Intercultural Competence: Diversity in Higher Education

While mainstream American culture prizes individual accomplishments and promotes an egalitarian treatment of others, individuals from many other cultures find it highly awkward to be singled out in front of a group or call their superior by his/her first name. To increase engagement of culturally diverse students, try these specific classroom strategies, developed by a group of faculty and staff from the University of Washington Bothell and Cascadia College during a workshop in October 2013:

1. Set clear expectations, via your syllabus and modeling desired behaviors, for class participation and the value of sharing cultural perspectives.
2. Vary forms of classroom participation, including: working in dyads and small groups before reporting out to large group; using clickers; utilizing responses from course website/discussion board during in-class discussions; having students write individual contracts that allocate points based on categories of skills they want to develop.
3. Communicate on an individual level, e.g.require students (or give them specific incentives) to sign up for office hours during the first 2-3 weeks; walk around the room to engage with students or student groups on a more individual basis.
4. Arrange seats in a circle with a talking stick.
5. Plan time for reflection before soliciting responses from the class.
6. Raise the status of students with lower language skills.
7. Use show and tell activities to highlight culture, e.g. incorporate “artifacts” in e-portfolios.
8. Be intentional in the design of groups or assignments, e.g. assign specific roles; use playing cards to assign students to groups randomly.
9. Share awareness of personal limitations and worldview.

Personal Reflections

You have a cultural, ethnic, and/or racial identity that shapes your understanding of the world, and your perceptions about others. Take a few minutes to write down your own cultural identity, and your experience of it. Do you have a racial identity? How does it shape your view of yourself? After you have done this, discuss it with someone of a different culture or race.

Circle of Voices (Active listening)

"Ask a thought-provoking question, and allow up to three minutes of individual silent time or group time so that students can organize their thoughts.  Then, give each student up to three minutes to speak with no interruptions.  Each ensuing speaker must summarize the previous speaker's comments before presenting his or her own views.  One or two students can serve as the class 'summarizers' or official notetakers, and their notes can be distributed to the whole class so that all of the students have a written record of the class session." (McGlynn, 2001, p. 88).

From: McGlynn, A.P. (2001). Successful beginnings in college teaching: Engaging your students from the first day. Madison, WI: Atwood Publishing.