In order to recognize, disrupt, and correct the historic and systemic injustices that impact our teaching and learning work in the present, we must learn about how differences of identity, embodiment, social and cultural circumstances (etc.) are given differential meaning and value within systems of power. Distortion of the meanings and value of human differences serve to maintain unjust distributions of resources, access, wealth, and well-being. Critically engaging difference means recognizing students’ different identities and experiences, questioning and challenging inherited ideas that attribute more value or worthiness to some people at the expense of others, and leveraging student diversity as an asset for learning. Examples:

• Actively learn about the social, political and economic conditions that shape students’ and instructors’ experiences at your institution, in and out of the classroom.
• Account for those systems and conditions by reconstructing what we consider 'fair' or 'equal' with equity-focused practices.
• Identify teaching practices and institutional norms as contributing to and maintaining disparities, rather than diagnosing students’ identities as a problem to be solved or barrier to overcome: in other words, rejecting "deficit thinking."
• Additional strategies for Critical Engagement of Difference

This Element is not simply a prescription for making our interactions “more structured.” First, we must recognize that all interactions are already structured in relation to norms and systems of power, often in ways that are hidden from view (see also Transparency, below). The practice of Structured Interactions begins with asking ourselves: How am I being intentional and reflective in attending to the structures in my teaching? With this reflective intentionality, we can develop protocols or processes that support equitable access and contributions to interactive elements of the learning environment, and that disrupt patterns that reinforce systemic inequities. Examples:

• With students’ input and feedback, create norms for participation that give students multiple options for engagement. 
• Think ahead about how you might handle classroom dynamics that perpetuate systemic inequities and have a plan to address them. 
• Deliberately organize student groups and teams in ways that actively disrupt systems of power and inequity.
• Additional Equity-focused Teaching Strategies for Structured Interactions

Research tells us that a sense of belonging and connection to an educational community is vital to learning, but equity requires not just including marginalized students in the educational spaces we have; we must change the space itself. We must grapple with the historical truth that modern education in the U.S. and other Western contexts was invented to serve white upper-class men exclusively, and it has only been through many generations of organized struggles that people of color, women, queer, trans, and disabled people have begun to gain broader access and inclusion to this education--and still, significant gaps in access and parity persist. In our EfT practice, Academic Belonging is about cultivating students’ sense of connection to and ability to see themselves in the discipline or profession, your course, or a community of scholars (including your class or campus.) Examples:

• Actively learn about and address patterns of inequity that impact representation and a sense of belonging in your discipline and your institution.
• Pay attention to participation patterns in your classroom and intentionally create new pathways for students to contribute and engage.
• Develop practices that validate prior knowledge as legitimate and necessary as opposed to additive.
• Additional Equity-focused Teaching Strategies for Academic Belonging

Systems of inequity are maintained through practices of obscuring knowledge about how things work. Practicing Transparency means identifying hidden knowledge and assumed expectations, protocols, and norms, and making these as explicit as possible. As one example, students who have family members who went to college before them may benefit from those family members' knowledge about college norms and expectations, whereas students who are first in their family to attend college (or "first-generation students") don't have access to similar information and face unique barriers as a result. Here are just a few ways to practice Transparency: 

• Explain goals, task instructions, and evaluation criteria for all learning activities.
• Acknowledge and address the presence of hidden curricula that impact your course and student success.

• Explicitly name what teaching for equity means for you, and create opportunities for students to identify how they can and will contribute to equity in the classroom.
• Offer students regular opportunities to share their experiences in the classroom and invite them to provide feedback.
• Additional Equity-focused Teaching Strategies for Transparency

This Element demanded our attention during the Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020--a set of massively changing circumstances that we experienced on a collective scale. In smaller ways, circumstances impacting our teaching and learning are changing all the time, and our practices must adapt accordingly.  Flexibility means avoiding one-size-fits-all approaches, recognizing that different students need different things (see also Critical Engagement of Difference). We should approach Flexibility as a shared responsibility (recalling Starting Point 3), and remember that as instructors, we too have various, changing needs and circumstances that call for adaptation and grace. A few ways to practice Flexibility:

• Respond and adapt to students’ changing and diverse circumstances; engage empathetically with student needs, both emerging and persistent; balancing intentional design and commitment to providing accommodations. 
• Follow your course learning goals as opposed to ‘tradition’ or ‘teaching habits’ so that you can adapt and shift as needed.

• Provide choices that create clear and equitable pathways for students to engage in the learning environment.
• Be attentive to the changing conditions within the university and the larger society, and proactively share with students how you will adapt as new circumstances arise.
• Additional Equity-focused Teaching Strategies for Flexibility