Summary
Checklist to further equal opportunities in tertiary education, conveying the importance of awareness and professionalism in the design of courses.
Target groups
scientific staff / artistic-scientific staff /
Implementing organization
Office for Gender Equality and Equal Opportunity /Contact
Gudrun Haage, gudrun.haage@tugraz.at
Implemented/introduced
It has been implemented at the Graz University of Technology since the summer term 2017
Relation to gender equality targets
The checklist strives to advance equal opportunities in tertiary education by illustrating that designing courses necessitates consideration and professionalism in regard to students’ heterogeneity. In that way it contributes to the “National Strategy on the Social Dimension of Higher Education” as well as to other things.
The objective(s) of the tool
Featuring guiding questions on diversity in teaching, the checklist offers lecturers an opportunity to self-reflect, and demonstrates how student diversity can also contribute to teaching. Besides offering practical approaches for rendering teaching richer in variety, contacts at TU Graz as well as additional resources and materials are listed.
Description of the tool
Clustered into five thematical sections, the checklist raises simple questions, requiring no previous knowledge connected to gender and diversity. Concerning didactics, specific suggestions are made with the help of questions (e.g. Consider your teaching, for which students is it suited particularly well?), Section 6 provides information on internal contact points; further materials and resources are referenced in Section 7.
How the tool works, practical experience
The checklist is regularly discussed in the internal didactics training and in the “Lunch & Lehre” (Lunch & Teaching) events as well; it is featured in the Handbook for Academic Affairs. In the summer term of 2018, it will be subject to evaluation involving qualitative surveys among 40 scholars of TU Graz. Future development of the checklist will incorporate the resulting findings.
Special Thanks
Dr. Karin Grasenick, convelop gmbH, for the incredibly enriching and instructive collaboration