"Diversity in the College Classroom" Course Goes Online

by Katherine Friedrich

In Spring 2009, CIRTL's "Diversity in the College Classroom" course is entering a new frontier. Course instructors Don Gillian-Daniel and Chris Pfund plan to transfer their teaching model - based on active learning, trust and learning community - into cyberspace.

Delta Program staff have offered this class on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus for several years. Gillian-Daniel is excited about opening the course to other universities in the CIRTL Network. He said he has learned a great deal from interdisciplinary teaching and learning courses at UW-Madison. He anticipates that the diversity of the Network institutions will enrich the course for everyone who participates. Each individual campus, as he put it, "has its own lens."

Can students and instructors in a virtual classroom build the kind of safe space that is needed for candid discussions of diversity? Gillian-Daniel is optimistic. He and his colleague Brian Manske have received an Engage Award from the UW-Madison Division of Information Technology to support their efforts. Their goals are to encourage student participation, learning community, trust and collaboration through group discussions and brainstorming sessions.

Gillian-Daniel and Pfund hope to translate the real-time experience of talking about diversity into an effective online format. "We are hoping to move from large group discussions and breakouts and back in a fluid way," Gillian-Daniel said.

"We want people to explore what diversity means to them in the context of teaching and being an educator," Gillian-Daniel said. In addition to developing their own ideas for addressing diversity, students will learn about the research on inclusive teaching in science, technology, engineering and math which relates to gender and race.

A brief cultural immersion experience is part of the course homework. Students will be asked to spend time in a cultural setting that is new to them and to observe their experiences and reactions.

Part of the challenge of talking about diversity is that people may be uncomfortable with the topic. As students progress through the course, they will gain experience seeking information about diversity and engaging in large group discussions about inclusive teaching. They will also become better prepared to respond to diversity considerations when they teach.

The course is both practical and action-oriented. After the first section of the course, which is built around a series of readings and discussions, students will design their own plans for the future. Gillian-Daniel said students from previous semesters have been excited to "take that 'Wow, where do I begin?' and turn it into an action plan."

For more information about the course, visit the registration page at the CIRTL Cafe.