BC TEAL is proud to present our 2025 Annual Conference: Disruptive Educational Practices: Strategies for Transformation.
Educators shine in times of change to face unexpected challenges. This is when creativity flourishes by combining proven practices with fresh and innovative ideas. These times call for transformation which can be rooted in tradition or experience, or it can arise through unexplored approaches. The synthesis of old and new ideas drives meaningful progress. Join other insightful and creative educators as we flourish within the power of our community.
This presentation details our experience at Simon Fraser University (SFU) piloting the Protocol for Advancing Inclusive Teaching Efforts (PAITE), developed by Dr. Tracie Addy and colleagues. Recognizing the importance of inclusive teaching in supporting our increasingly diverse student population, we sought a concrete tool to help instructors implement and refine inclusive practices. This work directly aligns with SFU’s Academic Plan, which emphasizes the importance of “inclusive excellence and access” where everyone can thrive (SFU, n.d.). As noted in the literature, diverse student groups, including but not limited to students with disabilities, LGBTQ+ students, first-generation students, and multilingual students, often experience a decreased sense of belonging, which can negatively impact academic success (Strayhorn, 2018; Vaccaro et al., 2015). Further, many instructors express a desire to teach more inclusively, but struggle with lack of training, time constraints, and uncertainty about best practices (Addy et al., 2021). The PAITE protocol offers a structured, evidence-based approach to address this by providing formative, data-informed feedback on observable inclusive teaching practices.
We begin by briefly introducing the protocol, drawing on Addy et al. (2022). We then describe our team's experience becoming PAITE observers. The core of our presentation focuses on the pilot implementation of PAITE with a small cohort of SFU faculty. We will describe our recruitment process, the observation and debriefing procedures, and examples of personalized feedback provided to participating instructors. We will share anonymized examples of observed teaching practices and discuss how the PAITE framework helped to identify both strengths and areas for growth. Initial reflections, gathered through post-observation debriefs, suggest that the PAITE process has been well-received by participating faculty and has prompted meaningful reflection on their teaching practices. Our presentation will conclude by discussing the challenges and successes of the pilot project and outlining our plans for expanding the use of PAITE at SFU.
References: Addy, T. M., Reeves, P. M., Dube, D., & Mitchell, K. A. (2021). What really matters for instructors implementing equitable and inclusive teaching approaches. To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development, 40(1). https://doi.org/10.3998/tia.182 Addy, T. M., Younas, H., Cetin, P., Rizk, M., Cham, F., Nwankpa, C., & Borzone, M. (2022). The development of the protocol for advancing inclusive teaching efforts (PAITE). Journal of Educational Research and Practice, 12(0), 65–93. https://doi.org/10.5590/JERAP.2022.12.0.05 Simon Fraser University. (n.d.). Academic plans. Office of the Vice-President, Academic. https://www.sfu.ca/vpacademic/our-role/academic-planning/academic-plans.html Strayhorn, T. L. (2018). College students' sense of belonging: A key to educational success for all students. Routledge. Vaccaro, A., Daly-Cano, M., & Newman, B. M. (2015). A sense of belonging among college students with disabilities: An emergent theoretical model. Journal of College Student Development, 56(7), 670-686.
As an EAL Consultant at SFU’s Centre for Educational Excellence, I collaborate with and provide specialized guidance to faculty in designing linguistically-responsive curricula and teaching methodologies.
I’m an EAL Consultant at SFU’s Centre for Educational Excellence, where we work with a flexible, evidence-based lens to facilitate inclusive teaching support for everyone.
