Infusion rather than isolation: Integrating principles of equity, diversity, inclusion, decolonization, and Indigenization in toolkits for remote instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

This is an accepted article with a DOI pre-assigned that is not yet published.In the spring of 2020, our Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) developed the Transforming Teaching and Teaching Assistant toolkits, consisting of in-house and curated open-access resources on various aspects of remote teaching, along with accompanying webinars. We deliberately infused principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI), decolonization and Indigenization across all aspects of the resources, adopting this approach for several reasons: our CTL's commitment to these principles as institutional priorities that are the responsibility of all staff; numerous theorists' advocacy to adopt inclusive pedagogies across the curriculum rather than tokenistic "add-and-stir" gestures; and a desire to counter the ways the COVID-19 pandemic exposed and perpetuated inequities in education and society at large. Here we share our approach and explore its impact by outlining the toolkits' design and delivery and analyzing data from a survey of instructors who engaged with the toolkits to uncover the extent to which our approach was recognized and impactful.