Teaching/Learning for Inclusivity, Diversity, and Equity (TIDE)

TIDE's mission is to inspire culturally responsive teaching with implications for all individuals.


TIDE events are open to all faculty interested in connecting with others around inclusivity, diversity and equity- especially as it applies to teaching. 

All TIDE Chats are held on Zoom. Invites are sent out by the TIDE Faculty Chair, Liddy Hope (ehope@elgin.edu) 

TIDE's Culturally Responsive Teaching Guidelines

In an effort to define what characterizes culturally responsive teaching practices, TIDE drafted a framework of 7 culturally responsive teaching practices for all faculty to aspire to. 

While not an all-encompassing list, the 7 guidelines are drawn from prominent research on culturally responsive teaching, including among other sources, Ladson-Billing's The Dreamkeepers (1994), Hammond's Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain (2015), Paris and Alim's Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy (2017), and the American Psychological Association's Multicultural Guidelines (2017). 

Educators aspire to recognize and understand that they hold attitudes and beliefs that influence their perceptions of and interactions with others as well as their pedagogy. These attitudes and beliefs ultimately find their way into the curriculum and classroom. Considering various forms of 

privilege that shape our beliefs and impact how we teach and shape our curriculum is important. In response, educators strive to move beyond conceptualizations rooted in categorical assumptions, biases, and formulations based on limited knowledge about individuals and communities. 

ACTION: Educators work to be self-aware of their own implicit biases and privileges and how these play out in their interactions with others by engaging in self-assessments and educating themselves about issues related to cultural competency. 

ACTION: Educators seek out and include diverse representations and voices in textbooks, examples, and visuals. 

Inclusions are added in a way in which the diversity impacts and shapes the content rather than only being included to “check a box.” 

Educators maintain cultural humility and share the ownership of knowing with all students. Ongoing opportunities are created for students to provide input on the learning experience, and that input shapes the course. The class assumes a hopeful view of people and their capacity to change. Consequently, the environment is civil and welcoming. 

ACTION: Educators strive to create inclusive classroom environments. 

Opportunities for self-reflection and for self-assessment are consistently created for both the educator and the students. 


Educators strive to recognize and understand the important role of language and communication and strive to use inclusive language that is sensitive to the lived experience of the individual, group, community, and/or organizations with whom they interact. 

ACTION: Educators keep an open mind to revisions in language and labels and adapt, as appropriate. 

Also, educators continually work to assure language that reflects students feel welcome and included in the learning experience. 

Educators accommodate a range of learning modalities and strive to engage students’ own experiences and interests. Assessments are relevant to the real world and emphasize the human purpose of what is being learned and its relationship to the students' experiences. 

ACTION: Educators learn about various learning modalities and apply best practices in their classrooms to assure real-world assessments that include and reflect students’ experiences. 

Educators actively strive to take a strength-based and additive approach when working with students, creating opportunities for students to engage and use the cultural backgrounds and interests they bring into a course. 

ACTION: Educators incorporate a growth mindset and apply strength-based and additive strategies to the curriculum. 

Educators seek to recognize and understand that identity and self-definition are fluid and complex and that the interaction between the two is dynamic. To this end, ECC appreciates that intersectionality is shaped by the multiplicity of the individual’s social contexts. Additionally, educators understand that cultures change and include nuance. Thus, culturally responsive teaching is an ongoing process (growth) of awareness, skills, and knowledge to develop/sustain/grow equity literacy in the ECC community. 

ACTION: Educators will recognize and continue to learn about the comprehensive nature of cultures and remain engaged in learning about and connecting to diverse cultures 

Educators will appreciate the complexity of intersectional identities and how this impacts student engagement

TIDE Faculty Chats


TIDE Faculty Chats are informal dialogues focused on a particular topic related to equitable and inclusive teaching and student support. At the Faculty Chats, topics and questions are introduced, and participants are invited to discuss in small groups. They are an opportunity to ask questions, think through what culturally responsive teaching looks like in practice at ECC, and build community with other faculty. 


All faculty are invited to participate, regardless of how familiar you are with the topics or with TIDE. 

Fall 2024 Schedule

Following Up On Opening Day and Next Steps in HSI Support

Continuing the Conversation:  Next Steps and Strategies in HSI Servingness

Navigating Politics and the Election

Stories and Reflections From the Fall

Previous TIDE Faculty Chats

Spring 2024 Schedule

Bringing Global Issues into the Classroom

Resources via the ECC Library for Educating Yourself and Your Students

Opportunities Supported by ECC's Global Engagement and Global/International Studies Taskforce (GIST)

Neurodiversity in Learning

Supporting Students in Cultural Competency 

Establishing a New Normal

Fall 2024 All-College Meeting Resources

"What It Means to be a Hispanic Serving Institution," with Cathy Mayer, Director of Grans Research & Development

Summer 2024 TIDE Retreat:  Our Identity and Responsibility as a Hispanic Serving Institution 

Tuesday, July 23, 2024

10:00am- 3:30pm (lunch provided)

Building E Room 121 (a virtual option will be made available for anyone wanting to attend online)

Registration:  Register by Monday, June 24, 2024 at 5:00pm 

All are invited to participate in a one-day retreat, supported ECC's Teaching/Learning for Inclusivity, Diversity, and Equity (TIDE) group, focusing on what it means for ECC to be designated as a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and ways that we can live out the "serving" component as a college and as individuals. 

No prior knowledge of HSIs or scholarship on HSIs is needed to participate, as the retreat is intended to provide all participants with important definitions, resources, and time to consider how their roles and practices support our identity as an HSI and our students. Special attention will be given to teaching and learning. 

Objectives of the retreat include supporting participants to be able to 

Format and Agenda 

TIDE HSI Identity Retreat Agenda.DRAFT