The Teams are constituted after a broad call for nominations, including self-nomination.

Nominees should demonstrate a commitment to advancing inclusive excellence and some expertise in an area that would advance the work of the Team. Additionally, experience implementing similar initiatives and an ability to share challenges and successes is an asset.

Nominees will be contacted by the AVPEI and invited to submit a paragraph describing how they meet the criteria for membership, and they will also be asked to select one or more Implementation Teams to which they would consider contributing.

The EDI Strategy Steering Committee will review nominations and appoint members accordingly, giving consideration to establishing diverse memberships.

Membership terms may be one, two, or three years in duration depending on the availability and interest of individual members.

The Team lead(s) may determine that addition members are required to support the work, in which case they may initiative a call for expressions of interest. If endorsed by the membership, the Team lead(s) may target their invitation if a particular set of experiences or expertise is required.

The Team lead(s) will:

• Obtain endorsement of the Terms of Reference from the Steering Committee;
• Establish the agendas for, convening, and facilitating meetings; and
• Submit a semi-annual brief of progress on tasks to the Steering Committee.

The Team will meet regularly on a schedule that is agreed by the membership.

Formal minutes are not required. A semi-annual brief on progress will be submitted.

A final report and any recommendations will be submitted to the Steering Committee upon completion of all tasked assigned for the 2019 – 2022 EDI Action Plan time horizon.

To ensure that historically and contemporarily underrepresented, under-utilized, and under-served groups are consulted, meaningfully engaged, and part of the decision-making through the implementation process, the Team will include among its membership the voices and lived experiences of relevant equity-seeking community members, and meaningfully engage key institutional and community-organized groups, including: the Indigenous Education Council (IEC), the President’s Advisory Committee on Building an Inclusive Community (PACBIC), the African and Caribbean Faculty Association of McMaster (ACFAM), Women in Science and Engineering (WISE), Academic Women’s Success & Mentorship Network (AWSM), and the Employee Accessibility Network (AEN), for example.

The Inclusive Teaching and Learning Implementation Team is tasked with advancing the following strategic priorities in the 2019 – 2022 EDI Action Plan:

• Develop web-based Inclusive Teaching and Learning Handbook
• Enhance and promote instructor (faculty and TA) EDI training and resources
• Develop EDI-related student learning outcomes and pedagogies resource
• Incorporate EDI in Institutional Quality Assurance Process and Self-Study Guidebook

These strategic priorities fall under the following Objective 3: to enhance inclusivity and opportunities for interdisciplinarity in teaching and research across Departments and Faculties.

The focus for the 2019/2020 year will be to:

• Launch Inclusive Teaching and Learning webpage and Guidebook
• Initiate standing implementation team meetings (internal process only)

The focus for 2020/21 will be to:

• Draft additional prompting questions related to EDI for inclusion in IQAP self-study guidebook
• Implement questions into IQAP self-study guidebook
• Review, update as necessary and publish a list of existing EDI pedagogical training and resources at McMaster on Inclusive Teaching and Learning webpage

The focus for 2021/2022 will be to:

• With permission of programs, compile examples of EDI related program and course learning outcomes
• Create repository of EDI related program and course learning outcomes and include in IQAP support materials
• Consult with Partners and community stakeholders to identify gaps in existing EDI pedagogical training and resources at McMaster
• Prioritize up to three new EDI pedagogical trainings or resources to be developed and develop and launch

Relevant resources and contextual documents which may help advance these tasks are listed in Appendix I.

A diverse membership was identified on the basis of:

• their Faculty-specific roles to support unit-level research activities;
• their status as current or recent Canada Research Chair holders and NSERC, SSHRC and CIHR Review Committee members and/or applicants; and/or
• their capacity to identify (through lived and/or academic experience) biases and barriers experienced by the four designated groups (FDGs)[1], as well as effective strategies to address these biases and barriers to advance inclusive excellence across the research ecosystem.

Lead:

Amy Gullage, Program Enhancement Lead (MI)

Members:

Khadijeh Rakie, Equity and Inclusion Program (EIO)

Kate Brown, Accessibility Program (EIO)

Greg Van Gastel, Educational Developer (MI)

Erin Aspendlieder, Associate Director (MI)

Partners:

Equity and Inclusion Office (EIO)
Office of the Provost
CUPE Local 3906, Teaching Assistants

[1] The Employment Equity Act has identified Four Designated Groups (FDGs) who have historically faced, and continue to face, employment barriers in academia: Indigenous peoples (First Nations, Métis and Inuit Peoples), persons with disabilities, women and persons who are members of racialized communities in accordance with the Act’s definition of “visible minorities”: persons, other than Indigenous peoples, who do not identify as Caucasian, European, and/or White in race, ethnicity, origin, and/or colour, regardless of birthplace or citizenship.

List of Relevant Resources and Contextual Documents 

• Draft Inclusive Teaching and Learning Guidebook
• Institutional Quality Assurance Process Guidebook
• The New Instructor Handbook
• Accessible Education Training for Instructional Staff Forward with FLEXibility: A Teaching and Learning Resource on Accessibility and Inclusion