It's almost time - time for eager first-year students to move into their first dorms, time for seniors to take their last FDOC selfies by the chapel, and time for you to put the finishing touches on your syllabi. To inspire and prepare you for the coming semester, we've compiled some blog posts and guides we think are especially pertinent to teaching in Fall 2022:

Our website includes many self-service resources including our research-informed teaching guides, templates and a page specifically for new Duke instructors.

Sharing Your Experiences with Inclusive and Equitable Teaching
Tuesday, August 23, 11 am - 12 pm
Learning Innovation invites the Duke community to discuss their approaches to inclusive and equitable teaching. How are you altering your syllabi, teaching, assessments to include all students? What has worked well for you in your classes? Join us for this one hour discussion with your Duke faculty colleagues. Bring your ideas, questions, or just be prepared to learn from others.
Register Now

Academic Innovation for the Public Good: "Doing the Right Thing"
Wednesday, August 24, 7 - 8 pm
Marybeth Gasman's book Doing the Right Thing: How Colleges and Universities Can Undo Systemic Racism in Faculty Hiring documents the institutional forces stymieing faculty diversification and explores how such deficiencies can be rectified. 
Register Now

Gradescope Workshop Series
Multiple dates and times throughout August
Join the Gradescope team for workshops focused on modernizing assessment across all classroom formats and exam types while getting the most out of Gradescope. 
See the Series

Panel Discussion: Inclusive Assessment in Quantitative Courses
Monday, September 12, 2 - 3 pm AND
Monday, September 19, 10:30 - 11:30 am
IN-PERSON at The Edge Workshop Room (Bostock 127)
In these sessions, three faculty who participated in a faculty learning community focused on inclusive assessment will discuss their experiences in modifying their assessment practices and how their experiences last year are informing their assessment practices going forward. Each panel will have different faculty presenting, so you are welcome to register for both sessions.
Register for the Sept. 12 session
Register for the Sept. 19 session

Kim Manturuk, Learning Innovation's associate director of Research, Evaluation and Development was celebrated as the latest Blue Devil of the Week for her work to make learning experiences and environments more equitable and inclusive for students at Duke. Read the article from Duke Today to learn more about Kim.

The recent release of the first images from the James Webb space telescope has not only inspired space enthusiasts but has also highlighted an important tool for making images not only accessible but also inclusive: alternative (aka alt) text. Though alt text is not required for images that are merely decorative, when the focus is the image or requires the image for understanding, knowing how to write good alt text allows students who use screen readers to more fully engage with the material. Some basics to keep in mind when writing alt text include:

Good alt text: The Duke Chapel

Better: The Duke Chapel in the fall

Best: The Duke Chapel is framed by golden leaves along Chapel Drive during a crisp fall afternoon.

See the Accessibility Quick Tips archive for more ways to make your classroom accessible.