Diversity, Inclusivity & Civility:Developing & Enhancing

Students' Cultural Competence

Part 2Tom Brownwww.tbrownassociates.comtom@tbrownassociates.com

Reality is perception from our point of view.

Our perceptions are reinforced by what we’ve been taught….

Perceptual set• Imagine you are witnessing a prehistoric

scene in a cave, where a group is gathered around a glowing fire.

• One of the group picks up a piece of charcoal and goes over to the wall and begins drawing.

• Suddenly, shapes of animals and humans are drawn, and a new form of human communication begins.

• Can you see it?• For how many of you was the artist a

woman?

Our perceptions are reinforced by what we’ve been taught….

The U.S. college campus is one of the few places on earth where people from so many diverse backgrounds come together for a common purpose…

Session 1

• Why does diversity matter?• Does diversity support student learning

and development? Why and how?• What is cultural competence?• Can cultural competence be developed?• Addressing Some Diversity Issues• Barriers to Engagement

For institutionsTo keep pace in today's complex and competitive global arena, American higher education must retire old notions of educational exclusivity and embrace new models of inclusive excellence.

For studentsBy incorporating diverse content, perspectives, and approaches into the curriculum, faculty strengthen scholarship and prepare students for engagement with today's complex world.

Diversity matters

It matters for students

By incorporating diverse content, perspectives, and approaches into the curriculum, faculty of all disciplines have found both pedagogical and curricular routes that strengthen scholarship and prepare students for engagement with today's complex world.

“Teaching Diversity and Democracy Across the Disciplines: Who, What & How, Diversity & Democracy, Fall 2009

Why does diversity matter?

Diverse learning experiences benefit students

• Diversity has positive effects on students’ cognitive development, satisfaction with the college experience, and leadership abilities.

• Students who interact with racially and ethnically diverse peers show greater intellectual growth and academic skills.

• Both in-class and out-of-class interactions and involvement with diverse peers foster critical thinking

Benefits and Challenges of Diversity, Eve Fine, 2004

Diversity and Education

• Diversity capitalizes on the unique experiences and common wisdom of all cultures by providing a fertile ground for contrast and comparison.

• Provides a view of other peoples so distinct from, yet similar to, ourselves that our own lives and experiences are given new perspective and meaning.

• Diversity is an enriching and necessary component of the total educational experience.

Southern Oregon University

Cross cultural competence

• Developing an awareness of one's own culture, existence, sensations, thoughts, and environment;

• Accepting and respecting cultural differences; • Resisting judgmental attitudes such as

"different is not as good;" and• Being open to cultural encounters;• Being comfortable with cultural encounters.

“The Purnell Model for Cultural Competence”Journal of Multicultural Counseling and HealthSummer 2005

Tolerance of Uncertainty

EthnoculturalEmpathy

Emotional Regulation

Self-Efficacy

Willingness toEngage

CognitiveFlexibility& Openness

Specific CompetenciesPerspective-takingPredictionInterpersonal SkillsRelationship Building

Leads to thedevelopment

Effectiveness and Success

Resulting in

Theoretical Model of Cross Cultural Competence*

*Ross, Thornson, McDonald, & ArrastiaThe Development of the Cross–Cultural Competence Inventory, 2009

allows

allows

Developing competence is a process

• Cultural competence is not acquired quickly or casually, rather it requires an intentional examination of one’s thoughts and behaviors.

• The first step toward becoming culturally competent is realizing that you probably aren’t.

“Cultural Competence in the Biology Classroom”

Kimberly Tanner & Deborah Allen, 2007

Cross Cultural Competence includes:

Having the capacity to: • value diversity• conduct self-assessment• manage the dynamics of difference• acquire and institutionalize cultural

knowledge• adapt to the diversity and cultural

contexts of individuals and communities served.

“Culture” is often viewed in the U.S. as being primarily related to race, ethnicity, and gender

However, effective diversity/inclusivity programs must also address other kinds of diversity which lead to marginalization and exclusion.

Making “Diversity” More Inclusive

Seven kinds of diversity Beverly D. Tatum, 1999

“Otherness”• Race/ethnicity• Gender• Religion• Sexual Orientation• Socio-economic status• Age• Physical/Mental Ability

“ism”• Racism/ethnocentrism• Sexism• Religious oppression• Heterosexism• Classism• Ageism• Ableism

Attention to diversity might even be perceived as divisive and inhibitingcommunity.

A strategy to counter the divisive perceptions of diversity is to broaden our definition of diversity, in ways that highlight the intersectionality of race/ethnic, gender, class, religion, sexual orientation, within a framework of marginalization and justice.

Marilyn Fernandez, Santa Clara University

Multiple issues

Black and ALSO• A woman (gender)• Atheist (religion)• Questioning (Sexual orientation)• Low Socio-economic background• 45 years old and returning to

college (age)• Dyslexic (ability)

Developing Cross Cultural Competence

Addressing Some Diversity Issues

• Socio-economic status• Religion• Sexual orientation• Race & Ethnicity

People from the same ethnic or racial group are also “diverse” in terms of socio-economic status, education, age, sexual orientation, individual experiences, or disposition.

Diversity in Diversity

White students often struggle with strong feelings of guilt when they become aware of the pervasive racism. Even when they feel their own behavior has been nondiscriminatory.These feelings are uncomfortable and can lead white students to resist learning about race and racism. And who can blame them? If learning about racism means seeing oneself as one of the bad guys….

Beverly Tatum, 1994

Don’t ask students to get out of their comfort zone….

Challenge and support them to

stretch their comfort zone.

It’s not personal

As a white, male, nondisabled, middle class heterosexual, I do know that in some ways these words are about me…

But in equally important ways the words are not about me because they name something larger than me, something I didn’t create or invent but that was passed on to me as a legacy of being born into this society.

Johnson 2006

White Identity Development: A stage model

• Contact stage: denial of racism and/or obliviousness to White privilege

• Disintegration stage: disorientation, guilt, and anxiety as the realities of racism break through

• Reintegration stage: re-embrace the ideology of the normative White group

• Pseudo-independent stage: Acknowledgement of others’ racism without self-analysis with regard to their own socialized racism.

• Immersion/Emersion: Search for accurate information about race and a deeper understanding of their own racist socializations.

• Autonomy: cognitively complex and flexible, avoid life options participation in racial oppression, capacity to relinquish White privilege.

Janet Helms, 1992

Identity Development

AutonomyThe autonomous person is humanistic and involved in activism regarding many forms of oppression (e.g., fighting sexism, ageism, homophobia).

• Most of us will find that we are both dominant and targeted at the same time [but] the targeted identities hold our attention and the dominant identities go unexamined

• We assume the targeted identity to be the primary cause of all oppression, forgetting other distortions around difference, some of which we are ourselves practicing. “Age, Race, Class & Sex: Women Defining Difference

Audre Lord, 1995

Dominant and Targeted

Gay+ White+ Male (gender)+ Christian (religion)+ Professional (Socio-economic

Status+ 35 years old (age)+ No disabilities

Diversity and inclusivity are about understanding…

not necessarily agreeing.

Understanding cultural difference doesn’t make the difference go away.

However, the person who understands how difference causes communication to break down can take the initiative to try and make the communication work.

You Just Don’t UnderstandDr. Deborah Tannen, 2000

Session 2

• Developing cultural competence: Understanding terms

• Exploring culture, cultural assumptions, and the development of bias

• Creating inclusive campuses and culturally competent teaching

• Cognitive & emotional barriers to success: Stereotype Threat

• DiversityInclusivityCivility

• Assessing cultural competence

Defining & Understanding TermsNationality

The status of belonging to a particular nation by origin, birth, or naturalization.

Ethnic Group

A sizable group of people sharing a common and distinctive racial, national, religious, linguistic, or cultural heritage.

Defining & Understanding Terms

Race

A human population distinguished as a more or less distinct group by genetically transmitted physical characteristics.

Racial characteristics are only minor variations among people groups.

Racial characteristics (e.g., skin color, eye shape, hair texture) account for 0.012 percent of human biological variation.

Susan Cameron & Susan Macias WycoffJournal of Counseling & Development, 1998

No scientific basis for race?

• Race was invented in the 18th Century

• Race and racism have always been connected

• “Racial” traits are culturally determined

The Social Construction of RaceDavid Schweingruber, April 2005

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~s2005.soc.134/134lecture33(apr04).pdf

No scientific basis for race?

The belief that a classification based on skin color and other skin-deep properties like body shape or hair style maps onto meaningful, important biological kinds—is a pseudo-biological concept that has been used to justify and rationalize the unequal treatment of groups of people by others.

Social Construction and the Concept of Race

Edouard Machery and Luc Faucher, 2004

Science suggests the differences that set us apart are not racial, they are more likely to be cultural.

The only reason people think differences are major is because we’ve been brought up in a culture that has taught us to see differences this way.

Diversity is not the problem

The “problem” emerges because we live in a world that encourages people to use differences to include or exclude, reward or punish, credit or discredit, elevate, or oppress, value or devalue, leave alone or harass….

Johnson, 2006

Culture is learned. You are not born with culture.

Cultures differ from one another in the ways they view the world—worldviews.

Culture is learned. You are not born with culture.

Cultural Encounter Exercise

Cultural Encounter Exercise

Culture A• Your culture requires you to speak

loudly and to stand very close to people when you are talking.

• It is polite to shake hands with every new person you meet.

• It is a sign of respect to look people in the eyes.

• It is very important to touch people every now and then while talking to them—usually by placing a hand on their shoulders, or touching their arms.

Cultural Encounter Exercise

Culture B• Your culture requires you to speak

softly and be at least three feet away from people when you are talking.

• It is improper for men and women to shake hands with people of the opposite sex.

• It is rude to look people in the eyes while speaking.

• It is improper for strangers to touch each other, and you must try to avoid bodily contact at all costs.

Cultural Encounter Exercise

• Divide students into Culture A and Culture B

• Give them a few minutes to read and practice their group’s culture

• Ask the two cultures to interact for several minutes and observe what happens

• Stop the exercise and ask the groups to describe their thoughts, feelings and beliefs about the other group

• Note the judgments, assumptions, descriptions that emerge

The Iceberg of Culture

Clothes

Food

Music

Values Attitudes about Family

Beliefs about men & women-gender roles

Attitudes about time Political beliefs

Proxemics

Attitudes toward “others”

Religious beliefs

Sexuality Beliefs Attitudes toward authority

Language

Beliefs about Beauty

Art

The Iceberg of Culture

Clothes

Food

Music Language

Art

Is learned or taught

Culture is learned first in the family, then in school, then in the community and other social organizations such as the church.

Purnell, 2005

It is hard to recognize your own culture and cultural assumptions because they are so pervasive and dominant.

Implicit Cultural Assumptions

North American• Egalitarian/equality• Can control the environment• Future oriented• Informal• Direct in communications• Youth valuing• “Friendliness”• Optimism• Action oriented: Change now• Ethnocentric: our way is the

best way

“Contrast” Cultures• Hierarchy• Belief in fate• Present focus• Formal• Indirect (non-verbal cues)• Age valuing• More closed to “strangers”• Fatalism• Change takes time• Ethnocentric: our way is

the only way

The Iceberg of Culture

Clothes

Food

Music

Values

Attitudes about Family

Beliefs about men & women-gender roles

Attitudes about time Political beliefs

Proxemics

Attitudes toward “others”

Religious beliefs

Sexuality Beliefs

Attitudes toward authority

Language

These are learned and can be changed

Beliefs about Beauty

Art

What’s below the surface is absorbed or acquired from our environment and is much harder to change

Our attitudes toward race, gender, & other diversity operate at two levels:

Conscious: what we choose to believe.

Unconscious: immediate, automatic associations that tumble out before we’ve had time to think.

Blink, Malcolm Gladwell

The Dolls….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WG7U1QsUd1g

Our attitudes toward race, gender, & other diversity operate at two levels:

Conscious: what we choose to believe.

Unconscious: immediate, automatic associations that tumble out before we’ve had time to think.

Blink, Malcolm Gladwell

Implicit Association Tests

https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/selectatest.html

Implicit Association Tests

• Race• Disability• Religion• Age• Sexuality• Skin Tone• Arab Muslim• Gender-science• And more…

Creating culturally inclusive classroom environments

A Culturally Inclusive Classroom

Students and staff alike recognize, appreciate and capitalize on diversity so as to enrich the overall learning experience.

Encourages all individuals – regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, religious affiliation, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation or political beliefs – to develop personal contacts and effective intercultural skills.Designing Culturally Inclusive Learning and Teaching

EnvironmentsGIHE Good Practice Resource Book, Griffith University, Australia

A Culturally Inclusive Classroom

Designing Culturally Inclusive Learning and Teaching EnvironmentsGIHE Good Practice Resource Book, Griffith University, Australia

Why are all the white kids sitting together in the

cafeteria?Unless colleges and universities create structures to monitor educational achievement among all students— African American, Latino/a, Native American, Asian American, white—the ideal of inclusive excellence will be meaningless”

Achieving Educational Outcomes for All studentsBauman, Bustillos, Bensimon, Bensimon, Brown,

& Bartee, 2005

Challenge and support students

People who expand or stretch their comfort zones to include more people and experiences, often report more complete, rewarding, and successful lives—during college and beyond.

“From Diversity to Inclusivity, “ T. Brown, 2011

Engaging majority students

Provide majority students with avenues to enhance their cross-cultural competencies and encourage their active participation and engagement with diverse populations.

Salve Regina University

Recommendation for students to enhance cultural

competenceTake classes about cultures and groups other than your own to expand your knowledge and increase your cultural competence.

Recommendation for students to enhance cultural

competenceFor Multicultural students

Invite friends outside your identity group(s) to come with you to events and activities. This will not only allow them to make personal and social connections, it may also enable them consider their own feelings of “being in the minority.”

Recommendation for students to enhance cultural

competenceFor U.S. students• Reach out to international students.

too few international students have opportunities to meet and know US students and people.

• Explore opportunities to become a language partner for students seeking to improve their language skills.

• join the international club and attend events, and invite international students to participate in social and cultural events with which you are involved.

Recommendation for students to enhance cultural

competenceFor all students• Challenge racist, sexist, and homo-

negative comments and jokes that demean others. Racism and other forms of discrimination may persevere in part because people who anticipate feeling upset and who believe that they will take action when faced with an act of intolerance may actually respond with indifference.

It takes the faculty• Most faculty members report

believing campus diversity positively affects students and faculty.

• Most have not made many changes in their classroom practices as a result of student and faculty diversity.

Does Diversity Make a Difference? Maruyama and Moreno, 2000

It takes the faculty

Only one-third of responding faculty report raising issues related to diversity and creating diverse work groups, although they reported feeling well-prepared to teach diverse classes

Maruyama and Moreno, 2000

Culturally competent teachingThe ability to successfully teach students who come from different “cultures” entails:

• mastering personal and interpersonal awareness and sensitivities,

• learning, specific bodies of cultural knowledge

• mastering a set of skills that underlie effective cross-cultural teaching

Cultural Competence: A Primer for Educators

Jerry Diller and Jean Moule, 2005

Many non-traditional students want their doubts erased about their being capable of learning….

This is especially true for first generation students, Hispanic and African American students….

Laura Rendon 1994, 2001

Stereotype Threat

Multicultural students have reported being affected directly by racist assumptions in class and subsequently felt that faculty were less willing to interact with them, even concerning academic related issues.

Allen,1991; Kraft, 1991

African American men report being stereotyped based on the styles they wear, such as baggy jeans, braided hairstyles, or gold jewelry.

MDRC, 2010

Identity and Stereotype Threat

•Our social identities come from a variety of places:

•Our race, sex, age, political affiliations, medical diagnoses, high schools, colleges, even our favorite teams.

•Each of those identities comes along with a set of expectations, labels, or stereotypes.

Stereotypes

•Asian students in math and science?•U.S. white male vs. black male athletes in a 100 meter race.•Second language speakers and writing proficiency•Women in science and math?•Whites vs. Asians in STEM?And then there's a curious fact:

Take away the threat to identity, and they do fine

Identity and Stereotype Threat

Women, Black, Latino students’ academic performance declinesin situations identified as testing their intellectual ability.

Whistling Vivaldi, Claude Steele, 2011

The pressure of a stereotype can distract students’ focus in learning situations

In addition to learning new skills, knowledge, and ways of thinking, students are also TRYING TO SLAY A GHOST IN THE ROOM--- negative stereotypes about them and their group

Adapted from Steele, 2010

Stereotype threat affects the ability to function effectively…

Affects the ability to use our mind in an effective manner by:•Increasing performance-worsening rumination;•Impairing working memory;•Activating “worry circuits” in the brain versus “reasoning circuits.”

These reactions interfere with performance

Stereotype Threat

When students are reminded, however subtly, of negative stereotypes about their group (e.g., women or students of color in math), they perform more poorly.

Steele & Aronson, 1995; Rydell, McConnell & Beilock, 2009

Stereotype threat

“Internalized oppression”

A member of the stereotyped group comes to believe in the truth of the stereotype to some degree.

Tatum, 1994

Low Ability Attributions

Self attributions of low ability, as well as low ability attributions of faculty, staff can adversely affect the extent to which students become fully engaged in learning, as well as the extent to which faculty and staff become fully engaged in supporting students to succeed at a task.

Brown & Rivas, 2011

“I can’t do Calculus….”

Shift attributions from ability to background.

Students’ attributions and those of faculty and staff.

What background is required for success in Calculus?

•Pre-Calculus•Algebra/Trig•Algebra•Basic Math

Even though students may be highly prepared, the anxiety they experience from worrying whether their peers and teachers believe stereotypes to be true is distressful enough to lower performance.

Roach, 2001

Reducing stereotype threatSteele, 2010

The negative effects of Stereotype Threat can be lessened when:

Educators challenge themselves to understand the impact of Stereotype Threat, and model non-stereotypical behavior toward students.

Examining & Challenging Stereotypes

Once we have formed unconscious judgments, or “stereotypes,” they usually won’t change unless we take the time to examine and consciously consider their accuracy.

This is what it truly means to be a student and a scholar.

“From Diversity to Inclusivity”

Tom Brown, 2011

Diversity to inclusivity

An inclusive organization where all people are empowered to do their best work.

Simma Lieberman

DiversityInclusivityCivility

Civility matters because treating one another with respect is necessary to effective communication, community building, and finding common ground.

The Dance of Incivility in NursingDr. Cindy Clark, Boise State

University

Creating a culture of civilityrequires communication, interaction, and an appreciation for the interests each person brings to the relationship.

Cynthia Clark, 2008

Diversity + Inclusivity + Civility =Community

We Value:• Excellence in teaching and learning that we

enhance through diversity, inclusiveness, integrity and collegiality.

• A positive culture that fosters mutual respect and trust [and] promotes this atmosphere through open communication.

• An environment that recognizes and respects cultural diversity by recognizing and being responsive to individual needs.

Elizabethtown Community & Technical College

What produces a safe classroom?

A safe classroom climate1. A safe classroom is one where discussion

and disagreement are acceptable; where established rules of discourse are followed by everyone, especially the instructor.

2. Students may need to be reminded of ground rules from time to time

3. Once students have reached consensus on a particular point, acknowledge this and agree to move on, so they don't recycle arguments over old ground.

University of North Carolina Center for Faculty Excellence

A safe classroom climate

4. It may be necessary to call “time outs” to allow emotions to cool. Ask students to summarize the discussion and write down their own thoughts, so these can be shared to restart the discussion.

5. Reserve time to wrap up the discussion, wherein students report what they learned and examine conclusions drawn from the exchange.

University of North Carolina Center for Faculty Excellence

Our Argument Culture• Too many students (and perhaps too many

faculty) understand the goal of debate in the classroom (and in a democracy) to be to convince other students (and fellow citizens) of their views.

• Critical thinking should be a tool not merely for exposing flaws in others' arguments, but for reflecting on one's own assumptions and--most importantly--strengthening one's own understanding.

“Teaching Diversity and Democracy Across the Disciplines: Who, What, & How” Dr. Jack Meacham, 2009

Without civility, we miss opportunities to really listen and understand others’ points of view.

Clark, 2008

A key element in learning from those who are different from you is to listen to their feelings, especially their feelings of being “the other” in some area of their lives.

Communication for community:

To Listen More

As soon as we think we are right about something, we narrow our focus, attending only to the details that support our belief, or we cease listening altogether….

The Human ElementWill Schultz, 2010

Communication for community:

To Listen More

Your opinion is only your point of view.

It is not necessarily true.

The Four Agreements

Don Miguel Ruiz

There’s a chance you’re both right.

Perception is reality

Do you see an old woman or young woman?

In an undergraduate context, it is widely accepted that the foundation of a civil or uncivil classroom is established within the first four days of class

Amy Hirschy & John Braxton, 2004

Civility in the College ClassroomJennifer Schroeder & Harvetta Robinson, 2008

• Be proactive: Include expectations for behavior, along with academic expectations in syllabi

• Be a model: Behavior serves as a powerful representation in how faculty treat students

• Ask why: seek to have students explain their behavior and put it into context

• Have a plan: to respond to the unexpected• Follow through on your plans for action• Document incidents and your response(s)

thereto

Civility Contract-Indiana University

The classroom setting must be characterized by appropriate, respectful behavior.

• No instructor or other students in a class should be subject to any student’s disruptive or rude behavior.

• The instructor will take appropriate action to maintain a positive learning environment.

• Sanctions may include: removal from class, failure of an assignment or the course, and/or referral to the campus judicial system.

• Likewise, no student should feel disregarded or intimidated by his/her instructor.

Civility Contract-Indiana University(http://www.esf.edu/facgov/ExecChDocs/civpldge.pdf)

The classroom setting must be characterized by appropriate, respectful behavior. No instructor or other students in a class should be subject to any student’s disruptive or rude behavior. The instructor will take appropriate action to maintain a positive learning environment. Sanctions may includeremoval from class, failure of an assignment or the course, and/or referral to the campus judicial system. Likewise, no student should feel disregarded or intimidated by his/her instructor.

As a member of the academic community, I understand my responsibility for ensuring a productive and conducive learning environment. I will respect the guidelines listed above and I understand the consequences of disregarding them

Signature Printed Name Date

As a member of a campus community, you have the responsibility to contributeto creating an environment wherein all people feel safe to be themselves.

Whenever you are about to make a comment or take an action, imagine what would happen if you asked yourself a simple question: Is what I am about to say or do going to bring me closer to this person or is it going to drive us further apart?

Assessing cultural competence

Gaining the intellectual tools for diversity competence should become a strategic learning outcome that is woven through the core curriculum.

Diversity & Cultural CompetenceA Model for Inclusive ExcellenceMarilyn Fernandez, Santa Clara University

Developing and enhancing cultural competence must be the primary outcome of diversity/inclusivity programs.

Cultural competence is the ability to understand, communicate and effectively interact with people across cultures.

Diversity/Inclusivity Outcomes

Assessing Cross Cultural Competence

The Cross Cultural Competence Inventory

Karol G. Ross, Carol A. Thornson, Daniel P. McDonald Meagan C. Arrastia

https://www.deomi.org/contribute/EOEEOResources/documents/Development_of_the_CCCI-Ross.pdf

Assessing Students' Diversity, Global, and Civic Learning Gains

Diversity & DemocracyAAC&U Summer 2013

http://www.aacu.org/diversitydemocracy/index.cfm

Cultural competence skill areas.

• Valuing Diversity. Accepting and respecting differences—different cultural backgrounds and customs, different ways of communicating, and different traditions and values.

• Being Culturally Self-Aware. Having sense of who they are and where they fit in their family, campus, community, and society.

• Dynamics of Difference. Knowing what can go wrong in cross-cultural communication and how to respond to these situations.

Cultural Competence: A Primer for Educators

Jerry Diller and Jean Moule, 2005

Essential Liberal Learning Outcomes

1. Intellectual and Practical Skills2. Personal and Social Responsibility3. Integrative and Applied Learning

American Association of Colleges & Universities

http://www.aacu.org/value/

Essential Liberal Learning Outcomes

Selected examples 1. Intellectual and Practical Skills:

inquiry and analysis; critical thinking; teamwork; problem solving

What evidence would be considered?How would this be measured?

Essential Liberal Learning Outcomes

Selected examples 2. Personal and Social

Responsibility: civic knowledge and engagement - local and global; intercultural knowledge and competence; ethical reasoning.

What evidence would be considered?How would this be measured?

Essential Liberal Learning Outcomes

Selected examples

3. Integrative and Applied Learning: integrative and applied learning

What evidence would be considered?How would this be measured?

Assessment in Diversity at Texas A & M University

Students will “demonstrate social, cultural, and global competence, including the ability to:

• live and work effectively in a diverse and global society;

• articulate the value of a diverse and global perspective;

• recognize diverse economic, political, cultural and religious opinions and practices.”

Texas A&M University, 2002

Texas A&M launched the Intercultural Competence Project (ICP) in summer

2012. • Extended e-mail invitations to faculty asking for

student work dealing with international, global, or diversity issues, omitting personal information;

• Coded the papers for analysis, including student demographic information (gender, race, class status)

• Using a modified version of the rubric that excluded the verbal and nonverbal communication skills criterion, faculty from four different colleges scored the submitted papers.

Texas A&M Intercultural Competence Project

• OIA staff compared mean scores based on gender, ethnicity, and class

• OIA created department-level reports for each participating unit, comparing each department’s scores to the overall average.

• reports sparked conversation about opportunities to enhance pedagogy and the curriculum.

Self Assessment

Self-assessment as an ongoing process, not a one-time occurrence, that offers the opportunity to assess individual and collective progress over time.

National Center for Cultural CompetenceGeorgetown Universityhttp://nccc.georgetown.edu/resources/assessments.html

Established Assessment Issues

• Is the assessment based on self-reports of learning or direct, authentic evidence of learning?

• Is the assessment both practical and meaningful?

• Do the assessment procedures support multiple levels of analysis, and what is distinctive at each level?

• Is the assessment theoretically grounded and generalizable to other contexts?

Assessing Diversity, Global, and Civic Learning: A Means to Change in Higher Education

Robert G. Bringle, Patti H. Clayton, and William M. Plater

Emerging Assessment Issues

• Whose voices and perspectives are included in the assessment process?

• Does the assessment approach align with the nature of the learning process?

• Does the assessment process integrate all relevant learning contexts?

Bringle, Clayton, & Plater, 2013

Key to successful assessment• Connect assessment to overall institutional

assessment efforts• Present assessment as a way to support

efforts to improve institutional effectiveness• Develop an assessment program that is

comprehensive• Design assessments that use multiple

methods• Use assessment results in ways that

ultimately improve curricular and co-curricular programs.

Comments

Questions

Effective activities