Question

Situation: You have been appointed to serve on a statewide task force on higher education. Your work on the task force requires you to create an orientation course at the college level for incoming first-year students. The purpose of this course is to acquaint students with the skills they need to be successful. Your responsibility focuses on the part of the course that deals with diversity skills.

Directive: Submit an outline of the diversity skills to be taught. Briefly, describe:

- Each skill

- The connection between the skill and student success.

- Ten specific resources that students will use. These may include videos, books, journal articles, and websites. List the skill or skills each resource addresses.

Answer 1

Part 1) Outline of diversity skills to be taught (description of each skill)

• Adaptation skills – In a new environment with students coming in from all races and backgrounds, one needs to possess the skills to be adaptive to such an environment.
• Intercultural empathy – One should know how to be sensitive to the needs and views of students from varied cultures, socioeconomic statuses and ethnicity, as well as how to respect the views of everyone.
• Using diversity to explore mutually beneficial opportunities – One should be able to share learning and work cooperatively with a diverse set of students so the mutual learning goals can be met optimally.
• Open-mindedness – It is required for a student to also be open-minded to the beliefs of others and open to criticisms to his/her own views.
• No biasness or prejudice – While socializing with others, a student should not hold biasness or prejudices towards students belonging to a particular culture, race, religion, etc.
• Positive perception – Understanding various cultures and student needs by holding a positive perception towards each fellow student on the college campus is a critical skill to be possessed.
• Adopting ethical practices – At the campus, one should operate ethically and avoid any kind of discrimination practices against any other student.

Part 2) Connection between skill and student success

Students possessing the above diversity skills are not only successful at their studies or behavior in the college, but are also successful in their social and work life after graduating. With the adaptation skills and intercultural empathy, students become tolerant to their fellows from varied backgrounds. Their cognitive development takes place when they become more tolerant to a variety of beliefs and are open minded to several thoughts and views. This further helps them in optimizing learning and skill enhancement through mutually beneficial efforts made in the classes.

While students gain positive experiences of socializing with fellows from varied backgrounds and interacting with the faculty and other people from different races when they have a positive perception of others, they also perform well at studies when they receive support from all such individuals. By being unbiased towards people in general, students tend to avoid any tension/discrimination on the campus, and they also carry their positive thoughts and beliefs on diversity to their work life at a later stage. Diversity skills or a multicultural outlook can improve the self-esteem and overall personality of a student entering the college.

Part 3) 10 resources students will use

1. One America, indivisible: A book by Sheldon Hackney, the chairman of National Endowment for the Humanities – This book will help in being adaptive to diversity and staying open-minded to it.

2. Immigration and American Diversity: A book by Donna R. Gabaccia – This book can inculcate intercultural empathy among students.

3. The Confident Student: A book by Carol C. Kanar – This book will help students in removing their biasness against students from other backgrounds, as well as in exploring mutually beneficial opportunities by working in teams with them. Students will also learn to develop critical thinking, problem solving and confident communication skills in a diverse setting.

4. American Ethnicity: The Dynamics and Consequences of Discrimination: A short text by Jonathan H. Turner and Adalberto, Jr. Aguirre – This short book will help students in being ethical and avoid discrimination. It is also available as a Web resource.

5. Video on cooperative learning: By study.com – This video and other such videos on this learning platform will help students in understanding the importance of cooperative study to gain benefits from mutually beneficial opportunities.

6. The Routledge Handbook of the Ethics of Discrimination: Edited by Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen – This handbook will make students adopt ethical practices and avoid discrimination at all times.

7. Curriculum matters: Creating a positive climate for diversity from the student perspective: A journal article by Matthew J. Mayhew, Heidi E. Grunwald, and Eric L. Dey – This paper will help students understand the importance of positive perception in their own success and institutional success.

8. Adding Value: Learning Communities and Student Engagement: A journal article by Chun-Mei Zhao and George D. Kuh – This paper will help in benefitting from mutual learning opportunities.

9. Personality Theories: Development, Growth, and Diversity: A book by Bem P. Allen – This book will help in developing overall personality in a diverse environment.

10. Social and Personality Development: An Advanced Textbook: A book edited by Michael E. Lamb and Marc H. Bornstein – This book will help in developing overall personality in a diverse environment and avoid discrimination.