Learning, Equity, Access, and Pedagogy Initiative
- Table of Contents
What is LEAP?
Georgetown’s Learning, Equity, Access, and Pedagogy Initiative (LEAP) was launched by university leadership in 2022. LEAP supports academic units to examine and strengthen the climate, content, and pedagogy of their teaching and learning environments and work toward the goal of building and sustaining inclusive learning experiences for their students. CNDLS and other campus units are here to help you in this process.
Ready to apply?
Please submit the LEAP Initiative Application for Academic Units/Schools/Programs. We are accepting applications on a rolling basis.
The results of the 2020 Campus Cultural Climate Survey, and, more specifically, the spotlight report on pedagogy developed by CNDLS using the Climate Survey data have made clear that many students are feeling excluded from the full educational experience, and that in particular we’re seeing dramatic differences along dimensions of race and first generation status. These findings underscore the importance and, in fact, immediate need for increased support for inclusive pedagogical strategies. LEAP is one of the steps Georgetown University is taking to address these concerns.
Supporting faculty in inclusive pedagogy practices and understanding how to best facilitate productive dialogue have been core areas of CNDLS work for over a decade. We’ve built expertise in these topics through growing the Doyle Engaging Difference Program which is based on the premise that encountering diverse perspectives in the classroom helps students understand their own views as well as those of others. The partnership between LEAP and Doyle is an opportunity to draw on the knowledge gleaned in building our Doyle programs to facilitate LEAP projects, and develop further capacities and expertise as the Initiative progresses.
With this experience in mind, we recognize that diversity, equity, and inclusion work is by necessity comprehensive, and involves addressing policies and practices across the institution, such as hiring practices and our students’ experience outside the classroom. In the specific case of the LEAP Initiative, the focus is on making our pedagogical and curricular practices more inclusive, now and in an ongoing way in the future.
Many academic units at Georgetown are already deeply engaged in inclusive pedagogical issues through Doyle and other programs. The LEAP Initiative will build on these existing efforts to provide support and resources for those departments, programs, areas, and schools, creating a whole-institution community for learning with and from each other about best practices in inclusive pedagogy.
Process
The LEAP work for an academic unit will likely evolve as it takes place over an 18-month to 2 year process through a variety of strategic planning work, tailored to the needs of each academic unit (or partnership of units). But most efforts will involve doing the following:
REFLECT on and assess the classroom climate, curriculum, and pedagogical approaches of the unit.
This work may include, among other activities:
- Faculty self-reflection exercises
- Curricular inventory and mapping
- Student and faculty surveys, focus groups, or other data gathering
- Conversations, listening sessions, and incorporating any data and lessons learned from existing work
LEARN about principles and practices of inclusive pedagogy and other related topics to inform the unit’s self-assessment and reflection process.
Opportunities include:
- Workshops for your department/unit
- Teaching circles and peer reading groups
- Engaging with curated reading lists, discipline-specific content, and online resources
- Bringing in external speakers or resources
COMMIT to a plan.
This will likely involve:
- Naming priority work areas with a focus on classroom climate, course and curriculum content, and pedagogical approaches
- Determine actions and changes you’re going to carry out
- Developing a timeline for carrying out plans associated with each area
- Identifying resources to help support the work
IMPLEMENT your plan.
This work may include:
- Adopting the changes that you’ve identified
- Evaluating the impact of the work
- Iterating on the work by developing a process for continuous improvement and renewal of commitments
Get started
We acknowledge that fully implementing truly equitable and inclusive learning experiences is a continuous, ongoing commitment. However, the LEAP initiative has suggested a 18-month to 2-year timeline in which each academic unit will take the first big steps in this process, working intensively toward the creation and implementation of department-specific goals for integrating long-term, adaptable, measurable, and effective inclusive pedagogical principles and practices throughout the unit.
The goal is ultimately for all departments to engage in this initiative. In fall 2022, we began this journey with a small number of departments who stepped forward to take on this work. We plan to invite additional academic units to join the LEAP Initiative each semester for the next three years (AY22/23-AY24/25). Below you’ll find more information about how to express your interest in being part of a cohort.
What to expect when you apply
- The department or unit chair should work with colleagues to complete an initial application. Interested faculty should contact chairs about this opportunity.
- The LEAP process, which will involve the entire membership of the department/unit, and which will be supported by CNDLS and other campus units, will likely take place over the course of eighteen months to two years. The next step after departments are selected to launch this initiative includes a full department/unit meeting facilitated by CNDLS to begin the wider conversation.
- After this first conversation, the unit will work in partnership with CNDLS to identify the unit’s current needs and initial direction for the LEAP process. This process will necessarily be unique to each department, but we expect most departments will begin by spending time looking carefully at the climate, pedagogy, and curriculum of the department, as well as spending time engaging with readings/materials on inclusive pedagogy.
We invite interested departments and groups to submit the LEAP Initiative Application for Academic Units/Schools/Programs. We are accepting applications on a rolling basis. To best serve the Georgetown community, we will accept applications based on needs, capacity, and timeline.
Support and funding
CNDLS and other units will be available to support you with departmental conversations, focus groups, sharing of relevant scholarship, strategic design support, facilitation, guest speaker ideas, and more.
Main Campus academic unit(s) will be able to apply for funds up to $10,000 (depending on unit size and needs) over the course of the department’s LEAP work that can be used in a range of ways, including to provide a stipend for the academic unit's faculty point person for LEAP, hire graduate student administrative support, bring in outside speakers or facilitators, or add to existing resources provided by CNDLS. Depending on the nature of the unit’s goals, additional funding for curricular innovation may be available through the Curriculum Transformation Initiative funded by the Baker Trust.
We’re available for questions and conversations at LEAPInitiative@georgetown.edu.
The LEAP Initiative is sponsored in part by the Doyle Engaging Difference Program and the Baker Trust for Transformative Learning.
