Step 1: Presenting Material in Multiple Ways

Students learn best when instructional strategies give them different pathways into the content. Thus inclusive instructors build different modes of instruction into their lessons and activities, from analogies to anecdotes to concrete examples. Bob Kegan explicitly tells his students that they may not find all of his pedagogical moves engaging, but the very moves they find boring may be pivotal to their classmates. By presenting material in multiple ways, he invites all students into the course, not just those who learn from his natural teaching style. “I think my evolution, not just in terms of technically what I do, but just how I have become a better teacher,” Kegan explains, “is really having more and more respect for the very different ways that people learn.”

Profiled: Robert Kegan, William and Miriam Meehan Research Professor in Adult Learning and Professional Development, teaches "Adult Development" to ~200 students at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Takeaway Tips

Fill your pedagogical “toolkit” with different strategies to help engage different learners. In this video, for example, Bob Kegan uses anecdotes from his own learning and asks students to connect the material to their own experiences. 

Use different mediums to present material to students: text, audio, images, videos, hands-on experiments, role play, etc. Offer students a choice so they can find the pathway into the material that works best for them.

Give students a choice in how they demonstrate what they have learned. These can be small choices, like choosing between two questions to write about on an exam, or large choices, such as choosing which medium they’ll use to create their final project. 

Related Resources

This resource from the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST) discusses the value of multiple means of representation and provides guidance for doing so.

The Center for Teaching Excellence at Boston College created a video “UDL Explainer” that provides an overview of Universal Design for Learning, a framework that makes courses more inclusive and engaging. 

Two particular ways that Bob Kegan presents material, also documented as their own Instructional Moves, are the think aloud and exercising humor.

Reflection Questions

Which students are learning well in your classroom right now? Which ways of presenting material are helping them succeed? 

What are some ways students are struggling in your classroom? What new ways of presenting material might help them be more successful?

Presenting material in a variety of ways creates an inclusive classroom by giving all students access to the content. In the next video, we’ll learn about one concrete strategy for helping different students engage with the course material.

Continue to Step 2