Dialogues In Diversity:

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Dialogues In Diversity Forum 5 Conversations
with faculty, chairs, departments, and deans
Materials developed by Connie Schroeder, Ph.D.,
Assistant Director The Center for Instructional
and Professional Development (CIPD) in
consultation with The Task Force on the Status
of Women Implementation Team Curriculum With
significant contributions by Jeffrey Merrick,
Professor - History Mark Harris, Associate Dean,
Professor - Geosciences Karen Brucks, Associate
Professor - Mathematics Prasenjit Guptasarma,
Assistant Professor - Physics Pauli Taylorboyd,
Multicultural Center Kathy Miller-Dillon,
Assistant Director - Center for Womens
Studies Leslie Vansen, Professor Visual Art
Margaret Duncan, Professor Human Kinetics
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Forum Discussions

• Forum 1 Students
• Forum 2 Teacher Experience and Identity
• Forum 3 Teaching Methods
• Forum 4 Course Content
• Forum 5 Field and Discipline

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Dialogues in Diversity Forum Template

• Introduction - provocative facts, myths and
  assumptions through relevant studies and findings
  (national and institutional), and disciplinary
  contexts when available
• Small group Discussions - Exploration of common
  and unique individual experiences
• Orienting Activities
• Large Group - highlights of discussions
• Implications for Students
• Implications for teaching, self as instructor,
  and department/unit/field

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What DiD Is Not

• Models and tips for courses whose content is
  primarily focused on multicultural awareness.
• Strategies for diffusing and managing classroom
  clashes, conflict and derogatory statements in
  class. (References provided).

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Conceptual FrameworkFour Dynamics of Diversity
in Teaching and Learning
Students
Teaching Methods
Course Content
Instructor
Marchesani and Adams (1992)
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The Problem of Alienation

• Alienation, lack of involvement, marginalization,
  overt racism, insensitivity, sexual harassment,
  and discrimination tend to characterize the
  campus experience, the classroom, and the
  curriculum for students who are different. Such
  students feel like outsiders, or a stranger in a
  strange land (Beckham, l988, p. 74).
• Smith, D. The Challenge of Diversity Alienation
  from the academy and its implications for
  faculty.http//www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/diversity
  .html

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Implications for Students

• can result in students feeling
• Isolation
• Hyper-sensitivity
• Exclusion
• From meaningful intellectual experiences and
  academic success.
• (Marchesani and Adams, 1992)

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Inclusive Classrooms

• Inclusive classrooms are classrooms in which
  instructors and students work together to create
  and sustain an environment in which everyone
  feels safe, supported, and encouraged to express
  her or his views and concerns.
• the content is explicitly viewed from the
  multiple perspectives and varied experiences of a
  range of groups. Content is presented in a manner
  that reduces students experiences of
  marginalization and, whenever possible, helps
  students understand that individuals
  experiences, values, and perspectives influence
  how they construct knowledge in any field or
  discipline.
• Saunders, S. Kardia, D.

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Inclusive Classrooms

• Instructorsuse a variety of teaching methods in
  order to facilitate the academic achievement of
  all students. Inclusive classrooms are places in
  which thoughtfulness, mutual respect, and
  academic excellence are valued and promoted.
  Instructors strive to be responsive to students
  on both an individual level and a cultural level.
• Saunders, S. Kardia, D.

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Institutional Role

• Historicallysuccess or failure was attributed to
  characteristics of the students. The result is
  that responsibility for success is defined in
  terms of the individual.
• Extensive literature now exists suggesting that
  the issues facing many students go beyond their
  individual or group backgrounds.
• Smith, D. The Challenge of Diversity
• Alienation from the academy and its implications
  for faculty.http//www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/diver
  sity.html

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Institutional Shift

• The basic conceptual framework must shift from
  one of only assisting or accommodating those who
  are different so that they can survive in an
  alien world, to a broadened focus on the college
  or university and what it does to promote
  successful education.
• Smith, D. The Challenge of Diversity Alienation
  from the academy and its implications for
  faculty.http//www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/diversity
  .html

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Implications of Diversity

• The challenge of diversity is not new to higher
  education, having been faced in one form or
  another by this country since its inception.
• The successful involvement of diverse populations
  in higher education has significant implications
  for education in general and for the nation.
• Smith, D. The Challenge of Diversity Alienation
  from the academy and its implications for
  faculty.http//www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/diversity
  .html

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Patricia Gurin, Expert Testimony for U. of
Michigans Affirmative Action Suit

• Learning Outcome Effects
• Based on three studies of the college experience
  
• CIRP (9,316 students)
• Michigan Student Survey (1,321 students)
• Michigans Intergroup Relations, Conflict, and
  Community Program
• For time periods spanning college attendance for
  four years and sustained effects five years after
  college
• It is the quality of cross-racial
  interaction-more influential than classroom
  diversity
• Gurin, P. Expert Testimony in Gratz et al. v.
  Bollinger et al. Michigan Journal of Race Law
  5 363-425. University of Michigan.
  http//umich.edu/urel/admissions/legal/expert/mod
  el.html

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Types of Diversity

• Structural
• The degree to which students of color are
  represented in the student body of a college.
• Classroom diversity
• Incorporation of knowledge about diverse
  groups into the curriculum that colleges and
  universities present to this more diverse array
  of students.
• Informal interactional diversity
• The opportunity to interact with students
  from diverse backgrounds in the broad, campus
  environment.
• Gurin, P.

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Learning Outcomes
Classroom Diversity
Structural Diversity The degree to which
students of color are represented in the
student body of a college

Democratic Outcomes
Informal Interactional Diversity

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Structural Diversity alone

• For new learning to occur, institutions must make
  use of structural diversity.
• Formal classroom activities and interaction with
  diverse peersmust prompt students to think in
  pluralistic and diverse ways
• Otherwise, many students will retreat from the
  opportunities offered by a diverse campus to find
  settings within their institutions that are
  familiar and that replicate their home
  environments.
• Gurin, P.

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Negative Effects

• Structural Diversity alone can result in
• Lower achievement
• Close-minded rejection of new information
• Increased egocentrism
• Negative relationships characterized by
• Hostility
• Rejection
• Divisiveness
• Scapegoating
• Bullying
• Stereotyping
• Prejudice
• Racism
• Johnson Johnson, l989

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Impact of Diversity

• Classroom and informal diversity are part of an
  interconnected diversity experience that
  structural diversity fosters, and both are
  critical to the impact of college diversity on
  enhanced learning and preparing to participate in
  a democratic society.
• Gurin, P.

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Interaction with Diversity in the Classroom
Learning and Democracy Outcomes

• Evidence
• Students who had the most exposure to diversity
  in classes, as compared with the least classroom
  diversity, were more
• Growth in active thinking processes
• Learning of a broad range of intellectual and
  academic skills
• Engaged with the intellectual and academic skills
• Value placed on these skills in the post-college
  years
• Intellectually engaged and motivated
• Engaged in citizenship in the post-college world
• This was also true of students who had the
  most interaction with diverse peers outside of
  the classroom, as compared with those who had the
  least informal interactional diversity
  experience. (See graph handouts)
• Gurin, P.

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Learning Outcome Variables

• Learning Outcome categories
• Growth in active thinking processes that reflect
  a more complex, less automatic mode of thought
• According to extensive research in social
  psychology, much thought is actually the
  automatic result of previously learned routines
  most people do not employ effortful and conscious
  modes of thought very often.
• Gurin, P. Investing in People Developing
  all of Americas talent on campus and in the
  workplace. Business-Higher Education Forum.

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Effect Complex Thinking

• occurs when people encounter a novel situation
  for which, by definition, they have no script, or
  when the environment demands more than their
  current scripts provide. Racial diversity in a
  college or university student body provides the
  very features that research has determined are
  central to producing the conscious model of
  thought educators demand from their students.
• Gurin, P.
• More open to challenge in their discussions.
• Pascarella, et al.

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Democracy Outcome Variables

• Democracy outcome categories
• Citizenship engagement
• Racial/cultural engagement
• Compatibility of differences
• Gurin, P.

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Effects of Diversity Experiences on Democracy
Outcomes

• Findings
• Positive influence 9 years after college entry
• Depends on quality and quantity of interactions
• Classroom diversity is associated with every form
  of citizenship engagement and racial/cultural
  engagement
• Gurin, P.

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Effects Democratic Participation

• Evidence Benefits to a democratic society
• Encountering a range of racial, ethnic, an
  cultural perspectives on campus enhances
  students preparation for full participation in a
  diverse, democratic society. Such students are
  more likely
• Contribute to community and volunteer efforts
• Become active in politics
• Demonstrate more cultural awareness
• Participate more often in activities that promote
  racial understanding

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• Forum 5
• My Field and Discipline

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Why do we need diversity?Why do we need to
change?

• What new or renewed awareness do I want to
  maintain?
• What strategy or change do I want to incorporate
  into my course and classroom?

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Dialogues in Diversity Forum Template

• Introduction - provocative facts, myths and
  assumptions through relevant studies and findings
  (national and institutional), and disciplinary
  contexts when available
• Small group Discussions - Exploration of common
  and unique individual experiences
• Orienting Activities
• Large Group - highlights of discussions
• Implications for Students
• Implications for teaching, self as instructor,
  and department/unit/field

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Learning Outcomes
Classroom Diversity
Structural Diversity The degree to which
students of color are represented in the
student body of a college

Democratic Outcomes
Informal Interactional Diversity

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Forum 5 Goals

• Recognize how my field and discipline have been
  constructed.
• Consider the impact on my field of a broader pool
  of successful students.
• How do we know how inclusive our students find
  my department/unit? How can we find out?
• What do we need to do in order to offer welcoming
  classroom environments that make use of
  structural diversity?

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Adjust vs. Invite

• Weve progressed to the point where we recognize
  that its not simply a matter of figuring out how
  women, and others who have been excluded, can be
  made to adjust to an alien environment. Were
  daring to dream of making the environment of
  science and engineering inviting to every person
  who has the talent and the desire to participate
  in the scientific enterprise (Goldberg l999
  15). P. 29
• Thom, Mary. (2001). Balancing the Equation
  Where are women and girls in science, engineering
  and technology?The National Council for Research
  on W omen New York.

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The Myth of Neutrality

• Equally important are the valuable perspectives
  and experiences women and girls bring to
  scientific endeavors, which lead them to provide
  different interpretations and ask different
  questions about such issues as how research
  dollars are allocated, whom drug testing
  protocols target, ways to create technology that
  can help communities, and how to balance career
  and family demands. P. 12
• Thom, Mary. (2001). Balancing the Equation
  Where are women and girls in science, engineering
  and technology? The National Council for Research
  on W omen New York.

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What Assumptions Underlie Your Field?

• However much scientists like to see themselves as
  objective practitioners, science and engineering
  departments do not inhabit an objective
  intellectual realm. They are shaped by
  assumptions about the research to be done, by
  underlying motivations and by expectations that
  can in turn alienate, disqualify, or devalue
  people whose background and experience are
  different. p. 69
• Thom, Mary. (2001). Balancing the Equation
  Where are women and girls in science, engineering
  and technology? The National Council for Research
  on W omen New York.

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Whose Ideas Drive Your Field?

• Work in science is driven by assumptions and
  ideas that reflect the values and beliefs of the
  culture within which they arise (Kuhn 1996). p.
  79
• In science, as in other fields of knowledge, the
  nature of truth depends on the position and
  perspective the standpoint-of the
  observersKnowledge, including science, is
  socially constructed and shaped at least in some
  ways by human purposes and values
• (Haraway 1991, Harding 1991, Rosser 1997, Rosser
  2000). p. 79, 80

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• Forum 5 My Field and Discipline
• How has my field been impacted by including
  scholars of color
• and women?
• What is the impact of their absence or their
  numbers not having
• reached a critical mass? For students? For
  you? For your field?
• On which forum area does your department need to
  focus?
• -Content -Identify -Other?
• -Students -Teaching Methods
• Are you happy with the status quo in your
  department?
• What complaints have you received? What would you
  change?
• Are there any structural changes you would make?
• What is the next step? What do you want to do
  next individually? As a department?

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Perhaps the greatest contributions we can make
to student learning is recognizing and affirming
the paths that are different from our own.
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Next Steps?
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Why do we need diversity?Why do we need to
change?

• What new or renewed awareness do I want to
  maintain?
• What strategy or change do I want to incorporate
  into my course and classroom?