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The Education for All Webinar: 3 Key Takeaways

Published Date
Author McGraw Hill Higher Education

As part of our ongoing efforts to advance Education for All (EFA) in higher education classrooms, McGraw Hill hosted the “Achieving an Education for All: Tips for Educators” webinar.

Moderated by Dr. Alvina Atkinson, Professor of Mathematics at Georgia Gwinnett College, this panel discussion examined the meaning and deployment of EFA initiatives in light of the “Success in Higher Education Framework” introduced in our white paper, Education for All: What It Takes to Get There.

The framework outlines 3 areas of focus: Access and Achievement, Being and Belonging, and Cause and Career. When an institution considers all three, it can see needs that may be currently underserved and begin to craft actionable steps to fill those gaps.

The panelists included: Tanya Joosten, Director of Digital Learning Research and Development at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Debbie Hanson, Associate Director of the University of Southern California Race and Equity Center; Clayton Norman, Social Media and Digital Marketing Leader, Indiana University; and Brad Piazza, Vice President of Academic Affairs, Waukesha County Technical College.

Key takeaways

  1. Access and Achievement
  • Ensure students are ready to learn by meeting their basic safety, security, and tech needs and equipping them with work-productivity software, online communication, self-directedness, time management, and organization skills.
  • Consider offering Inclusive Access (IA) at your institution. Inclusive Access is a course material affordability program designed by institutions and guided by the Department of Education to deliver digital learning resources to students, at a significantly reduced cost, on or before the first day of class.
  1. Being and Belonging
  • Make classrooms more belonging spaces for Asian American, Indigenous, Black, and Latinx students by drawing on race-conscious and culturally responsive classroom practices.
  • Create low-stakes opportunities for students to speak and engage in class that aim to counteract stereotype threat.
  • Welcome diverse students into the community with their cultures uplifted and ensure faculty reflect that diversity.
  • Use social media to build, support, and reflect on your community. Think about what your community needs from you and how you can help build and reflect that community to your students through social media platforms.
  1. Cause and Career
  • Create opportunities for students to find their cause, pursue their desired careers, and feel prepared for the working world. One way is to partner with industries so students can develop the competencies those industries require.
  • Recognize that some students are not only concerned with getting a job and having a career. Many are also interested in environmental sustainability, community development, social justice, and the like. And they're looking for programs that address those causes.

For more specifics and examples of how to work towards an Education for All, watch the full webinar here.