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Inclusive Excellence in OIT
Earn the DEI Pathway Certification on LinkedIn Learning
NOTE: You might need to already be logged into LinkedIn Learning to access this link.
This learning pathway helps to understand the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to create an inclusive workplace through a collection of short, easy-to-digest videos and quizzes. The pathway helps you recognize bias at work and have productive conversations about diversity and inclusion. The pathway takes approximately 6 hours to complete. Topics included in the pathway are:
- Difficult Conversations: Talking about Race at Work
- Driving Change and Anti-Racism
- Unconscious Bias
- Inclusive Mindset
- Inclusive Mindset for Committed Allies
- Communicating about Culturally Sensitive Issues
- Skills for Inclusive Conversations
- Advocating for Change in Your Organization
- Confronting Bias: Thriving Across our Differences
- Bystander Training: From Bystander to Upstander
LinkedIn Learning is available through the myAU portal. If you have not previously used LinkedIn Learning here at AU, you will be prompted to connect your AU account with your LinkedIn account the first time that access LinkedIn Learning.
Words Matter
Some commonly used technology terms have racist connotations and inclusive terms should be used instead. Examples include:
Use This Term | Not This Term |
Deny List/Allow List | Blacklist/Whitelist |
Primary/Subordinate Process | Master/Slave Process |
People Hours | Man Hours |
Web Product or Platform Manager | Webmaster |
Placeholder Value | Dummy Value |
Legacy | Grandfather |
Built-in or Included Feature | Native Feature |
Screen Reader | Visually Impaired User |
Deaf or Hard of Hearing User | Hearing Impaired User |
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Also, many terms have origins in violence. To help make the world a safer place, non-violent terms should be used. Examples include:
Use This Term | Not This Term |
Key Points | Bullet Points |
Start or Initiate | Pull the Trigger |
Halt or Stop a Process | Kill a Process |
Unresponsive Process | Process Hang |
Changing Goal or Expectation | Moving Target |
Impressed | Blown Away |
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Inclusive Coaching for Customers
Information Technology is a customer focused practice and sometimes customers might use non-inclusive or offensive terms. If you need to provide coaching to a customer on how to use more inclusive terms, the following language is recommended:
“As a university committed to inclusive excellence, we are working to use inclusive language in all aspects of our IT support. We no longer use the term < non-inclusive term > because of its association with racial exclusion or violence. Instead, we use the term < inclusive term >.â€