Inclusive pedagogies: Equity, diversity, and inclusion principles in practice

Equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) inform teaching and learning in countless ways. Here, you can deepen your understanding, learn more about specific teaching and learning strategies, and gain motivation to take action.

On this page:

 

Tree made out of different coloured hand prints

What we offer

We offer a range of centralized and department-specific workshops and can also meet individually with faculty, staff, and graduate students to consult on specific issues relating to teaching and learning.

Browse all current Centre workshops on our workshops page.

For a custom workshop or individual consultation, email The Centre at thecentrecontactus@umanitoba.ca.

Sample topics for custom workshops:

  • Inclusive pedagogies overview
  • Safe, brave, and accountable spaces in teaching and learning
  • Anti-racist pedagogies
  • Decolonizing course content
  • Power dynamics and intercultural sensitivity in graduate supervision
  • Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
  • Teaching ‘difficult’ topics
  • Power, privilege, bias, and identity impacting teaching and learning
  • Transparent teaching
  • Developing intercultural teaching competence
  • Microaggressions
  • Inclusive groupwork strategies
  • Bias in student evaluations
  • Strategies for students who resist change

Manitoba Flexible Learning Hub EDI 101 course

Interested in a self-paced micro course on incorporating EDI concepts into your courses and teaching practices? Self-register in UM Learn for this Manitoba Flexible Learning Hub micro course, designed specifically for instructors to turn EDI principles and social-identity awareness into practical, ready-to-use teaching strategies.

Incorporating EDI into Your Course and Teaching (Self-paced micro course)

Duration: ~30–120 minutes per module
Modality: Asynchronous, self-study in UM Learn
Audience: Instructors and Teaching Assistants at University of Manitoba

Overview

This short, self-paced micro course strengthens your understanding of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in the post-secondary context and offers practical strategies you can apply right away in your courses and teaching.  It now offers four modules, with two additional modules scheduled for Winter 2026, for a total of six.

This course has been developed by the Manitoba Flexible Learning HUB at the request of the Flexible Learning Advisory Group representing six Manitoba institutions: Assiniboine Community College, Brandon University, University College of the North, Red River College Polytechnic, University of Winnipeg, and the University of Manitoba.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this micro course, you will be able to:

  1. Increase awareness of equity, diversity, and inclusion, and their importance in prioritizing learning environments that support and respect all learners.
  2. Enhance your openness to diverse perspectives.
  3. Identify and implement equitable course design and teaching practices.
  4. Conduct an equity and accessibility audit of your course.
  5. Strengthen reflective practitioner habits that positively influence course design and teaching to reinforce equity, diversity, and inclusion.

How to access

  1. Log in to UM Learn.
  2. Go to Discover and search for “Incorporating EDI into Your Course and Teaching.”
  3. Register for the course.
  4. Open the course and select Content → Module 1 to get started.

Our approach to equity, diversity and inclusion

At The Centre, we understand equity, diversity and inclusion as three terms with many definitions. As a brief overview, equity has to do with fair rather than equal treatment. Diversity can refer to all sorts of characteristics and identities and is not a characteristic that can be measured or completed. Inclusion goes beyond an invitation to join a group towards feeling a sense of mattering or belonging within a group. Equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives share common goals with conversations around anti-oppression, decolonization, Indigenization, reconciliation, anti-racism, accessibility and social justice, among others. But we also recognize that these movements are not identical.

Equity, diversity and inclusion principles inform our understanding of inclusive pedagogy, which we draw from the Centre for Teaching, Learning, and Technology at the University of British Columbia.

Inclusive teaching refers to intentional approaches to curriculum, course design, teaching practice, and assessment that create a learning environment where all students feel that their differences are valued and respected, have equitable access to learning and other educational opportunities, and are supported to learn to their full potential. Rather than being a static checklist, inclusive teaching can change depending on context. It is a lens that guides instructors to consider and address the ways historical and systemic inequities continue to shape students’ learning experiences.

Resources

Topics in inclusive pedagogies are as diverse as the people who engage with them. Here are a few Centre-developed resources as well as curated links to external sites on a range of topics.

Take action

A commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion in teaching and learning means a commitment to lifelong self-education and ongoing action. Here are some possible actions for you to take:

Our internal work towards equity, diversity and inclusion

At The Centre, we are taking action too. We have a monthly professional development community called Sun Rope and are working to infuse equity, diversity and inclusion across all of our programming and practices.

Silhouettes of heads with speech bubbles.

Sun Rope

  • Sun Rope

    At the Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning, we have formed a collective called Sun Rope where colleagues with diverse roles from across our unit discuss topics in equity, diversity, inclusion and anti-racism. We meet monthly and are working to create a space to ask questions, explore uncomfortable topics with curiosity and compassion and share ideas and actions around topics which include, but are not limited to:

    • Land acknowledgements
    • Reconciliation, decolonization, Indigenization
    • Identity and positionality
    • Microaggressions and racism
    • Violence and safety in teaching and learning environments
    • Gender inclusivity

  • Origins of the term "Sun Rope"

    In community, we recognize a kinship. This kinship acts as a bridge that contains our blood memories, our interconnections between all things, connection with the Sky, the Earth, the four cardinal directions and with our relatives, those that fly and crawl and swim, the four legged and two legged. Inspired by a Cree term, “Sun Rope” is a rainbow that acts like a bridge provided by the Sun that connects humanity collectively.

    In a similar way, we use the metaphor of a Sun Rope to reflect the kinship and connections among Indigenization, decolonization, equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives, and the relationships we form as educators. We recognize the connections and differences in our paths, and work to build bridges to support each other’s diverse aims.

Contact us

The Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning
65 Dafoe Road
University of Manitoba, Fort Garry Campus
Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2 Canada

Room S204B, Medical Services Building, 744 Bannatyne Avenue
University of Manitoba, Bannatyne Campus
Winnipeg, MB R3E 0W2 Canada

thecentrecontactus@umanitoba.ca
204-474-8708
204-474-7514