Diversity

Not just ONE of these:
..... race, gender, class, age,
....role, culture, language,
......faith, educational philosophy,
...attitude about technology,
...identity!
 

Engagement

TMI/TMO
[Too Much Information;  Too Many Options]
How can anyone be engaged when we're all overloaded?

Technology

Information technology as excuse and means for...? 
Access, Control, Responsibility
- Help or hindrance?
Hybrids always win!

INTRODUCTION

Many colleges and universities are striving to find ways of building students’ academic engagement at the same time that they are trying to serve more diverse student bodies and improve educational uses of information technology. Few institutions have yet begun to integrate these important inter-dependent efforts. Fortunately, some recent educational uses of information technology make it feasible to respond to differences in students’ learning styles and needs within college-level courses with heterogeneous enrollments. However, most efforts do not yet focus on learning differences associated with students’ cultural backgrounds. It is finally becoming possible to develop realistic options for modifying undergraduate courses to respond to findings and goals that have been accumulating for decades about cultural learning differences and workstyles (See below for beginnings of list of resources.)

We are especially interested in finding and sharing resources already available that can be easily adapted and used for these purposes – educational uses of technology that enable teaching/learning strategies responsive to cultural differences – in face-to-face, online, and hybrid courses. We are also attempting to identify and articulate research questions that others could address to advance this goal.

Success in this effort depends on effective collaboration among those with expertise and experience in multiculturalism, educational uses of technology, and professional development, shaping the curriculum, and finding and organizing resources. We welcome the assistance and leadership of faculty members, librarians, and other academic professionals who share our commitment to this integrative purpose.

Important Categories of Diversity for Higher Education

• In what important ways can students differ from each other?

• In what important ways can faculty members differ from each other?

• In what important ways can administrators differ from each other?

• In what important ways can staff members differ from each other?

• In what important ways can anyone differ from each other?

What can we DO about these differences?

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• "WALKING ON EGGS,"  Peter Frederick, College Teaching, Summer 95, Vol. 43 Issue 3, p83, 10p,  

  Mastering the Dreaded Diversity Discussion

• Diversity & Inclusive Teaching, Center for Teaching, Vanderbilt University
  http://www.vanderbilt.edu/cft/resources/
  teaching_resources/interactions/diversity.htm

• “Diversity in the Classroom:   Bridging Difference and Distance Through Computer- Mediated Communication”
  Leslie Harris, Instructional Technology Facilitator, SUNY-Plattsburgh
  http://www.diversityweb.org/diversity
  _innovations/faculty_staff_
  development/teaching_strategies_practices/
  computer_mediated.cfm

• Diversity Web, AAC&U
  http://www.diversityweb.org/

• "Cultures within Cultures:  Canadian Aboriginal Student's Experience with Distance Education" http://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/nursing/exp-impact/index.html

• Multicultural Teaching: Annotated Bibliographies
  CRLT – Center for Research on Learning and Teaching, Univ. of Mich. 2004
  http://www.crlt.umich.edu/multiteaching/multibiblio.html

• The National Campus Diversity Project (NCDP)
  Harvard University Graduate School of Education
  http://gseacademic.harvard.edu/~ncdp/index.htm

• Race and Higher Education:  Rethinking Pedagogy in Diverse College Classrooms
  Edited by Annie Howell and Frank Tuitt, Harvard Grad. Sch. of Educ., 2003
  http://gseweb.harvard.edu/hepg/afterword.html

• Teaching for Diversity
  Laura L. B. Border and Nancy Van Note Chism, Editors, New Directions in Teaching and Learning, 1992, Volume 49
  http://www.crlt.umich.edu/crlttext/bib-teachtext.html

• Teaching, Technology, & Diversity
  School of Educ., Indiana U. Bloomington
  http://www.indiana.edu/~icy/divtips.html

• "Does One Size Fit All? Exploring Asynchronous Learning in a Multicultural Environment"
  Ken Morse, PhD, Waikato Management School, Hamilton, New Zealand, in Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks (JALN) - Vol7:1
  http://www.aln.org/publications/jaln/v7n1/index.asp
  [Summary: Learning tools and a multicultural classroom]

Also see other works of:  Laura Border, Art Chickering, Nancy Chism, Deirdre Cobb-Roberts, Peter Frederick, Richard Light, Caryn McTighe Musil, Laura Rendon, Naomi Story, Richard Tapia, Uri Treisman, Frank Tuitt, Dean Whitla, ….

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1. Who are our students?  Who are our teachers?
   Who cares?  Why bother?
    
2. In what ways does diversity among students and faculty present opportunities for increasing students' academic engagement?  In what ways does diversity impede such engagement?  Why should we care?
    
3. Categories of Diversity
   a.  What categories first come to mind when you think about "diversity" in higher education?
   
   b.  After those categories that first occurred to you, in what other important ways do students, faculty,
   administrators, staff (et al.) differ from each other?
   Are there other categories of difference or variety among people that we should be giving more attention
   in higher education?  Why?
    
4. How can a teacher engage a diverse group of students within a course?
   a.  Students diverse in values and expectations?
   b.  Using technology in a traditional classroom?
   c.  In an online course?
   d.  In a hybrid course?
   e.  In what ways do answers to the above overlap or differ... and why?
    
5. How can technology be used to encourage or engage students to seek understanding or peace or to be mindful of others?  How can we avoid side-effects of technology that work against these purposes?
    
6. How are authentic and meaningful teacher-student connections established and maintained? 
   “Being authentic means that what you see is what you get.  What I believe, what I say, and what I do are consistent.  Of course creating that consistency is a lifelong challenge as we encounter new experiences, new persons and new information.” –  Encouraging Authenticity & Spirituality in Higher Education, Arthur W. Chickering, Jon C. Dalton, Liesa Stamm, 2005, Jossey-Bass, p. 8.  Also see:  http://www.tltgroup.org/ClothingTheEmperor
   /AuthenticityAuthentication.htm
   
            

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• Online Workshop June, 2008 "Diversity among Learners & Teachers: Using Technology to Identify It, Respond to It, and Take Advantage of It"

• League for Innovation in the Community College - Conference on Information Technology 2007 (Nashville November 10-14); 
  Categories of Diversity - Special Session Tuesday, November 13, 2007

• Online Workshop Jan-Feb, 2007  

• Concurrent Session at AAC&U Annual Meeting Jan 18, 2007
  (2nd session of online workshop) 2:45-4:00 pm in New Orleans = 3:45-5pm Eastern

• Special Hybrid Session - F2F at AAC&U + Online 11/17/2006 2pm Eastern     

• FridayLive! Session - Nov. 10, 2006

• Workshop - Dallas County Community Colleges 10-13-2006

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