Graduate Student Orientation

Graduate Student Orientation

Teaching Diverse Learners

Jian He

Oindrila Roy

Slide #1

Narrator: Welcome to the workshop on teaching diverse learners. In this workshop, we will draw your attention to the nature and scope of diversity in undergraduate classrooms. We will also talk about diversity in terms of learning styles. Additionally, we will suggest some best practices that might help you to create an inclusive learning environment in your classes.

Finally, we will also provide you some information about various campus resources that might be useful in this regard.

Slide #2

Narrator: The workshop is divided into the following subsections. We will begin with highlighting the importance of diversity in undergraduate classrooms. Thereafter, we will talk about the various facets of diversity. We will wrap up this section by suggesting some best practices for promoting an inclusive learning environment.

In the following section, we will draw your attention to different learning styles and suggest some ways in which you can cater to all learners.

Finally, we will talk about the graduate student orientation series on Facing the Uncomfortable Silence and provide you with a list of other campus resources.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to send us an email at the email addresses listed on the last slide.

Slide #3

Narrator: As undergraduate instructors and teaching assistants, it is important for us to appreciate how critical it is to promote diversity in order to guarantee a safe and comfortable learning environment for all our students. Diversity in various forms is key for enhancing student experience. Exposure to people from various walks of life helps students broaden their horizons and be appreciative and tolerant of a wide range of perspectives.

For instance, it is not possible for all our students to travel to foreign countries. But having an international student in class allows them to interact and learn about people from other countries. Similarly, millennial students may not have the same experience as non-traditional students. So having diversity in terms of age also exposes students of various age groups to a wide variety of perspectives.

And, as instructors, it is important for us to create an atmosphere where each and every student will feel comfortable sharing his or her perspective on issues without being hurtful or offensive toward others.

Promoting diversity also prepares students for their future careers. To succeed in the real world, students need to be prepared to be able to communicate effectively with people from diverse backgrounds.

According to Hyman and Jacobs, this is especially important because America's workforce is more diverse than at any time in the nation's history. The percentage of Americans of working age population comprised of members of minority groups is expected to increase from 35% to 55% by 2050.

In addition to professional development, self interactions go a long way in widening social circles.

Finally, promoting diversity in classrooms also enhances self-awareness. When students can compare their own culture and background with that of others in a healthy way, they become more aware of their own selves. That helps improve self-knowledge in the long run.

Slide #4

Narrator: But what does all diversity entail? At the very outset, we would like to clarify that diversity means a lot more than race and ethnicity. According to the University of Michigan, diversity may be broadly classified into visible and invisible diversity. All of us can usually tell the difference between a relatively older and younger student or a male and a female student. From listening to our students speak, we can also sometimes tell if someone has a British accent or an Australian accent. These are all examples of visible diversity.

They are referred to as visible diversity because we can identify such attributes by observation. Many of these attributes are relatively stable and difficult to change over time. However, diversity also includes characteristics that cannot be identified from mere observation. For instance, just by looking at a student, one cannot make assumptions about his or her religious affiliation or political views.

For instance, nationality counts as a form of invisible diversity. By looking at an Asian student, one might think that he or she is from China; whereas in reality, the student may have been born and brought up in Japan. Therefore, as instructors, we should be careful about drawing such problematic conclusions about invisible diversity based on physical attributes. Other forms of invisible diversity include and are not limited to socioeconomic status, working experience, sexual orientation, parental status, and geographic location.

In addition to visible and invisible diversity, it is important to highlight the importance of personal diversity. Personal diversity emphasizes the fact that no two individuals are exactly alike, and that every individual is unique. Recognizing personal diversity is important because it helps us avoid problematic stereotypes.

For instance, it is quite misleading to assume that every Asian student will be proficient in math. All individuals have capabilities so it is grossly inaccurate to assume all Asians will do well in math.

Slide #6

Narrator: In addition to the forms of diversity discussed previously, it is also important to be aware of diversity in learning styles. According to Felder, you need to think about five different aspects of learning as you teach. The first aspect involves information receiving. In this regard, it is possible to differentiate between sensory and intuitive learners.

Sensory learners learn better with audio, visuals, and tactile aids whereas intuitive learners perform better with ideas. Among sensory learners, it is possible to think of visual learners who process information through images and videos better.

Verbal learners, on the other hand, rely mostly on sounds including lectures and audios.

Another aspect of learning involves organization. Some learners are deductive in the sense that they prefer to deduce consequences from [didn't understand] principles that are given.

Inductive learners, on the other hand, come to broad [didn't understand] on the basis of observations that are given. In this regard, it is also possible to distinguish between active and reflective learners.

Activate learners process information better by participating in class activities such as discussions and debates. Reflective learners learn through introspection.

Finally, when it comes to progressing to an understanding, sequential learners take small and incremental steps whereas global learners try to focus more on the bigger picture.

Slide #7

Narrator: In this slide, we provide some guidelines which are not exhaustive but might be useful to reach out to all sorts of learners. The first advice would be to communicate to your students that you are aware of diverse learning styles and that your aim is to make the material accessible to all learners. Make sure your teaching material includes a balanced host of ideas, audios, and visuals.

In order to engage students, do not lecture the entire time. Give them some time to introspect through assignments like reflection questions as well as involve them in discussions and debates to help out active learners.

Try to get feedback from your students. Anonymously, if during the semester, or through final evaluations, try to assess the effectiveness of your teaching approach.

Finally, diversify assessment techniques so you can reach out to deductive as well as indicative learners. The same applies to incremental vs. global learners.

Slide #8

Narrator: Before ending the session, we would like to draw your attention to GSO's series on Facing the Uncomfortable Silence. This series includes a number of diversity-related scenarios such as the one on posttraumatic stress disorder, minority-related issues, coming out, disability, language barrier, and religion. The weblink listed on the slide will direct you to the series resource document page. This will provide you strategies and resources for dealing with such scenarios.

Slide #9

Narrator: On this slide, we have a list of campus resources related to promoting inclusive learning. We have listed their websites and phone numbers for your convince. The same list has been also provided in the handout.

Slide #10

Narrator: Thank you very much for attending our workshop. If you have any additional questions, concerns, suggestions, please feel free to email us. Thank you very much.