Artifact 3: The Art Of Inclusion

Athabasca University offers MDDE 631 Inclusive Leadership and Practice in Education as one of ITS elective courses. MDDE 631 caught my attention because it promotes the creation of a student-centered learning environment, supports inclusive education, and embraces diversity. Our assignments in MDDE 631 included an argument paper on inclusive leadership, a collaborative project in which students worked together in small groups to showcase a case study and facilitate a presentation and discussion forums, and a paper describing how I plan to support inclusive practices in my own classroom. These assignments seemed like a perfect way to practice strategies that I could implement. Furthermore, they offered me a chance to receive feedback on my collaboration and facilitate discussions.

Our group was comprised of five MDDE 631 students from different backgrounds, geographical areas, and time zones. The instructor provided us with a group discussion forum in which to make contact and communicate with each other. While the instructor encouraged us to use the discussion forum, some group members preferred email as a communication tool. We found that forum posts and email were acceptable methods of communication, except for when we needed timely or synchronous discussions. For such discussions, we used Skype. Skype was a great communication tool for our team to have a real-time conversation; we used for planning and assigning tasks, as it is efficient method of communication.(3.5) In order to capture team decisions and task assignments for the team to reference, I wrote up summaries of the Skype meetings. I shared the summaries with all team members by either a forum post or at times emailed to meet the needs of all team members.(4.8) We also created team documents in Google Docs so that all team members could provide real time feedback or make comments on each other’s work, as well as be able to contribute to the editing of the document.(3.1)

As a group, we started off strong and seemingly motivated to be a cohesive and collaborative group. However, as time went on our communication deteriorated. All five group members attended the first Skype meeting. During this meeting, we brainstormed ideas, determined the structure for our assignment and what components we want to include, assigned tasks to each member, and set a timeline respective of each member’s constraints and commitments. The focus of the assignment was on providing an inclusive environment; therefore, we were conscientious of ensuring each member felt involved and welcome. To do this, we spent some time sharing a bit about ourselves and celebrating our diversity, ensured we appreciated each other’s individual talents, gave everyone an opportunity to share their vision for the assignment, voted on different options, and assigned tasks based on each team member’s strengths and interests.(4.7)

As I reflect on the initial meeting, it seems unbelievable how well it went. We were likely on our best behaviour and agreeable, which was not sustainable. As we moved forward in the project, things went started to go awry; looking back and examining all of the different messages and the emotion displayed within the communications, I can see a pattern of ineffective communication strategies and non-inclusive practice, and recognize that these likely led to the team’s breakdown.(1.1) In the group discussion forum, I requested a Skype meeting to touch base, update all members on task completion, determine what else was left to do, and confirm we were on track and heading in the right direction. Two members did not attend this meeting; in the interest of clarity I will name them member A and member B. No one in attendance knew why they did not participate. During the meeting, we firmed up what was outstanding and confirmed who would ensure these tasks would be done. I recorded the meeting notes and volunteered for extra tasks as we felt we could not depend on the other members. I posted the meeting notes in the discussion forum.(3.1) This was a critical error; I had forgotten that member A wanted all communication to be via email, not discussion posts, so they had not known about the meeting or the meeting outcome.(1.1, 1.2) Member A felt excluded and was upset with the team. Upon further communication with member B, we found out that member B did not feel heard by the team, nor were their ideas valued, or suggestions incorporated into the project. Better, more effective communication could likely have avoided these issues and breakdown within the team. I emailed both members in an attempt to understand what had gone wrong and how we can put this behind us and move forward.

I suspect that the damage due to the underlying issue of not feeling valued caused this member to withdraw and not actively contribute to the project.(1.1) In my further communications to this member, I made inquiries to try and better understand their ideas, direction, and situation, but I also felt compelled to advise them that they were not contributing an equal share to project, I supported my position with examples.(1.2, 1.9) Regardless of my attempts to rectify the situation, I could not find a way forward or a way to make amends.

The breakdown in communication lead to team members feeling undervalued and excluded.  Our collaboration was successful in that we completed the project, however our ability to demonstrate that we valued diversity and were welcoming was lacking. We had not provided an inclusive environment and or built trust with our team. I find it ironic that this happened while working on a collaborative projected about inclusion. I had researched strategies on how to be inclusive and yet I failed to put these strategies into practice. Conflict can be positive and a catalyst for change as it can offer us new viewpoint to see and embrace different viewpoints. However, this conflict was not positive at all, it was indeed a negative experience for the whole team. This discomfort did teach me a valuable lesson though, in order to promote inclusive collaboration we need to be tolerant and sensitive to differences, and ensure that everyone in the group has a voice and their contribution is valued.(1.10)

It is important to ensure effective collaboration and that all members feel valued and that their contribution to the project matters. I had not recognized at the time that our breakdown in communication was a barrier to feeling valued. I had not fully appreciated why the conflict had arisen, however I did realise that we needed to complete the assignment and exploration of the case study regardless that we were now short a team member. Therefore, I tried to do my best to help our team succeed as we moved forward. I was quick to offer to help my team members, take on extra duties, disseminate information, and complete assigned tasks.(4.5)

My contribution to the group assignment included:

• participating in group discussions,
• finding a journal article that aligned with our case study to offer the class as supplemental reading,
• researching strategies for inclusive practice,
• narrating the Prezi presentation and uploading it to YouTube,
• moderating the class discussion forum during our team’s presentation,
• contributing to the critical analysis of the case study, and
• editing the document.

The critical analysis of the case study was important to identify what the teachers in the case study did not do well so that we could determine what strategies could be used in the future to improve inclusive practices. We critiqued the case study by examining the main issues and identified any non-inclusive or discriminatory practices so that we could “suggest practical strategies to support and promote inclusiveness practices” (MDDE631 Case Study, 2017).(5.8)

We provided a link to the video for our classmates to watch. Although it met our immediate goal, my narration was poorly done and should have included captioning to be more aligned with inclusive practices. To employ sound pedagogical practices and model inclusive strategies, our group provided a variety of media for our classmates to review, including both print and video, as well as posed questions for our class to consider and discuss in the moderated discussion forums.(3.1, 4.4) The video that I am using for this artifact for this reflection was a narrated Prezi presentation that one of the group members created and I narrated and uploaded to YouTube. The Prezi presentation is based on the analysis of the case study and includes the highlights and salient points which we identified in the critique. (4.6)