The Syllabus Challenge: A faculty development intervention for inclusive syllabus practices

Due to lack of research to track inclusive teaching behavior changes, the extent of faculty application of inclusive teaching practices remains unknown. Therefore, direct evaluation of faculty behavior change is needed to understand the process of incorporating inclusive practices into their teaching such as through the syllabus or course design. This study investigated the impact of a faculty development workshop and Syllabus Challenge toolkit using a pre-post survey of faculty attitudes toward inclusive teaching, self-efficacy, intentions to incorporate inclusive teaching, and actual inclusive changes via pre-post syllabi comparisons. Based on pre/post workshop surveys, faculty positive attitudes, inclusive teaching self-efficacy, and inclusive teaching behavioral intentions increased following the intervention. Comparisons of course syllabi revealed that faculty made between 1 and 9 inclusive syllabus changes across sections of the syllabi. Findings highlight the benefits of a brief workshop and the Syllabus Challenge toolkit for faculty to increase inclusive attitudes and syllabus practices and support future work to understand the relationship between intentions to engage in and behaviors associated with inclusive teaching practices.