Teaching diversity: an investigation of faculty of undergraduate diversity requirement courses

Faculty of required undergraduate diversity courses are in an important role of the transmission and interpretation of diversity and related concepts of equity, inclusion, difference, and justice. Yet their interpretation of institutionally set learning outcomes and curricular plans for teaching about diversity are understudied and unclear. The purpose of this study is to examine the curricular processes of Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA) faculty of required diversity courses. The guiding questions of this inquiry are: 1) how do faculty of required diversity courses create and enact academic plans for these courses, and 2) why do faculty of required diversity courses make these curricular choices?

This qualitative investigation revealed that faculty conceived of their courses as helping students to apprehend and navigate complexity related to issues of diversity. They worked to support their students’ ability to understand that issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion are complicated and do not have clear answers or definitively correct actions. Faculty in this study shared common strategies including trust building and historical learning to assist students’ openness to explorations of different perspectives and ideas. In discussion of their course plans and instructional strategies, faculty in this study demonstrated differences in the dimensionality of their reflections, with few reflecting on formal pedagogies and learning theories. Implications of this study include a pathway towards theorizing about diversity learning as a developmental process, suggestions for curricular change and sequencing related to diversity requirements, and various methods of support for the faculty who teach these courses.