Journal of Academic Development and Education JADE Issue 10 | Page 118

EDITOR'S EPILOGUE | 119 118 | JADE EDITOR’S EPILOGUE Welcome to this true benchmark issue of JADE… our 10 th Edition. T hat means the JADE initiative has been going strong for five years—let that sink in—five years! That means that JADE is now older than Inside Out, Wreck-It Ralph and Deadpool. Awesome movies aside, what started as a modest venture to help develop pedagogic research locally has grown steadily into what you see before you; a peer-reviewed educational journal with a solid five- year track record of excellent published work and educational insights that is read internationally. When I was soliciting for articles for this special tenth edition, I wanted to have a general theme to tie it together, so decided in consultation with the JADE team to go for “Inclusive Practice” as a broad umbrella to place over our decennial issue. I'm a stickler for clear definitions and as such, “inclusive practice” refers to a wide range of teaching approaches, all with the common goal of supporting learners with a diverse range of learning needs and preferences. If nothing else, the contents of this issue, and indeed this editorial, will hopefully re-introduce the concept of inclusive teaching as something higher education research is exploring in a range of exciting contexts. Dissemination forums such as JADE thus provide one type of space to share experiences and explore inclusive teaching towards creating an equitable learning environment for all students. There is almost an embarrassment of riches in the literature around hints, tips, and case studies of effective inclusive practice but my own go-to resource outside Keele is from Cornell University’s Centre for Teaching Innovation because it includes what is, in my opinion, a solid approach to applying an “inclusivity lens” to a range of aspects of learning and teaching such as classroom design, digital provision and best practice using a central ethos of actively celebrating and encouraging diversity in the classroom: h t t p s : // t e a c h i n g . c o r n e l l . e d u / t e a c h i n g - r e s o u r c e s / building-inclusive-classrooms/inclusive-teaching-strategies They also provide a whole spin-out web-link to a bedrock (and personal favourite of mine!) of inclusive curriculum design theory; Universal Design. Again, using their definition, Universal Design is “a teaching approach that works to accommodate the needs and abilities of all learners and eliminate unnecessary hurdles in the learning process”: https://teaching.cornell.edu/resource/universal-design-technology I just love that! How great is it to approach curriculum design from the standpoint of eliminating hurdles first? That would mean that rather than dogmatic adherence to “the way it's always been done” or even worse, lathering technology over everything for its own sake, we would instead be looking from the learner perspective as a first principal, imagining (or, dare I say it, researching!) the obstacles to that learning and only then intervening. From a higher education research perspective, this is win-win because it not only resembles an action research pedagogic approach to learning, it also all but guarantees that your evaluation will show measurable positive impact so long as we adopt a theory- informed rationale as our starting point. Wrapping up, if this issue has made you think more or differently about inclusive practice, then it has accomplished its intent and I would urge us all to periodically stop and reflect from the perspective of obstacle removal: be they physical, digital, logistical, or pedagogical. There has quite literally never been a better time to contribute to JADE as an author, reviewer, and associate editor, or even a regular columnist! (it's never been done so far, so why not be the first?) With the JADE family growing each year and 2019 potentially looking to add another novel variation on the JADE approach (I'm being intentionally vague here to build mystery—go with it!), why not think of a novel way to get involved by getting in touch with your ideas to discuss them. Enjoy the remainder of your 2018, enjoy the excellent content our JADE authors have offered us all to mull over, and as always... get writing! Dr. Russell Crawford Managing Editor of JADE [email protected] or [email protected]