Strategies to address diversity help faculty teach every student

There’s more to diversity than meets the eye, but some teaching strategies can help faculty create an educational environment that fosters learning for every student, says Catherine Ross, associate director of the Institute for Teaching and Learning.

Her remarks were part of a presentation on “Teaching Every Student” made during a teaching institute earlier this year.

She has given similar presentations to other groups of faculty, library staff, and an undergraduate FYE class.

For many people, the term diversity brings to mind gender, race, ethnicity, age, or sexual orientation, Ross said.

But other factors may come into play in a classroom, including religious or political beliefs, socioeconomic status, family background, preparation for higher education, disability, and learning style.

Information about students that can be perceived with the senses is not always either accurate or complete, she said: “There’s quite a bit that’s invisible to a professor teaching a class that may affect the way students learn.”

For example, if a student is caring for an elderly parent or for young children, or has to work to pay for college, that can have a major impact on his or her class performance. “Sometimes students seem terribly unmotivated,” she said, “but they may be struggling with something other than motivation.”

Ross said faculty have a responsibility to create a learning environment where everyone feels valued: “It’s up to us to set the tone.” A personal statement from the instructor that articulates the goal of an inclusive educational environment and the expectation of respect for different points of view can be helpful.

It also helps to learn and use students’ names, she added.

Don’t make assumptions about what students already know from high school, she said. Ask them if they have questions.

This can be done by having them hand in questions on index cards, which helps those who are shy or those – particularly some international students – whose culture discourages students from questioning a teacher.

Create opportunities for all students to participate, said Ross. Don’t just call on the first student to raise his or her hand, but wait until, say, seven or eight hands are up. Another strategy to encourage more equal participation is to have students talk to a partner first, because this gives them more confidence to share their ideas with a larger group.

She said diversity in the classroom enriches the educational environment for all students. “If we are surrounded by people just like us, we learn less,” she said.

Ross, who has a Ph.D. in Russian and foreign language teaching, and a master’s degree in teaching English as a second language, has lived in countries including Japan, Russia, Ukraine, and Spain. She described those experiences as her “portal to diversity.”