A Teaching Tool: The EDI Flower

Equity, diversity, and inclusion are critical components of any educational environment. The EDI Flower as a design tool provides a structured approach to embedding EDI principles into classroom practices. For us at USask, this tool can help create a more inclusive and supportive learning environment for all our students.

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Each of the flower’s green leaves holds a principle and an invitation to start. 
A more nuanced explanation of the flower is provided in the article: Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in the Classroom.

 

1. Positionality: Encourages reflection on our role and its impact on classroom dynamics, power structures, and intercultural competence.
2. Relational Environment: Promotes our use of inclusive strategies and language to create a sense of belonging and authentic relationships.
3. Dialogue: Emphasizes the importance of respectful, reciprocal communication that values diverse perspectives and co-constructs learning.
4. Designed to be Equitable: Highlights the need for us to integrate Indigenous worldviews and address historical and contemporary injustices through learning and unlearning.
5. Success-oriented Assessment: Focuses on creating strength-based assessment with clear criteria, constructive feedback, and active learner participation in the assessment process.
6. Inclusive Content (Indigenization, Decolonization and Reconciliation & EDI): Advocates for our use of diverse instructional strategies to meet varied learning needs and to achieve balanced, holistic education outcomes.

Get Started

1. Choose one leaf or principle.
2. Pick a strategy or approach provided by a petal within the principle.
3. Have a clear objective in mind, implement, monitor, reflect, and adjust if needed.

• What if I need to know more before starting?
  • Consult USask’s AI Learning Design Assistant (ALDA) for specific ways to make a course or activities inclusive. Learn about ALDA on the USask LTE Toolkit website.
  • Browse for upcoming workshops
  • Set up a consult with the Gwenna Moss Centre for Teaching and Learning
  • Ask for access to EDI for Course Design in Canvas by emailing r.campbell@usask.ca

Conclusion

The EDI Flower as a design tool offers a robust framework for integrating equity, diversity, and inclusion into our classrooms. By becoming acquainted with these principles and practices, we can find ways to create more inclusive and supportive learning environments to benefit all students.

Most importantly, focus on one area for growth, nurture it, and be kind to yourself on the journey!

 

For a detailed exploration of each principle and its application in course design and the classroom, follow this article series.

1. Empowering Education: Embracing Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at USask
2. Fostering Inclusive Learning Environments at USask: The EDI Framework for Action
3. A Teaching Tool: The EDI Flower
4. Positionality in the Classroom: An EDI Principle

 

References

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in the Classroom (article)

USask EDI Framework for Action

USask EDI Policy

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^{Title image credit: USask Flickr}

This resource is shared by the Gwenna Moss Centre for Teaching and Learning (GMCTL), University of Saskatchewan, under a CC BY-NC-SA license.