Diversity in the Classroom: Links on the Web

Produced by Donnell Butler
Sociology Ph.D. Candidate
Princeton University

I have designed this page for graduate student instructors, teaching assistants, and faculty members. This page will provide links to web sites and resources to assist you in addressing diversity in the classroom: encouraging exchanges of diverse ideas, fostering an open atmosphere for provocative intelligent (i.e., critical and thoughtful) discussion, diffusing potential conflicts, and providing the best learning environment for each and everyone one of your students. These links address the wide range of diversity: race, gender, socioeconomic class, religion, sexuality, disabilities, age, region, and nationality. Moreover, some of these links discuss both the philosophical and pragmatic importance of diversity and creating inclusive classrooms. As with all projects of this scope, this is a work in progress. Please feel free to email me by clicking here with any suggestions for additions or to report bad/changed links.

To all the webmasters, professors, teachers, administrators, researchers, graduate and undergraduate students: these links below do not exist without your fine work. Thank you.

Diversity in the Classroom

Diversity Teaching Strategies and Tips - Indiana University *****

Clear and concise set of explicit strategies and tips for inclusive teaching in a diverse setting. This site offers teaching tips related to gender, race, socioeconomic class, religion, sexuality, physical and learning disabilities, age, region, and nationality.

Teaching For Inclusion: Diversity in the College Classroom - UNC *****

With the United States' changing demographics and an ever more inclusive university system, students of diverse cultural, racial, and ethnic backgrounds are making American education both more exciting and more complex. Inclusion of new groups not traditionally found at the university has led to increased interest in promoting multicultural understanding.

Unfortunately, college teachers do not always receive good information on how to address such issues in their classrooms. Many new teachers at UNC must learn how to promote an inclusive classroom by trial and error, rather than by preparing for it before they start to teach. This can lead to unfortunate situations, for both the students and the teachers. This handbook provides college teachers with an easy-to-use source of ideas and teaching techniques to help create an inclusive classroom atmosphere.

Tools for Teaching - Diversity and Complexity in the Classroom - Jossey-Bass *****

The following ideas, based on the teaching practices of faculty across the country and on current sociological and educational research, are intended to help you work effectively with the broad range of students enrolled in your classes. Copyright ©Jossey-Bass. By Barbara Gross Davis, University of California, Berkeley. From Tools for Teaching, copyright by Jossey-Bass.

Tools for Teaching - Diversity and Complexity in the Classroom - Jossey-Bass ***** (mirror site 1)

Diversity in Teaching and Learning - Colorado University FTEP *****

This is a collection of monographs on embracing diversity in teaching and learning published by the Faculty Teaching Excellence Program and mailed to faculty at the University of Colorado. If you have the time, each of these pieces offer strategies, tips, fascinating pedagogical monologues, and other tools that will both assist your teaching and your general thinking on the issue of diversity in the classroom. Article titles: Developing and Teaching an Inclusive Curriculum, Dialogue on Diversity in the Classroom, Diversity and Education: Sexual Orientations, Diversity and Language: ESL Students in the University Classroom; Diversity, Individual Differences, and Students with Disabilities: Optimizing the Learning Environment, Encouraging Participation in the Multicultural Classroom: Using Visual Resources, Enriching Science through Diversity, Fostering Diversity in a Medium-Sized Classroom, Fostering Diversity in the Classroom: Teaching by Discussion, Head Trip: A Teaching and Learning Discussion, The Influence of Attitudes, Feelings and Behavior Toward Diversity on Teaching and Learning, The Nature and Problem of Stereotypes.

Diversity in the Classroom - University of California Irvine - IRC Teaching Resources Guide *****

Series of excellent short articles that serve as a guide to introducing teaching assistants to the issue of diversity in the classroom. Key subject matters include: Communication in a Multicultural Environment, English as a Second Language, Bridging the Gap: Approaching Your Students and Helping them Approach You, Avoiding Discrimination in the Classroom: Issues Concerning Women, Disabled Student Services.

Student Diversity, Teaching Undergraduates, University of California ITA Handbook *****

What may be considered to be typical undergraduate behavior in the United States does not apply to all students. As in all cultures, individual styles exist. It is important to remember that student academic performance can increase when methods of instruction match the learning styles and cognitive styles of individual students (Entwistle & Ramsden, 1983; Messick, 1976; Sperry, 1972).

Managing Hot Moments in the Classroom ****

Lee Warren, Derek Bok Center

The challenges of dealing with hot moments are 1) to manage ourselves so as to make them useful and 2) to find the teaching opportunities to help students learn in and from the moment.

Strategies suggested here rest upon the assumption that it is the teacher's responsibility both to help students learn something from the moment and to care for and protect all the participants, perhaps particularly the student(s) who has generated the hot moment. This does not mean that discomfort can be avoided: sometimes learning about hot topics is difficult and uncomfortable. But no one should be scapegoated. Everyone should be protected so that learning can happen.

Eighteen Ways to Warm Up the Chilly Climate ****

Bernice R. Sandler

Good teachers obviously want to be fair to all of their students. Many of the recommendations listed below are directly aimed at helping faculty members treat male and female students equitably. Some could be described as ideas for helping teachers become better teachers; others are aimed specifically at ensuring that females receive encouragement and opportunities to participate. However, many of the recommendations are useful not only for females but can help warm the climate for everyone and can be adapted for use with other diverse groups.

Tips for Teachers: Encouraging Students in a Racially Diverse Classroom - Harvard's Bok Center****

When teaching in a multicultural context, we suggest that teachers prepare themselves in several ways. (1) Begin to assess one's own conscious and unconscious biases about people of cultures other than one's own. (2) Plan the course with the multicultural context in mind: to think of syllabi, course assignments, and potential classroom dynamics in these terms. (3) Find ways to make the actual classroom open and safe for all students, and to make the material accessible for all students. (4) Learn how to deal with hot moments and hot topics.

This Tip Sheet provides some suggestions for all of these stages of teaching in a multicultural context. Undoubtedly, readers will have their own suggestions; we would appreciate comments and further thoughts.

Tips for Teachers: Sensitivity to Women in the Contemporary Classroom - Harvard's Bok Center****

It seems that we are caught in a dilemma -how not to be sexist, and how not to be overbearing in our anti-sexism. There is certainly no one right way to resolve the matter, but there are strategies suggested by students and teachers that may improve our chances of inspiring the full and equitable participation that we desire in our classes.

Achieving Gender Equity in Science Classrooms ****

A Guide for Faculty. Compiled by Women Science Students and Science Faculty and Staff at NECUSE Colleges* and Based Upon Initial Work by Students at Brown University.

It has been argued by many educators that by using teaching techniques that recognize a variety of learning styles in our classrooms, we would not serve only women but would attract more students, including men, who are not learning under the standard lecture-style, large-class, science education system. Some faculty who have considered the challenge of teaching for a more diverse "audience" have claimed that more inclusive teaching is simply good teaching. We believe this to be largely true, with two caveats. First, some suggestions (such as out-of-classroom strategies) have less to do with good classroom teaching and more to do with creating a welcoming climate. Second, by concentrating on good teaching alone, we often ignore gender-related differences.

Creating Inclusive College Classrooms ****

Shari Saunders and Diana Kardia -- Center for Research on Learning and Teaching

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. In these classrooms, 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 all students' experiences of marginalization and, wherever possible, helps students understand that individuals' experiences, values, and perspectives influence how they construct knowledge in any field or discipline. Instructors in inclusive classrooms use 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. When graduate student instructors (GSIs) are successful in creating inclusive classrooms, this makes great strides towards realizing the University of Michigan's commitment to teaching and to diversity and excellence in practice.

In an inclusive classroom, instructors attempt to be responsive to students on both an individual and a cultural level. Broadly speaking, the inclusiveness of a classroom will depend upon the kinds of interactions that occur between and among you and the students in the classroom. These interactions are influenced by:

• the course content;

• your prior assumptions and awareness of potential multicultural issues in classroom situations;

• your planning of class sessions, including the ways students are grouped for learning;

• your knowledge about the diverse backgrounds of your students; and

• your decisions, comments, and behaviors during the process of teaching.

Each of these five aspects of teaching are addressed in this section. This information will assist you to teach in more inclusive ways. Much of the information in this section was drawn from focus group interviews conducted by CRLT in 1995-96 with female and male students from a variety of racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds and departments or units. In these interviews, students identified multicultural issues related to classroom climate, course content and materials, and teaching methods. They also made recommendations about how classrooms could be made more inclusive. The examples used to illustrate particular issues in the sections that follow were taken from comments made by students during the focus group interviews and from the experiences of CRLT staff.

Perceptions of Faculty Behavior by Students of Color ****

Students' reports of their experiences in the classroom provide clear evidence of the need for faculty instructional development. Students of color, in particular, often report demeaning and discouraging contacts with the faculty. They do not argue, generally, that the problematic behaviors they encounter are deliberately or intentionally discouraging, but that they affect them negatively nonetheless. FAIRteach (1992) has used these themes, and the direct excerpts from students' voices that exemplify them, in presentations and workshops with faculty groups. The result often has been surprise, confirmation of the likelihood of these encounters, and serious problem solving to suggest alternative ways of presenting classroom material, designing courses, interacting with students, setting course guidelines, etc. Discussions about these reports with faculty members have led to four sets of suggestions--things that we faculty members can undertake ourselves to address these concerns.

Author: Mark A. Chesler is Professor of Sociology and 1995/96 Faculty Associate at the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching. A longer version of this piece was published as Chesler, M., and Malani, A. (1993, Spring). Perceptions of faculty behavior by students of color. The Michigan Journal of Political
Science, Issue 16,54-79.

Undergrad Women in Science and Engineering: Providing Academic Support ****

Although male and female students of science and engineering start their college careers with comparable academic credentials (Owen, 1993), women abandon these majors in greater proportions than men (Astin & Astin, 1993). The undergraduate science and engineering classroom has been identified as one of the specific locations where barriers to women students' participation and persistence might exist (e.g. Seymour & Hewitt, 1994).

In this paper, we present factors that have been found to influence the learning experiences of undergraduate women in science and engineering. After summarizing research findings, we suggest actions that individual faculty members can take to improve the academic environment. While these suggestions are made with women students in mind, their implementation can result in a more positive learning climate for all students. We will look at the critical areas of classroom climate, self-confidence, and interaction with faculty and peers.

Conclusion: Faculty members can make a difference in the college experience of undergraduate women in science and engineering. By paying attention to issues of classroom climate, student self-confidence, and student interactions with both faculty and other students, we can positively impact student persistence and future career success.

Authors: Susan Montgomery is Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering. She served as a Faculty Associate in the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching during the 1995/96 academic year. Martha Cohen Barrett is a doctoral candidate in the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education.

Student Learning Styles and Their Implications for Teaching ****

This Occasional Paper will make the case that all faculty members, no matter the discipline, can put an understanding of learning styles to good use in their own teaching. In this regard, we use ourselves as cases in point. Montgomery is responsible for a major introductory lecture course in chemical engineering and has incorporated a variety of active learning strategies to accommodate a diversity of student learning styles. Groat’s interest in learning styles derives from her research on pedagogical practices that inhibit or promote the inclusion of women and minority students in architectural education, particularly in one-to-one teaching settings such as the studio.

Neither of us is an expert’ in learning styles research, and we acknowledge that psychologists do not uniformly endorse many popular conceptualizations of learning styles. Nevertheless, in our interactions with faculty and students and in our knowledge of the literature, we know that the notion of learning styles resonates among faculty and students. Therefore, this topic merits further consideration. Although we approach learning styles from different disciplines and teaching experiences, we have both discovered that an understanding of learning styles is fundamental to our individual approaches to teaching. We believe it can have an impact on the teaching approaches of all faculty.

Authors: Susan M. Montgomery, Linda N. Groat

Women and Men in the Classroom: Inequality and Its Remedies ****

Catherine G. Krupnick

We spent a year reviewing videotapes volunteered by twenty-four instructors at the College: twelve women and twelve men -- a group that included Teaching Fellows and faculty members. Their teaching experience ranged from eight weeks to thirty-six years. We concluded that male students talked much longer in the predominant classroom circumstance: i.e., the situation in which the instructor is male and the majority of the students are male. Of the six classes (one quarter of our sample) in which this was the situation, male students spoke two and a half times longer than their female peers (Wilcoxan, P=0.046). This finding is noteworthy, since the male teacher/predominantly male class situation is common not only at Harvard but also at most other coeducational colleges.

The Effect of Student Diversity on Student Learning at the University of Michigan: Faculty and GSI Perspectives ****

In both 1998 and 1999, The Center for Research on Learning and Teaching (CRLT) ran a Diversity Narratives competition and solicited essays on the topic of "The Effect of Student Diversity on Student Learning at the University of Michigan." Faculty and graduate student instructors (GSIs) in all departments, schools, and colleges were invited to submit entries. A committee of UM faculty and CRLT staff selected the winners, judging entrants on their ability to articulately convey their personal experiences with the complex dynamic of diversity in the University’s learning environment. For the purposes of this competition, diversity was viewed as a concept that encompasses issues such as gender, race/ethnicity, age, socio-economic status, sexual orientation, disability, geographical region (both international and domestic), religion, and other characteristics that the authors would find meaningful. There were twelve winners of the Diversity Narrative Award Competition, six each in 1998 and 1999, and all twelve appear in this monograph.

These twelve narratives reflect a range of experiences that instructors share with CRLT consultants about the opportunities and challenges that accompany diversity in the classroom. Some of the narratives show the power of individuals’ personal experiences to illustrate or raise questions about the concepts in a course. Instructors and students may find it uncomfortable to hear personal stories, but the resulting conversations can enrich the learning process.

As you will see in these narratives, the development of an inclusive curriculum and classroom atmosphere requires conscious effort by instructors. The narratives remind us that, irrespective of whether instructors choose to deal with diversity, it is an issue that always emerges. When instructors actively acknowledge and address diversity, their efforts may not succeed initially. Changes, both big and small, take time; they happen if instructors are willing to persevere and students are encouraged to stay engaged. The reward for such effort is an enriched and potentially transformative educational experience in which instructors and students share the roles of learner and teacher, and the content is understood in deeper and more complex ways.

Enriching Science through Diversity ****

Margaret Asirvatham Director, General Chemistry University of Colorado at Boulder

Diversity abounds in the living world, and in The Diversity of Life, Edward O. Wilson (1992) presents a thrilling account of the evolution of diverse species and how
humans are destroying that diversity. The AIDS virus has affected people all over the world, regardless of race, color, or ethnicity. Scientists from many different countries continue to search for new drugs and strive to find a cure for the disease. The hope for AIDS patients provided by Dr. David Ho, using antiviral ``cocktails'' including protease inhibitors, follows the pioneering work of scientists like Robert Gallo and Luc Montagnier. Science classrooms abound in opportunities to empower teachers and students from diverse backgrounds to explore the problems that affect mankind.

Classroom Management Tools - Arizona State University IRC Faculty Tools ***

Useful classroom techniques regardless of diversity issues. These links contain pages which include ground rules that instructors can utilize in their classrooms related to engaging in discussions involving difficult topics, particularly those involving issues of diversity; guidelines for de-escalating conflict and tension that may emerge in a classroom; suggestions for addressing in-class student behavior which may be disruptive to the teaching process; and suggested guidelines for generating constructive dialogue in the classroom and minimizing destructive discussions. Links include: ground rules for dialogue | conflict de-escalation strategies | addressing disruptive behavior | generating constructive dialogue

Diversity Toolkit - University of Minnesota ***

This collection of resources and recommendations was compiled by The Committee on Diversity of the College of Education and Human Development. Offers strategies, suggestions, links, and resources related to diversity issues in higher education in and out of the classroom.

DiversityWeb--A Resource Hub for Higher Education ***

Developed by the Association of American Colleges and Universities and the University of Maryland, in collaboration with Diversity Connections and DiverseCD. Diversity Works is a family of projects providing resources to colleges and universities that view diversity as a compelling educational priority and institutional commitment, important for every campus, every learner and the wider society. For those with a real passion for issues of diversity in higher education, this is a must have link. For those who simply want quick and easy teaching tips, there are less comprehensive sites.

Diversity in the Classroom - San Diego County ***

From the San Diego County School Districts: Offers information on eliminating cultural stereotypes and promoting realities. Offers facts in response to stereotypes, as well as, teaching tools for teacher. Basis for site is multicultural education research findings indicating that educators will be more successful if they understand five variables that matter in working with a diverse student population: beliefs about students, content and materials, instructional approaches, educational settings, and teacher education.

Race: An Introduction to Teaching at Princeton University ***

Our task as educators of an increasingly multicultural student body is to learn to identify our own assumptions and biases. We need to observe ourselves as we work with students of races and ethnic origins other than our own to see what assumptions we are making about their needs and potential. We need to look for clues to our own biases, to check to see if we are dealing with some students differently from others.

What If Solutions - University of California Irvine - IRC Teaching Resources Guide **

Series of articles under the overarching title of... "What Happens If...?": Suggestions and Policies for Difficult Situations. These scenarios and strategies for response cover issues beyond diversity and inclusiveness.

Preparing College Students for a Diverse Democracy **

Research and analysis from a joint ten college project aimed at understanding how students develop cognitive, social, and democratic skills through campus initiatives and informal interactions with diverse peers during college. One of the primary objectives of this project is to understand the link between diversity and learning on college campuses and to extend the development of promising practices among participating institutions. Check out the slides in the Presentations Section.

Classroom Management Diversity in the Classroom - Northern Illinois University **

Links to resources on Classroom Management related to Learning Students' Names, Understanding Student Diversity, and Students with Disabilities

The Inclusive Classroom Diversity Resource Links from the University of Oregon **

Links to an assortment of teaching tips, strategies, and pedagogical debates related to the issue of creating an inclusive classroom. A number of the links are similar to what is already on this site, but this resource worth a scan.

Faculty and Staff Involvement, Recommended Resources -- DiversityWeb **

Links to webpages and resources offering information on even more teaching strategies and classroom climate issues.

For Multicultural Teaching - University of Michigan Center for Research on Learning and Teaching **

Links to annotated bibliographies and other sites with information related to multicultural teaching.

Working with Diverse Groups of Students - Internet Resources for Teaching - University of Washington **

Another site with links to Diversity in the Classroom and Multicultural Teaching websites. Most of the best links are already elsewhere in this list.

Diversity Database, University of Maryland **

The University of Maryland's Diversity Database is a comprehensive index of multicultural and diversity resources.

Promising Practices: Issues of Diversity **

Articles on best practices, research projects, and things other colleges are doing to create more inclusive classrooms and promote learning in a diverse setting.

Teaching Challenges: Sexual Orientation in the College Classroom *

It is also important for students to encounter issues of diversity in the courses that are required of them for their majors. While many colleges have diversity requirements, it is essential that what students learn in these courses is reinforced and given texture and relevance in their other courses. Whatever their chosen careers, students will encounter issues of diversity. We do them a disservice if we don't prepare them for the realities of the workplaces they will be entering after college.

Diversity in the Classroom - Tulane University*

Helpful points to help you remain sensitive to your own interactions with students, and aware of your role in monitoring the behavior of students in your class toward each other. Includes, an additional reminder regarding sexual harassment.

Diversity in Business at Fisher College *

Teaching tips and strategies that are useful for all academic disciplines collected by Susan Joseph.

Diversity in the Classroom - Teacher Created Forum *

Web site offers links to information on ethnic cultures, religions, and issues of diversity. Geared primarily toward teachers and students interested in becoming more culturally aware.

Building Creativity and Collaboration in Diverse Classrooms *

From Jose Calderon - Pitzer College The use of creative cultural mediums, as demonstrated by these examples, is an effective means of producing meaningful action out of a classroom pedagogy that connects abstract theories to lived experience. In this context, the language of "diversity" and "multiculturalism" is transformed into a positive vehicle of expression and a catalyst for building bridges between students and faculty from varied racial, ethnic, gender, and sexual backgrounds.

Curriculum Transformation Project - University of Washington *

The mission of the project is to assist both individual faculty and academic departments with curriculum change related to gender and cultural pluralism.

This web site includes ideas and resources gleaned through a decade of curriculum transformation work at the University of Washington and partner institutions in the State of Washington, funded by the Ford Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and other sources.

Is Diversity Relevant to What I Teach? *

Faculty forum to discuss how diversity relates to even the subject matters that you would least expect.