DEI-Informed Dialogic Pedagogy Micro-credential

The Spring 2024 cohort of the DEI-Informed Dialogic Pedagogy Micro-credential is open to all CU Boulder M.A. and PhD students, particularly those currently working as Graduate Part Time Instructors (GPTIs) or Teaching Assistants (TAs) in any academic department or those who will be teaching in the fall.

Participants will commit to completing the full ten week training program including work and assignments for each topical module.  Modules will likely include 1) Completing course readings and other media, 2) Completing written personal reflections, 3) Creating artifacts related to curricular design, class activities, & dialogic practices, 4) Engaging in cohort peer led facilitated dialogue related to positionality, power, and DEI at the university, 5) Attending synchronous (in person and remote) cohort meetings.  Throughout the semester, participants will develop a personalized teaching and reflection portfolio that will be showcased in their unique digital badge.

 One of the core principles behind this offering is a recognition that dialogue is not always experienced as inclusive and equitable practice. Bringing people together for an “open” exchange of ideas, perspectives, viewpoints and stories can reinforce existing social hierarchies and end up re-silencing people from historically marginalized backgrounds. Recognizing this potential for dialogue to silence (and thus not advance a sense of belonging) should not prevent us from holding dialogue but rather deepen our commitment to designing and facilitating dialogue with an informed understanding of, and commitment to, equity and inclusion.

We created this workshop series to address three main needs/demands:

1. The need for undergraduate students to engage in dialogue that is grounded in understanding of power, privilege and intersectional equity:
   In order to have “respectful and empathetic dialogue” that resists reinforcing existing social hierarchies and barriers, we need to design and facilitate dialogue with DEI-informed principles in mind. Designing and facilitating DEI-grounded dialogues is a learned practice. It is both an art and a skill that takes time, practice, and reflection to develop. This program provides structured training for graduate student instructors to learn about and practice DEI-grounded dialogue, followed by an apprenticeship model to practice integrating and facilitating dialogues in their courses.  

2. The need to provide training in DEI-grounded dialogic practices, especially at a predominately white institution (PWI):
   While interest in learning to facilitate dialogue is high, integrating dialogue into the curriculum is not a simple, standardized “plug in” process. Rather, especially at a PWI, dialogue needs to be carefully tailored to the course and its demographic make-up in order to provide for the possibility of open sharing and the development of a sense of belonging that dialogue promises. When dialogue is approached simply as a process to hear across “all voices,” without attention to intersectional differences and power differentials, it continues to silence historically marginalized voices. Therefore, training in dialogue as an inclusive pedagogical practice requires concurrent training in the understanding of DEI principles, which this workshop series develops. 

3. The need to build community and belonging for graduate students at CU: The recent campus culture survey indicated that only 47% of graduate student respondents agreed with the statement “I have a sense of community at CU,” and that number decreases dramatically for BIPOC students (42% agree), LGBTQ students (37% agree), self reported disabled students (36% agree) and gender diverse students (32% agree). As an opportunity for sustained dialogue with a small cohort of fellow graduate students, the proposed training program would provide a space for building community amongst graduate students. We intend to specifically welcome graduate students from historically marginalized backgrounds into this training program.

Micro-Credentials are recognitions issued and acknowledged by the Registrar’s Office to document participants’ successful completion of specific professional development and training that goes above and beyond disciplinary program area content.  Upon completion of a micro-credentialing program participants are issued a ‘digital badge’ which is a public facing accredidation describing the content of the training, works completed, major learnings, and participant generated artifacts (e.g. syllabi updates, lesson plans, teaching statements).  These digital badges are included in official transcripts and may be integrated into participants’ resumes / curriculum vitae and visible to future employers, collaborators, and research partners. LEARN MORE.