Inclusivity Week Programme - you can find the links to the Events in each workship title, plus booking information.
Monday 31 March - Friday 4 April
Inclusivity Week highlights some of the excellent inclusive teaching and assessment practices at Sussex. Inclusive curricula aim to dismantle the barriers and biases historically embedded in higher education, which has traditionally catered to white, neurotypical, and middle-class students (Cotton et al., 2015; MacLeod et al., 2017). These barriers and biases contribute to long-lasting awarding gaps for minority groups, such as ethnic minority students, students with a declared disability, international students and students from low-income households (Hockings, 2010; Thomas, 2012). Disparity in outcomes helps underscore the urgency of ensuring equitable access to learning opportunities in higher education.
At Sussex, Inclusivity Week provides various platforms for academics and students to share their innovative practices and resources, encouraging broader adoption across the institution. We hope the Week will reinforce the University’s collective commitment to inclusivity in higher education.
Monday 31 March
Workshop: Reading and Note-Making with Generative AI
- Facilitator: Martin Brown
- Time: 11am–1pm
- Duration: 2 hours
- Location: Pev 1 2A12
- Session description: This workshop demonstrates how to use a note-making frame to improve student engagement with academic literature. You will be asked to think about note-making and ideas of evaluative judgement and co-authorship in relation to AI tools. You will also be asked to use my note-making frame to make some quick notes, upload a research article of your choice into Chat GPT or another AI tool, and write prompts to improve your note-making.
Workshop: Designing Inclusive Learning Activities
- Facilitator: Brena Collyer de Aguiar
- Time: 2pm–3.30pm
- Location: Fulton 212
- Session description: Join us for an interactive workshop where we explore innovative ways to design inclusive learning activities. Grounded in Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles, this session will cover storytelling, playful learning approaches, and accessibility strategies to engage diverse learners. Discover practical tips on using a conversational tone in content writing and gain insights into effective instructional design. Through hands-on activities and collaborative discussions, you'll leave equipped with tools to create learning experiences that resonate with everyone.
Tuesday 1 April
Workshop: Decolonising the Curriculum
- Facilitator: Tobey Ahamed-Barke
- Time: 10am– 11.30am
- Duration: 90 minutes
- Location: Fulton 213
- Session description: The Race Equity Advocates (REAs) in Media, Arts and Humanities have been looking at how to decolonise the curriculum at Sussex. In this workshop, we will discuss what decolonisation means and how existing student recommendations can be implemented into module design and teaching to promote inclusivity. Participants will be invited to reflect on and discuss how they can decolonise their own modules.
Workshop: Reasonable Adjustments – What’s Changing?
- Facilitator: Graeme Pedlingham
- Time: 11am– 12 noon
- Location: JUB-115
- Description: Interactive session developed with students and led by Prof Graeme Pedlingham (Reasonable Adjustments Review lead) on changes to student reasonable adjustments, work on more anticipatory approaches, and how this might translate into teaching and assessment. The session will help us to co-develop supportive guidance for staff, through the engagement, experiences and expertise of participants.
Wednesday 2 April
Workshop: Creating Accessible Digital Resources
- Facilitator: Faye Brockwell
- Time: 10:30am– 11.30am
- Duration: 1 hour
- Location: Arundel 228
- Description: As educators we have a professional and legal obligation to ensure that all students can access our digital content. This session offers practical tips and useful resources to enable you to create accessible documents, Canvas sites and announcements.
Workshop: Engaging Attention in Lectures for Inclusion
- Facilitator: Sophie Forster
- Time: 2pm-3pm
- Duration: 1 hour
- Location: Arundel 230
- Description: Drawing on cognitive neuroscience research into how our brains pay attention, this workshop will focus on techniques to engage students in teaching and maintain their attention. The workshop highlights how these teaching techniques are important elements of inclusive teaching practice.
Thursday 3 April
Workshop: Decolonising the Biosciences Curriculum
- Facilitator: Zahid Pranjol
- Time: 10am–11am
- Duration: 50 minutes
- Location: Jub G31
- Description: We will delve into the importance of decolonising biosciences curriculum with practical examples.
Workshop: The Co-creation approach to Academic Advising: From Student-centered advice to person-centered conversations
- Facilitator: Hadir Elshafay
- Time: 12 noon–1pm
- Duration: 1 hour
- Location: Essex House EH018
- Session description: In this applied interactive workshop, I share my approach to 1-2-1 Academic Advising that is based on the participatory reflective practice.
By the end of this session we will have learned
- the difference between 'person-centred' approaches and 'student-centred' advising models
- the difference between authenticity and originality in academia
- how authenticity contributes to self-articulation for the student's academic journey.
Friday 4 April
Workshop: Neurodiversity-Affirming Pedagogies
- Facilitator: Em Harrison
- Time: 10.30 – 12:00
- Duration: 90 minutes
- Location: Pev 1 1B8
- Description: This interactive workshop will explore key findings from a recent research project on neurodivergent experiences of learning and teaching at Sussex. We will discuss how to move beyond a one-size-fits-all approach to accessibility towards practices that actively value and support neurodiversity. You will gain practical strategies to foster inclusive, flexible, and student-led learning environments that reduce barriers and better reflect a diversity of cognitive styles.
Workshop: Student co-creation in the curriculum: The Pedagogy, Practice and Possibilities of Drawing from a Working-Class Background for Inclusive Curriculums
- Facilitator: Carli Rowell
- Time: 1pm-2.30pm
- Duration: 90 minutes
- Location: Pev 1 1B8
- Description: Through this workshop delegates will gain an insight into the pedagogical practice of student co-creation for inclusive curriculums and will begin to think about what opportunities are afforded for their own practice. The workshop has two parts: it will firstly reflect on the experience of curriculum co-creation for ‘Class, Culture & Conflict: A view from Within’ (created with first-generation working-class students). It will draw upon data collected through the Sussex Education and Innovation Fund to consider the impact upon students experience of teaching and learning. Sharing best practice and ideas for innovation in relation to staff-student co-creation for curriculum design. Secondly, the workshop will guide and encourage delegates to think how co-creation might work in their context of their own teaching / roles. The workshop will also disseminate the ‘dimensions of co-creation’, a tool to aid thinking in relation to staff student curriculum co-creation.