Leaving No Students Behind: Reimagining Our Design Practices to Remove Barriers

Before the COVID-19 pandemic compelled us to work from home and transfer our classrooms online, instructors and designers were already taking positive steps to create more engaging and inclusive classrooms. Now, when educators are using this moment to reimagine the future of learning environments, we are looking at how we support instructors to address the needs of learners with varying abilities and how open, accessible design and teaching strategies impact learning. In this chapter, we share our emergency educational responses and lessons learned as Faculty Liaisons at a large, research-intensive university. We explore equity, diversity, and inclusion in design and teaching practices, open educational practices, individual and social differences in classrooms, and assessment strategies. We are attentive to our own identities and assumptions while remaining curious about what we can do to continue learning and improving as a support network.