Come Join the Party: Lessons Learned Fostering Inclusion in Online Learning

This article invites scholars of teaching and learning in higher education to consider the ways in which instructors can use practices of inviting inclusion to create an environment in which students can feel—and be—included in online classrooms, especially since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using the analogy of a “block party” and to illustrate the practices envisioned, the authors explore their and others’ practices of teaching online in ways that foster inclusion, with attention to their experiences teaching during the pandemic. The authors conclude by reflecting upon what has been learned because of pandemic-informed teaching and learning experiences.