Delving Into Differences:  An Innovative Approach to Incorporating Diversity into Your College Curriculum

 

Overview

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The perennial question in curriculum design is, “What is most worth knowing?” What specific topics should be “covered” within your limited instructional hours for a particular course?  Typically, in general education courses, long established traditional topics are covered. Recently, however, there has been increasing pressure to infuse diversity education across the curriculum.  In an effort to keep up with curricular trends, whether courses are one or four credits, colleges and universities struggle with how to incorporate a complex subject like diversity into their already overburdened curricula.

Indeed, delving into diversity raises a mixture of concerns.  Faculty worry they aren’t experts in the subject matter, which places stress on those responsible for curriculum development. Students feel they’ve “been there, done that” in high school.  In short, delivering diversity delivers difficulties. 

At Bryant University, the fourth curricular goal of our first-year seminar course emphasizes “understanding the importance of respecting diversity.”  We asked, “How do we meet this lofty goal?  How do we get students to come to this understanding?” When polled, instructors and students alike felt this topic would be explored more freely “student to student.”  This session outlines our innovative approach to delving into diversity across the curriculum.

The first-year seminar course functioned as a pilot to begin to infuse diversity into general education courses. In the fall of 2005, a group called the Student Diversity Advocates (SDA) was formed.  SDAs visit classes to conduct diversity exercises. During visits, SDAs moderate activities to talk about topics such as diversity resources on campus, individual diversity, personal values, perceptions of self, and community and cultural values. 

Objectives

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Participants will learn:

• About recent research in diversity education
• How this student group was formed
• How SDA’s are recruited, hired, and trained
• Participants will receive recruiting and hiring materials, training hand-outs, and assessment tools.
• Lesson plans will be shared 
• Institution wide challenges and benefits will be discussed
• Assessment results will be shared.

     

Who Should Attend?

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• 2 and 4-year, public and private institutions
• Faculty interested in including diversity in the curriculum
• Faculty who teach general education courses
• Faculty who teach FYE coureses
• Administrators involved in FYE courses
• Deans of Instruction
• Instructional Coordinators
• Directors of Diversity
  

 

Who is the speaker?

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Laurie L. Hazard holds an Ed.M. in Counseling and an Ed.D. in Curriculum and Teaching from Boston University.  Laurie's experience with academic support began as a graduate student at Boston University and later as a reading and writing specialist in an innovative, team structured learning assistance program at Boston University.  For two years, Laurie served as the Director of Academic Support Services at Becker College, a department which housed advising services for at-risk students, learning assistance programs, and tutoring services.

 

Laurie has been the Director of the Academic Center for Excellence and Writing Center at Bryant University for the last nine years. Laurie has been teaching and designing curricula for first-year experience and study skills courses for the last seventeen years.  She has taught courses in college reading and study skills, liberal arts seminars, psychology, personality psychology, abnormal psychology, and social psychology.  Her area of expertise is the personality traits and attitudes of college students that influence academic achievement and mediate the utilization of newly learned study strategies.  

Laurie is a New England Peer Tutor Association Board member and has hosted their Annual Forum at her institution.  She has presented at national conferences such as the First Year Experience and Students in Transition, the Conference on College Composition and the College Reading and Learning Association.

 

Laurie co-authored a text entitled Foundations for Learning designed for study skills and first-year experience courses. Laurie has done extensive work writing about and assessing the effectiveness of learning assistance programs and FYE courses. She has been a Guest Editorial Board member for the Learning Assistance Review.  Publications by Laurie and her co-author include: Exploring the Evidence, Volume III: Reporting Outcomes of First-Year Seminars, a monograph published by the National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition and "What Does It Mean to be 'College-Ready'?", an article which appears in Connection: The Journal of the New England Board of Higher Education.

 

Laurie, an award winning educator, was recently selected by the National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition as a top ten Outstanding First-Year Student Advocate.  In 2006, she also received the Learning Assistance Association of New England’s Outstanding Research and Publication Award.

 

Registration Information 

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You can purchase a single presentation or a pack of 3, 6 or 12. The more you buy, the more you save.  For a single presentation, add the product to your cart and follow the steps. If purchasing more than two events, add the products to your cart and enter the appropriate coupon code.  
                                   

Package Deals (for our products costing $345):

3 presentations for $750 - enter coupon code 3ondemand  when registering (Save $285)

6 presentations for  $1395 - enter coupon code 6ondemand  when registering (Save $675)

12 presentations for $2140 - enter coupon code 12ondemand  when registering (Save $2000)

If you are interested in ordering multiple presentations that involve our products priced at $200 or $545, please contact Val at val@ieinfo.org or call 303-775-6004 for the multiple discount.  Please note:  a presentation costing $545 counts as two presentations, as these trainings consist of two sessions. 

Or you can register via fax by clicking on this form:  Paper-based registration form 
 

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How does it work?  

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1.  We email you a link and password that will give you access to the On-Demand Training presentations
2.  You distribute the link and password to your entire faculty and staff via email
3.  You will have access to these links for one full year  

What are the benefits of On-Demand Trainings? 

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• Accessible: Email the trainings to your entire faculty and staff, so they can take advantage of training opportunities anytime, anywhere. They can watch in the comfort of their office, their home or while traveling.
• Cost-Effective:  No travel required.  An innovative way to provide your entire faculty and staff with a variety of professional development opportunities for one low price!  The more you train, the more you save.  The registration fee is per institution, not per person.
• Easy:  It's as easy as point, click, participate.  If you run into any problems, we're always here to help.
• Practical:  Our training sessions focus on the most critical and relevant issues facing educators today.  Our primary goal is to provide participants with the information, training and skills necessary to immediately implement positive change at their institutions.
• Top-Notch Speakers:  Our speakers are subject matter experts and recognized in their field. 
• Flexible:  When you purchase an On-Demand Training, it is yours for one full year.  You can use it whenever and as often as you want during the year, offering consistent training to all of your hires.
• Satisfaction Guaranteed:  Our On-Demand Trainings are 100% guaranteed.  Thus, there is no risk.  If you are not completely satisfied, we will refund your money in full.

How will we use these trainings? 

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• Hybrid Professional Development:  Distribute an On-Demand Training to faculty and staff at the beginning of each month and plan a discussion session at the end of the month to determine how you will implement the strategies presented.
• Online Faculty and Staff Learning Communities:  Distribute On-Demand Trainings to faculty and staff so they can watch anytime, anywhere.  Contact Innovative Educators at val@ieinfo.org and we will create an online discussion group specifically for your institution at no extra charge. 
• In-Service Training:  Plan a day and time to show an On-Demand Training in a lecture hall or large conference room and invite faculty and staff to attend a debrief immediately following the presentation.
• Staff Recognition:  Develop a program around the On-Demand Trainings with monthly themes and recognize the staff members that implement the best idea related to the theme.
• Team-Building:  Utilize these On-Demand Trainings to develop cross-functional and cross-discipline teams to foster collegiality.
• New Employee Training:  Include these trainings as part of your new employee training program to ensure consistency.
• Implementation and Follow-Up:  Use the guide and evaluation materials provided by Innovative Educators to plan, implement and track your progress.

If you have any questions, please contact Val at val@ieinfo.org or call 303-775-6004 for more information.