The following steps can assist in making course learning materials more inclusive and diverse. 

1. What do I have now?  
2. What is missing and is that a problem?  
3. Finding appropriate replacements 
4. Make it explicit  

The first step relates to getting an overview of the status quo of your learning material regarding diversity and inclusion. For reading material, this relates to the disciplinary perspective, content of the literature, background of the author, and empirical data on which the findings are based. For visuals and examples/cases, this relates to whether different aspects of diversity are represented and, if so, whether this is done in a stereotypical manner or not. The second step helps teachers to decide whether to make changes to the learning material and the third step helps in finding appropriate replacements. The fourth step assists teachers when communicating to students the choices made in selecting the learning material and any potential gaps in perspectives. 

This section provides information and tools to improve both the diversity of authors assigned as reading material as well as the content of the literature. We do this through the following steps:   

1. What do I have now?  
2. What is missing and is that a problem?  
3. Finding appropriate literature  
4. Making it explicit  

1. What do I have now?  

Before you can start improving the diversity of the literature assigned in your course, you need to understand the status quo. Answer the questions below to get an overview, while noting that some information may be difficult to find.  Download word version.

1. Name of article/book chapter
2. (Sub)disciplinary perspective
3. Are any differences in aspects of diversity (e.g. sex/gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity/nationality, disability (mental or physical), religious background, socioeconomic status or age) discussed. If so, which?
4.  Background of author in terms of aspects of diversity (if known)  
5. For literature based on empirical observations of humans, background of participants in the study 

2. What is missing and is that a problem?  

Coomer, M. N., Skelton, S. M., Kyser, T. S., Warren, C., & Thorius, K. A. K. (2017). Assessing bias In standards and curricular materials. Equity Tool. Indianapolis, IN: Great Lakes Equity Center.

Having completed the scheme above, you should now have an overview of the literature assigned in your course and can start considering what might need to change. This can happen in three steps: 1) identify what is missing in terms of diversity; 2) consider whether this is something that fits within your course; and 3) what literature might best be replaced/added. To assist in this process, consider the questions below: 

• Is there an intersection between the diversity aspects (e.g., not only women but also women of color)?  
• Are the diversity aspects within literature treated as issues or social problems instead of enrichment? 
• Are the study participants/authors mostly from the West or the Netherlands itself?  
• Which voices have to date been marginalised or silenced on the topic of your course?  
• Are the diversity aspects that are missing in the course content, aspects that are important for students to learn about in this field?  
• Is an international or non-Western perspective relevant to your course or is the focus exclusively on the Dutch context?  
• What diversity aspects do other courses within the program address?  
• Do the learning materials that you want to add/replace require a change in the learning objectives (see this section on how to do this)?  

3. Finding appropriate literature  

If you already have a clear idea on what is missing from your literature and what you are looking for, this section provides several entry points, suggestions, and additional information related to finding that literature. To avoid ‘tunnel vision’, it can be helpful to take a few ‘breaks’ in the process of searching and selecting. In such a break you can go (back) to the literature scheme, to take a moment to see what you already have and what still might be missing.  Coomer, M. N., Skelton, S. M., Kyser, T. S., Warren, C., & Thorius, K. A. K. (2017). Assessing bias In standards and curricular materials. Equity Tool. Indianapolis, IN: Great Lakes Equity Center.  

General tips and recommendations  

• Try searching in a different library, such as https://feministsearchtool.nl/ which focuses on literature by a diverse range of authors.  
• Do a literature search on the topic of your course, where you focus on diversity issues within that are relevant for that topic or where you focus on how a certain topic affects marginalized groups. For example, in a course on educational psychology, you can do a literature search to examine whether learning principles have also been investigated for first-generation students. 
• Invite guest lecturers from diverse backgrounds or whose who have done research into diversity aspects within your topic. Ask these guest lecturers to bring in literature that complements the literature in your course but brings in a different perspective.

4. Make it explicit 

Now that you have gone through the first three steps, you may want to communicate your findings to your colleagues and/or students. Coomer, M. N., Skelton, S. M., Kyser, T. S., Warren, C., & Thorius, K. A. K. (2017). Assessing bias In standards and curricular materials. Equity Tool. Indianapolis, IN: Great Lakes Equity Center.  

General tips and recommendations  

• Use the literature scheme as a starting point for a discussion with your colleagues regarding which materials, authors or perspectives they believe are missing or could be added.  
• Write down the names of authors fully in the reading list, so that it might be easier to identify which is female or from a particular cultural background.  
• Given the limitations, it is unlikely that all perspectives can be covered in one course. However, it can be helpful to explain the choices made as a lecturer and for students to know that teachers are interested in making the literature as inclusive as possible. 

• Consider inviting your students to suggest authors or materials that could be included in the syllabus.   

1. What do I have now?  
2. What is missing and is that a problem?  
3. Avoiding stereotypical visuals or examples/cases and finding alternatives (with example)  
4. Make it explicit 

1. What do I have now? 

In this step, teachers should examine the current status of visuals and examples/cases used in their course. There are two main questions to consider. First: Are people from diverse backgrounds (well) represented in the course material? For example, people from a range of genders (i.e., male, female, non-binary) are included in examples, cases and/or visuals. Or intersections between diversity aspects (e.g., a person who is both female and a Muslim) are included in examples, cases and/or visuals. Second: if such people are portrayed, is this done in a non-stereotypical way? For example, when discussing professions, make sure that pictures do not always portray men in business professions and women in care professions. Also, examine whether it is necessary to include information about ethnicity or nationality in your examples, especially if the example may portray a certain group in a negative way (e.g., with respect to criminal behavior). Coomer, M. N., Skelton, S. M., Kyser, T. S., Warren, C., & Thorius, K. A. K. (2017). Assessing bias In standards and curricular materials. Equity Tool. Indianapolis, IN: Great Lakes Equity Center.  

  2. What is missing and is this a problem?  

Depending on the number of examples/cases and visuals used within the course, it might be difficult to cover all aspects of diversity. Therefore, choices might need to be made which to include although having examples with people that are diverse in multiple aspects can help. Moreover, you can take the following two things into consideration:  

• Which diversity aspects are most related to the topic of the course?  
• Which people are students most likely to come across in their future work?   
• Which people are mostly underrepresented in the visuals and examples/cases?  

  3. Avoiding stereotypes in examples and visuals  

When making the cases/examples and visuals within the course more diverse, it is important to be aware of stereotyping. That is, when you include people with a diverse background in your examples/cases or visuals, you may want to bear in mind that they are not displayed in a stereotypical manner.  

4. Make it explicit 

Now that you have identified and adapted the visuals and cases/examples in your learning materials, you may want to communicate what you have done to your colleagues and/or students.  

General tips and recommendations  

• Use these examples as input for a discussion with your colleagues to discuss if they believe any minority groups are missing in cases/examples and visuals and if they believe there to be any stereotypes in the learning material 
• It is likely that not all aspects of diversity are covered, but it may be helpful for students to know that teachers are devoted to making cases/examples and visuals as inclusive and diverse as possible. So be open about your selection and its gaps to your students and invite them to make suggestions for improvement!