At SDSU’s Global Campus, the Instructional Design team believes that a course is only as successful as the learner engagement it promotes. Moreover, learner engagement increases when learners feel included and celebrated for their diversity and uniqueness.

Creating courses that champion diversity, equity, and inclusion is challenging when designers and faculty only rely on lectures, quizzes, chapter assignments, and exams. In this presentation, we investigate the power of projects to reach all learners and identify the project elements that encourage learners to draw from and honor their socio-economic backgrounds, unique personal histories, and neurodiversity. Those project elements include student voice & choice, authenticity, sustained inquiry, public product, and reflection.

Participants will engage with the session by reflecting on their own learning experiences, sharing their best practices, brainstorming strategies to effectively use project elements and support various DEI principles in course design.

Presentation Objectives:
To explore the elements of a project that champion diversity, equity, and inclusion.
To identify supports for students within those project elements.
To investigate how flexibility within project guidelines enhances the performance of neurodivergent students.