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Home » The Vermont State Educator – December 2025

The Vermont State Educator – December 2025

December 2025 | Volume 3 | Issue 5 | Previous Issues

Dark green thought bubble containing the phrase "inclusive pedagogy."

Each month, this year, we’ll be highlighting a teaching tip from one domain of the Teaching Effectiveness Framework (TEF). Our teaching tip for this month comes from the Inclusive Pedagogy domain. The approaches in this domain consider all students’ backgrounds, experiences, and learning variabilities. Instructors who ensure equitable access to course materials, foster belonging, and address the needs of a diverse student population create a more robust learning experience for all learners.

Designing Accessible Learning Environments

There are estimated to be 50 million people with disabilities in the U.S. today. Disabilities may be temporary, relapsing or remitting, or long-term. Although there are hundreds of distinct kinds of disabilities, we may group them into the following categories: physical disabilities, mental disabilities, and sensory disabilities. Disabilities are complex; they may be a source of stigma or shame and may also be a cherished part of a person’s identity and the basis for meaningful community.

Although Vermont State University encourages all students with disabilities who desire reasonable accommodations to seek services through the Academic Support office, faculty have an essential role to play in making courses accessible and creating a climate of equity and inclusion. While individual needs are difficult to anticipate, there are many things professors can do to create inclusive and accessible environments for a wide diversity of learners.

Most of the strategies highlighted in the sections below reflect the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). UDL is an educational framework that emphasizes the use of flexible goals, methods, materials, and assessments in order to provide effective instruction to a diversity of learners. Rather than approaching accessibility as an afterthought or only on a case-by-case basis, UDL principles help instructors to design courses that address the needs of diverse learners from the start so that all students may benefit. For example, a note-taker is a common accommodation given to students with disabilities, however, in note-heavy classes, this may be beneficial to many students. Some instructors rotate the role of note-taker throughout the class as a way of creating a shared set of notes that all students can access.

Creating open lines of communication with your students is essential. There are a variety of ways instructors can build a foundation for open communication:

  • Consider adding an “Inclusive Learning Statement” to your syllabus. Tulane University’s Accessible Syllabus website offers the following example: “Your success in this class is important to me. We will all need accommodations because we all learn differently. If there are aspects of this course that prevent you from learning or exclude you, please let me know as soon as possible. Together we’ll develop strategies to meet both your needs and the requirements of the course. I encourage you to visit the Office of Disability Services to determine how you could improve your learning as well. If you need official accommodations, you have a right to have these met. There are also a range of resources on campus, including the Writing Center, Tutoring Center, and Academic Advising Center.” Reiterate your desire to help all students succeed by communicating a version of this statement aloud in the first week of class.
    • Note, the Accessible Syllabus website has many other helpful recommendations to create an accessible syllabus, including information on formatting, text, images, rhetoric, and other course policies.
  • When you receive notification from your campus disability services office that a student has requested accommodations in your course, reach out to the student individually, in private, to discuss how accommodations may work best for them. A student’s disclosure of a disability is always voluntary and some students may feel nervous to disclose sensitive medical information to an instructor. Whether or not a student discloses details of their disability, you can discuss appropriate accommodations. In some cases, accommodations may be straight forward – such as providing an alternative testing location. Other situations may require ongoing brainstorming between the instructor and student. It can be helpful for an instructor to describe upcoming activities or assignments (particularly those not fully described in the syllabus) and ask the student what, if any, additional accommodations may be needed. As the course proceeds, it is helpful to check in with the student periodically. Not all needs can be anticipated in advance, and given the nature of some disabilities, needs may change over the course of a term. Ask the student, “How are the accommodations we have implemented working for you? Is there anything we should consider changing?”
  • When you make announcements in class, for example regarding changes in due dates or room locations, make sure to always send them in an email or online announcement as well.
  • Consider your course policies in the interest of creating an inclusive classroom environment. For example, do you have a no laptop policy in your classroom? If so, how might that negatively impact students with disabilities?

Ensuring physical accessibility includes consideration of the building location, the classroom location (within a building), as well as the layout of the classroom, and classroom technologies (i.e. lighting, tables, seating, projection, white boards). When considering the physical accessibility of your class, keep in mind:

  • Changes in weather or campus activities can disproportionately impact students with mobility impairments. For example, sidewalks may be impassable due to snow or ice, piles of yard debris during landscaping, or equipment in place for a campus event. These may delay students or may present such a barrier that a student may need to participate remotely. As a best practice, if you notice an area that is inaccessible on campus (which also includes inoperable lifts, elevators, or audible crossings at crosswalks), let the plant operations department know immediately.
  • To the greatest extent possible, set up your classroom so that students with wheelchairs or service dogs have room to navigate into and around the class. For example, if the classroom is set up with workstations, consider leaving an open spot—without a chair—at multiple tables.
  • Engage your students in thinking about accessibility in your classroom. Some rooms may not have any moveable furniture, but present options in terms of lighting, sound, or size of text on presentation materials. Other rooms may be highly adaptable.
  • Moving classes at the last minute and changing classroom layouts can cause difficulty for a range of students, including those with mobility, sight, or hearing impairments, as well as people with anxiety. For example, students using guide dogs may spend up to a month before classes begin training their guide dog to navigate them to class, and to a particular seat within the class. Whenever possible, alert students in advance as to changes of location or room set up.

Ensuring accessibility of course materials includes consideration of 1) the course management system (i.e. Canvas); 2) assigned reading materials, handouts, and presentations; and 3) audio or video used in class. Creating accessible materials takes time. It can necessitate learning new technologies and being creative when considering alternative ways to share information, and/or allow students to participate in class.

Course Management System

Many course management systems have built in accessibility features, such as screen reader accessibility features, keyboard-online navigation features, screen magnifiers, and design features to assist both students and instructors. To learn how to make your content more accessible please check with Canvas Support or the CTLI. Ultimately, it is an instructor’s responsibility to get to know the accessibility features and limitations of their institution’s course management system, and to take advantage of the tools that will allow their students to fully participate.

Course reading, handouts and presentation materials

It is important to make your syllabus and course materials available to students as soon as possible, so students who may need more time can begin accessing materials. The most common strategy for increasing accessibility of course texts (which include any assigned readings, presentations, and handouts) is providing versions that are readable, especially by screen readers. Most computers come equipped with a screen reader technology, which essentially converts printed text into auditory words to which the user can listen. For this technology to work, reading materials must be saved in a text file, such as a Word Document or Rich Text Format (RTF). Converting materials from PDF or PPT to readable text increases accessibility to a wide variety of learners, including people with learning disabilities, literacy difficulties, visual impairments, or people who multitask. You may find some readable text versions of your course materials are already available. In other cases, you may need to prepare them.

Importantly, text-reading-technology does have limitations. If there are graphics that are critical to the course materials (i.e. tables, graphs, or other images), you will need to find another way to share these with students who have sight impairments, for example by explaining figures in prose form, transferring the graphic onto a tactile surface, or creating a 3-D model of the figure.

Instructors increasingly utilize audio and video materials in class. Captions and descriptions are required by law to support students with disabilities, though as described below may benefit a wide range of learners. There are two types of technologies to increase accessibility to audio and video.

Converting audio (or audio portions of video) to text (e.g., closed captioning) can be done through computer-assisted-programs. Captioning video increases accessibility to a wide variety of learners, including people with learning disabilities, literacy difficulties, hearing impairments, or second language learners.

Creating audio descriptions of visual images is typically needs to be done by a person in real-time, or through use of a pre-recorded narrative. Audio descriptions of video increases accessibility to a wide variety of learners, including people with learning disabilities, literacy difficulties, and visual impairments.

The primary software packages used by Vermont State for web-based conferencing and video recording are Zoom and YuJa. To learn how to make your content developed in these systems more accessible please check with IT Support Services.

Students learn best when they feel respected, included, and that instructors are invested in their development. Students with disabilities can experience stigma, marginalization, and negative stereotypes from their peers and instructors. In Barbara Davis’s Tools for Teaching, she explains that it is important for instructors to “become aware of any biases and stereotypes [they] may have absorbed…Your attitudes and values not only influence the attitudes and values of your students, but they can affect the way you teach, particularly your assumptions about students…which can lead to unequal learning outcomes for those in your classes” (2010, p. 58).

Strategies for creating an inclusive and welcoming classroom climate include:

  • Pay attention to your engagement with students. In courses where teacher/student ratio allows, endeavor to learn and use students’ names. Use classroom engagement strategies that allow students to contribute in a variety of ways, for example, through online discussion boards, in-class discussions, and individual assignments.
  • Pay attention to and enable group interactions in the classroom. Use peer-to-peer engagement strategies that facilitate relationship-building, trust, and the creation of a learning community within the class.
  • Respond to microaggressions in the classroom. People with disabilities experience a multitude of everyday comments and behaviors that, while not intended to be hurtful, nonetheless can be stigmatizing, marginalizing, and/ or dehumanizing. Microaggressions ultimately communicate implicit assumptions and prejudices that can injure the targeted group, alienating them from their peers and the learning community faculty attempt to create. It is important for instructors to be attentive to microaggressions in the classroom, to normalize inclusive and appropriate language, and to consider effective strategies for turning difficult dialogues into teachable moments.

Not all learning happens in the classroom. Does your course integrate lab work, field work, practicum placements, internships, service learning, or presentations in community based or academic settings? If so, it will be important to think about accessibility within these spaces as well. The Ohio State University’s Composing Access website offers helpful guidelines for creating accessible events.

Note, the strategies suggested in this guide are not exhaustive. For more recommendations, review this Checklist for Course Accessibility.

Citation: Thurber, A., &  Bandy, J. (2018). Creating Accessible Learning Environments. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. Retrieved May 2, 2023 from http://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/creating-accessible-learning-environments/.

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This teaching guide, which has been modified from its original form, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Headshot of Krystina Laychak, Assistant Professor of Nursing

Krystina Laychak

This month, we have the pleasure of featuring Krystina “Krys” Laychak, MSN, RN, CNE, an Assistant Professor at VTSU who teaches in the Department of Nursing.

Please tell us a little bit about your background and what brought you to VTSU.

I have been in health care my entire working career starting as an LNA way back in 1985. I was the first one in my family to go to college and I worked hard to get myself through. I know the impact a career in nursing has in my life and always tried to encourage others especially LNAs to take the leap. As a Director of Nursing at a local nursing home, I was on the community board for the then VTC nursing community of interest. I saw the value this program brought to my organization, staff and community. I jumped at a chance to be a part of it when the opportunity arose.

What first inspired you to pursue teaching in your discipline, and how has that motivation evolved over time?

Recognizing the demographic needs of our aging baby boomers, I wanted to help raise up the next generation of nursing professionals. What I found is that I truly love the work. Seeing my former students go on to do amazing things in the profession keeps me motivated.

How would you describe your teaching philosophy in a few sentences?

I believe in working with students to build on what they know and integrate what they learn. Scaffolding is the key as nurses need to learn and grow throughout their careers they need to learn and build and grow. I am not just teaching facts and procedures; I am teaching them the intellectual processes they need to sustain a career that is ever evolving.

Can you share an example of a teaching moment that felt especially rewarding or impactful?

Spring of 2025 was very challenging. My partner Paul became critically ill.  From the ER to the cardiac Cath Lab; he was cared for by former students. I was also cared for by former students who supported me during a very difficult time. I saw how they evolved into professionals with specialty skills and were now teaching me the things I needed learn to care for Paul when he came home. This demonstrated the power and importance of my work as VTSU faculty; I was achieving my goal to help train the next generation of nursing professionals.

How do you incorporate inclusive pedagogy into your courses to ensure all students feel valued and supported and why is this important to you?

In the nursing profession we have many evidence-based initiatives to increase the diversity and cultural competence of our nursing professionals. It is an integral part of our VTSU nursing mission. I add these principles to all my classes I encourage and support ELL students to reach their educational and professional goals. I am passionate about human diversity and celebrate our differences with joy and seek to impart this to those I teach.

What’s one innovative technique or tool you’ve recently tried in your teaching, and what did you learn from the experience?

I recently have built Ethical AI use into several assignments as part of Gen Ed digital literacy objectives in NUR 1020 (Nurse-Client Relationship). As course lead, I also worked with other faculty to institute these assignments. This has led to a presentation for other VSC faculty and requests to collaborate with other VTSU nursing faculty to add this type of content additional courses. This has reminded me that continuing to learn and grow is not optional in professional pursuits.

If you could give one piece of advice to colleagues about fostering student success, what would it be?

Believe in your students, and help them develop the passion, drive, and desire to continue to learn, grow, and succeed.

Spring 2026 – Book Group

This spring, join your colleagues for a book group on The Opposite of Cheating: Teaching for Integrity in the Age of AI.

Description:

In these days of an ever-expanding internet, generative AI, and term paper mills, students may find it too easy and tempting to cheat, and teachers may think they can’t keep up. What’s needed, and what Tricia Bertram Gallant and David A. Rettinger offer in this timely book, is a new approach—one that works with the realities of the twenty-first century, not just to protect academic integrity but also to maximize opportunities for students to learn.

The Opposite of Cheating presents a positive, forward-looking, research-backed vision for what classroom integrity can look like in the GenAI era, both in cyberspace and on campus. Accordingly, the book outlines workable measures teachers can use to better understand why students cheat and to prevent cheating while aiming to enhance learning and integrity.

Bertram Gallant and Rettinger provide practical suggestions to help faculty revise the conversation around integrity, refocus classes and students on learning, reconsider the structure and goals of assessment, and generally reframe our response to cheating. At the core of this strategy is a call for teachers, academic staff, institutional leaders, and administrators to rethink how we “show up” for students, and to reinforce and fully support quality teaching, learning, and assessment. With its evidentiary basis and its useful tips for instructors across disciplines, levels of experience, and modes of instruction, this book offers a much-needed chance to pause, rethink our purpose, and refocus on what matters—creating classes that center human interactions that foster the personal and professional growth of our students.

Meetings:

We will meet on Zoom throughout the spring semester, typically once every 3 weeks. We’ll survey those who RSVP to identify a time that works for the majority.

How to Sign-up:

To sign up for the group, please sign into your VSC account and submit the following form:

Book Group RSVP Form

Building Anti-Racist Educators: Reading & Inquiry Series

This Reading and Inquiry Series provides a monthly set of tools for learning, introspection and having conversations about issues of racism in our university, classrooms and communities. We hope that through regular reflection and conversation, you can get better at recognizing and resisting your biases and the impact they have on your students and colleagues.

Meetings:

The group will be meeting via Zoom on the following dates:

  • Monday, December 15th (12:00-1:30p)
  • Thursday, January 22nd (3:00-4:30p)
  • Thursday, February 19th (3:00-4:30p)
  • Thursday, March 19th (3:00-4:30p)
  • Thursday, April 16th (3:00-4:30p)
  • Thursday, May 21st (3:00-4:30p)
How to Sign-up:

To receive a calendar invitation, Zoom link, and access to the group’s Canvas space, please fill out the Vermont State Colleges Building Anti-Racist Educators Sign-Up Form.

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Upcoming Workshops

As you likely know, starting in April 2026, all public higher education institutions of our size must be compliant with new regulations for accessibility of digital content. The regulations are based on the WCAG 2.1 AA standards, which are written for a technical audience.

In the CTLI, through the EdPros workshops, reading, and LinkedIn Learning courses, we have been gaining knowledge of digital accessibility. And we are creating tutorials on some of these key skills for faculty, translating the technical standards for general users. We are collating digital accessibility resources on our webpage for easy access, as well.

Check out our fifth tutorial on the Top PDF Alternatives. And see if you can ace the knowledge check at the end!

Previous Tutorials:

If you have feedback on the tutorial or topics you’d like to see us cover in future months, let us know by emailing ctli@vtsu.edu. Thank you so much.

VSC Libraries

Faculty Workshop: Register Now!

Quick, Ask the Library! Making the Most of the VSCS Libraries’ Services

Register for January 22, 2026 at 3:30pm

or

Register for January 23, 2026 at 12:00pm

Are you making the most of the VSCS Libraries resources and services? Are your students getting the most out of what the library offers and succeeding in your class? Learn practical (and helpful!) ways to bring information literacy lessons into your courses and help your students become ace researchers. All for free!

VSCS Libraries Usability Testing

We want you and your students to help us make our systems easier to use!

During the spring semester the VSCS Libraries will be usability testing our website and online resources. This will consist of meeting (virtually) with students, faculty & staff, asking them to complete specific tasks using the library systems and then reflect on how it works for them.

We are collecting names of folks who are interested in participating. Please sign up. 

We would also love if you could help us reach out to students. We’d like to reach as wide of a range of folks as possible: users with different levels of library experience, users with disabilities or who may have other challenges with online systems, etc.

Participants in the tests will be entered in a drawing for special prizes!

If you have any questions, please contact Michael Braun Hamilton, our Web Services Librarian – michael.braunhamilton@vsc.edu. Please spread the word!

Reference Assistance

With finals around the corner, encourage your students to use the red Get Help tab on the library website for quick access to support via live chat, text (802-278-0997), phone (800‑431‑0025), email (libraries@vsc.edu), or to schedule a research appointment.  

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Student Success

New Basic Needs Resource Tile

Vermont State University is committed to supporting the whole student — not just academically, but personally and financially as well. We’re excited to announce the launch of the new Basic Needs Resource tile, now live in the VTSU Portal! 

This new resource hub connects students directly to on-campus and community supports for food, housing, transportation, technology, childcare, emergency grants, and more — all in one convenient location. Whether you’re looking for a campus food pantry, assistance with textbooks, or information about applying for benefits, the Basic Needs Resource page can help and it can easily be accessed from a tile in the Portal.

For Students:

Explore available resources to help you stay focused on your goals and well-being. Reaching out for support is a strength — and we’re here to help.

For Faculty & Staff:

Use this page to refer students who may be struggling with food insecurity, transportation challenges, or other barriers to success. Sharing this resource can make a real difference.

Together, we’re creating a State of Possibility — one that ensures every student has the essentials to thrive.

Multilingual Student Services

VTSU Multilingual Student Services (MSS) supports your courses with targeted ESL tutoring, course-embedded consultations, English Pathway placement/advising, and alternative assessment recommendations that are aligned to your assignments.

Fast faculty referrals. To reduce barriers for your multilingual students, you may refer them by email directly to Mary.Dinh@VermontState.edu. Please include the student’s name, course/section, the task or assessment (e.g., paper, presentation, exam), the primary language needs you’ve observed, and any deadlines. We will contact the student and place them on the tutoring schedule.

1-on-1 ESL tutoring. Our professional ESL tutors provide individualized coaching to develop all four core skills, reading, writing, listening, and speaking through strategy-based practice (e.g., unpacking prompts, organization and cohesion, academic vocabulary/grammar, note-taking, pronunciation, presentation skills). Tutors can also work with a student on a single assignment (paper, presentation, class readings’ response) from prompt analysis to planning, drafting, and final checks.

Case-by-case extended time on quizzes and exams.  Extended time and the monitored use of translation tools for quizzes/exams can be considered via email consultation with MSS and the professor or instructor. With instructor approval, students may take quizzes and exams in person at the MSS office (Castleton and Williston) or via virtual proctoring for Johnson and Lyndon. This support is available when a faculty member raises a concern or when a multilingual student contacts our office and, after evaluation, is assessed as still developing English proficiency, typically in the first two years of higher education (e.g., while enrolled in ESL courses through the English Pathway Program). Please note that, due to licensure and accreditation requirements, Nursing and Applied Health Sciences follow distinct assessment policies, so this support is generally not available for those courses.

Office hours. Faculty can email to schedule a 30-minute catch-up meeting at any time in the afternoon to discuss an individual multilingual student case or to workshop linguistically and culturally responsive pedagogies. Zoom or in-person options are available.

Wishing you a smooth finals period and a restorative break.

Vermont State Colleges System logo.

The VSC IT Learning Technologies Team

Classroom Upgrades

Classroom upgrades on the VTSU Randolph campus are scheduled for the week of January 5th and include Green 124, 128, 224, and 228. To learn more about the Learning Technologies staff and services, including planned upgrades, and for access to classroom guides, on-demand resources, assistance from Senior Instructional Technology Specialist Sean Dailey, and more, a Learning Technologies SharePoint Site is now available. 

Seeking Faculty Assistance 

The Learning Technologies team is responsible for assessing the impact of newly available Canvas tools before they are deployed. While conceptually great, the new Discussions Checkpoints feature, for example, impacted the Gradebook in unexpected ways when first released. Given our shared dependence on Canvas, the team is looking for faculty assistance in testing a few of the most promising new tools: Enhanced Rubrics, the Modernized Gradebook, and Discussion Checkpoints. Please contact Sarah Chambers, Director of Learning Technologies, if you are interested in testing these tools in the VSC Canvas test environment and are willing to provide feedback regarding their potential impact, usefulness, and deployment. 

 Preparing Courses for Spring 

As we turn our attention to spring and work to prepare new course offerings, the Learning Technologies team reminds us that previous Canvas course content can be easily moved into new Canvas course shells using the Import Course Content feature (click to access instructions and tutorial video).  Faculty that elect to use the “Adjust events and due dates” feature when completing this process will need to convert respective start and end dates. For example, course content being copied from a fall 2025 course into a spring 2026 course will need to have “Beginning dates” shifted from Monday, August 25th to Tuesday, January 20th and “Ending dates” shifted from Friday, December 19th to Friday, May 15th.  

Course Sharing 

VSC faculty have long enjoyed the ability to share their Canvas courses with colleagues. One way to do this is to add Canvas courses to the Canvas Commons (click to access instructions and tutorial video). Once added, VSC faculty can provide their colleagues with the ability to import them into their own Canvas course shells. Faculty can also request “Sandbox” versions of their courses be made available to their colleagues; instead of providing access to existing courses with confidential student data, Canvas Sandbox courses safely provide access to course content while avoiding any potential issues with FERPA (click to access more information). If desired, the VSC Learning Technologies team can provide faculty with the Course Manager role in Sandbox courses, thus allowing faculty the ability to share access to the Sandbox course with anyone they choose. Please submit a ServiceDesk ticket to get started. 

For more information about VSC IT, we encourage you to review the VSC IT Support Site for the latest updates and announcements. 

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VTSU Online Administration

Adult Learning Theory: Many of our online learners are 25 or older. Principles of andragogy can guide course development and approaches to teaching that more deeply engage adult learners and increase persistence and retention. This fall, VTSU Online and the CTLI are offering 3 more opportunities (once per month) for you to gain ideas about how to incorporate adult learning theory into your online teaching:

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VTSU Registrar’s Office

Fall 2025 Final Grades Due: Final course grades (policies: undergraduate and graduate) for the Fall 2025 semester are due on December 25th, however, you are always welcome to get them in before the due date. The Registrar’s Office and the undergraduate Academic Standing Committee appreciate your timely attention to this date. Now is also a good time to review the relevant Incomplete Grades policy (policies: undergraduate and graduate) for your course(s).