Practical Tips

Here you will find a wide range of information and links on the topic of diversity-sensitive teaching practices. You will find tips on diversity-sensitive teaching and testing as well as useful links to further advising services and continuing education opportunities for you. In addition, we would like to refer you to related literature the topic.

Diversity-sensitive teaching and testing
Advising and training
Related literature

Please check the Center for Continuing Education's web pages regularly for information on the wide range of continuing education offers on various subjects.

01. Diversity-sensitive teaching and testing

Diversity-sensitive teaching

Designing courses and teaching is demanding and resource-intensive. Nevertheless, even small changes can help to make your courses more diversity-sensitive. We have compiled a few pointers for you:

Make sure your case studies represent diverse people.
Avoid repeating clichés and stereotypes in your case studies.
Observe accessibility principles when designing teaching and learning materials (tips for creating accessible documents).
Try to address issues such as gender, age, migration, social status, etc. as they relate to your course.
Address societal inequalities as they relate to your own field (e.g. gender pay gap, vertical segregation).
Evaluate your sources/literature/media regarding authorship to see if different genders and/or experiences of racism are included.
Present the history of your subject with people such as women and people with cultural backgrounds differing from those of their place of residence in mind.
Demonstrate how one's point of view can influence one's perception of a research topic.

Diversity-sensitive testing

Exams and testing situations also present challenges in dealing with student diversity. You will find some tips below:

Familiarize yourself with the regulations on disadvantage compensation in the examination regulations (information on compensation for disadvantages).
Make sure that your chosen examination format contributes to a varied range of examination types in the curriculum.
Be aware of the fact that uniform exams can put certain students at a disadvantage.
Make the learning objectives and examination assessment criteria transparent.
Design your exams to be as accessible as possible.
Allow students to view the work of their peers (with their consent) so that they can get a sense of the variety of work being done.
Pay attention to competency-based testing.

02. Advising and training

To whom can I refer my students?

As an instructor, it is sometimes difficult to address every individual student's concerns. TU Dresden provides a variety of counseling services that students can turn to. Feel free to refer students to the following services:

Counseling services for students

Opportunities for further training

In addition to our self-assessment and the Inclusive Teaching online course, there are a variety of other ways to engage with topics related to diversity and inclusion in university instruction. We have compiled a few for you here:

Useful links

03. Related literature

A wealth of literature is available on the topics of inclusion and diversity in higher education. We have compiled a few recommendations for you (in German):

Uta Klein (Hg.), 2016: Inklusive Hochschule. Neue Perspektiven für Praxis und Forschung, 2016 Beltz Verlag, Weinheim Basel, ISBN: 978-3-7799-3340-3

Auferkorte-Michaelis, Nicole, und Frank Linde (Hg.), 2018. Diversität lernen und lehren – ein Hochschulbuch. Opladen [u.a.]: Barbara Budrich. DOI: 10.3224/84742046.

Czollek, Leah Carola, und Gudrun Perko, 2015. Eine Formel bleibt eine Formel … Gender/queer- und diversitygerechte Didaktik an Hochschulen: ein intersektionaler Ansatz. Wien.

Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien (Hg.). trans. inter*. nicht-binär. Lehr- und Lernräume an Hochschulen geschlechterreflektiert gestalten. Wien