the unique dialogues that take place in spaces of education and unlearning and spaces of healing and cross-cultural dialogue, Tufts University now offers two newly expanded 8-week dialogue series that bring together small groups of participants from across Tufts University who aim to interrogate their understanding of Whiteness as a social construct that works in sometimes hidden ways to give rise to racial injustice in the United States.