1. Creating Inclusive Gen Ed Courses
Angela Linse, Executive Director & Assoc. Dean
Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence
The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State)
2017 Schreyer Conference October 25, 2017

2. Does this sentiment sound familiar?
“I confess, my usual response to the thought of a diversity workshop is … well, you can guess. Not that I don't value it (I do!), but in my experience these workshops usually seem far afield from what I can use in my course.”
̶ Science faculty member
We have discovered that while we originally developed this for STEM faculty, it works for all faculty—some of whom share this science faculty member’s view!

3. What makes a classroom inclusive?
Each student feels like s/he is respected, belongs, and can make unique contributions to the course.
“Diversity is getting invited to the party, inclusion is being asked to dance” – from lawyer’s perspective:
“Diversity is the mix, inclusion is getting the mix to work well together” –Royal Bank of Canada;
Adapted from Shore et al., 2010

4. Why might inclusion be important in Gen Ed courses?
This is probably the first interaction students have with the content/discipline, which may mean that they are starting from a point of alienation or discomfort
(Classroom community) Students from across the university interacting with group dynamics that may be entirely new for the student
This may be the first time that students have had to interact with other students who are different from themselves (diff backgrounds, assumptions, traditions, etc.) and thus your classroom is ripe for unconscious stereotyping and implicit bias among the students
(Curricular standpoint) You are introducing students to a new discipline and approaches and new ways of conveying information, perhaps ways that are unfamiliar or uncomfortable for your students
If some of these students already feel like “outsiders” any or all of these things could make them feel like they don’t belong even more than they already do—and this is not just about students of color, but all students who may feel apart or different in other ways.
In other words, how inclusive Gen Ed courses are could have a significant impact on students’ persistence and success in the rest of their college career. They may have already face exclusion, which gives you a really important opportunity to welcome these students into our community.

5. In this workshop participants will:
Identify strategies most relevant for their own Gen Ed courses
Recognize that individual faculty can take actions that matter
Explore two of the most elusive challenges to inclusive teaching
In other words, the purpose of the workshop is to provide you with:
Concrete strategies that you can use tomorrow
Begin the conversation about important issues that impact students’ learning in our courses
These are our objectives for you, but what do you hope to get out of this workshop?

6. You may already be using inclusive teaching strategies!
Read the “Strategies” handout.
In the margin, mark each with the following:
 not appropriate
 I already do this
 I sort of do this
 I want to try it
Discuss with a partner one  item.
Some of these items may seem like they apply primarily to undergraduate courses. We’d like you to consider why they might be important for inclusion, even in a graduate or professional school contexts.
For example:
“Ask students’ to connect their own experiences with the subject matter.” [opportunity for you to learn from your students about exclusionary practices and comments]
“Communicate that you know each class member will bring important perspectives to the course.” [this is not about self-esteem, it is about communicating to students that they can trust you]
“Communicate that you expect each class member to be able meet the high expectations of the field.” [again, not self-esteem, but communicating to students that you are not already biased against them]
“Provide explicit information about grading criteria.” [it builds trust and reassures students that you are not evaluating them based on prejudiced expectations]

7. You will not share this list with your partner.
Memberships Activity
Make a list of ≥ 5 groups to which you belong.
Which are visible? Invisible?
Which are innate? Chosen?
Find a partner that you do not know. Without speaking, make a list of 5 possible membership groups for your partner.
Notes for this activity:
You will not see your partner’s list.
Point of the activity – recognize that we evaluate others based on visible characteristics only. This surface-level evaluation depends on stereotypes that we have developed over time. Only by getting to know the invisible qualities of a person can we overcome those biases.
You will not share this list with your partner.
3. Share your own membership list with your partner.

8. We all belong to many different groups.
This graphic is a visual representation of intersectionality, which is a complex concept (and why the graphic seems really busy. The first time I heard the word “Intersectionality” it was in the context of a scholarly discussion. Really, I had to guess what it meant. You won’t have to! The term is becoming more common in a broader array of contexts.
Gardenswartz, Lee and Anita Rowe (2010) Managing Diversity, 3rd Ed. Alexandria, Va. : Society for Human Resource Management.

9. What could explain these results?
Performance on a 25 min. test of items chosen from verbal GRE that were difficult enough to be at the limits of students’ skills
Conditions: Diagnostic = diagnostic of intellectual ability (to heighten ST)
Nondiagnostic = laboratory problem-solving task not diagnostic of intellectual ability
Results: Sig Race X Test description interaction: B in diagnostic < B in nondiagnostic; B in diagnostic < W in diagnostic; B in diagnostic < W in nondiagnostic
Steele, C.M., & Aronson, J. (1995). Stereotype Threat and the Intellectual Test Performance of African Americans.
Attitudes and Social Cognition, 797 – 811.

10. Does the same phenomenon explain these performances?
Women’s Math Ability
White Male Math Ability
Items Solved Correctly ()
In both of these examples, high performing students were given a difficult math test. In the first example, in one case participants were told that the test had shown no gender differences in the past, and in the other case participants were told that the test had shown gender difference.
In the second example, male participants were told that the test was a test of math ability, in other case they were told it was a test of their ability relative to Asian math ability.
In all of these cases, comments were made in one test that invoked a widely-known stereotype.
No Gender Difference
Gender Difference
Math Ability
Math Ability Relative to Asians
Spencer, S. Steele, C, & Quinn, D. (1999) Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 35(4): 4-28.
Aronson, J. et al. (1999) Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 35(1): 29–46.

11. What is Stereotype Threat?
The possibility of confirming a negative stereotype about your group in important evaluative situations.
Purdie-Vaughns, 2015

12. Stereotype Threat: Key Points
We are all susceptible to stereotype threat.
We are most at risk when performing challenging cognitive tasks.
Stereotype threat applies to those with:
high ability / highly developed skills
high self-esteem / confidence
strong motivation to succeed
Primary conditions:
Evaluation of an ability
Importance of the ability to the individual
While we are all susceptible to Stereotype Threat, we are not equally exposed to Stereotype Threat triggers.
The power of Stereotype Threat comes from individuals being aware of negative stereotypes, which depletes cognitive resources and/or draws attention from the task at hand. Stereotype Threat essentially highjacks cognitive resources that other individuals use for performance tasks, resulting in underperformance. Individuals are rarely aware of this happening--many participants report no anxiety even while under Stereotype Threat. Yet researchers have documented the physiological and neurological effects of Stereotype Threat directly through heart rate, blood pressure, heartbeat intervals, and even brain activity with fMRI.
Stereotype Threat is not about confidence and self-esteem, nor about performance of underprivileged students.

13. How can we reduce stereotype threat?
Communicate that:
Students have already met high standards and you believe they will succeed
Achievement is based on learning and learning is a result of hard work and persistence, not simply innate ability
You evaluate students based on standards, not perceptions
Everyone struggles or does poorly sometimes and struggle is not a sign of inability
It is important to emphasize to students that people who get good grades, people who succeed at their jobs, generally do so as a result of hard work, not because they have a given level of intelligence or an inborn ability or talent. Consider whether your references to big names in your field are presented as brilliant or geniuses rather than as people who worked for what they achieved.
Students who are members of groups stereotyped as “less smart” don’t necessarily trust feedback from professors who are not members of that group because it is not clear that the feedback is based on students’ work rather than the stereotype. Experimental evidence shows that neutral feedback is not motivating, nor is beginning with an overall positive statements (because these statements are not trusted). It is more important to communicate that the standards are high because you know that students can succeed.
A good way to communicate that grades are based on standards, not stereotyped perceptions, is to give students a copy of your grading rubric, which is applied equally to all students’ work.
Some students face struggles and incorrectly attribute it to their inherent inability or treat it as confirmation that they don’t belong. This can result in a downward spiral and self-fulfilling prophecy. It is important for students who may interpret struggles this way to know that everyone struggles and that people with similar identities have also struggled, but made it through the struggle and eventually succeeded.
In other discussions of Stereotype Threat, we’ve heard comments that given the huge impact Stereotype Threat can have, these interventions seem almost too easy. This reflects the power of the mind, c.f. “placebo effect.”

14. What are microaggressions?
Micro-aggressions are indignities that harm.
They are:
brief
commonplace
verbal, behavioral, or environmental
intentional or unintentional
They are subtle, stunning, and often automatic exchanges which are perceive as “put downs.”
They result from stereotypes and implicit bias
The difficult thing about them is that the person doing/saying them is likely to be unaware that what they are doing has such an impact on others.
The current presidential race aside, obvious prejudicial comments are no longer acceptable in our society. People who make comments like this are ostracized and may even loose their jobs (Donald Sterling banned from NBA after making racist comments). This leads some to think racism does not exist, but the truth is that it has changed form. It is now much more subtle, and shows up in these microaggressions.
The key to microaggressions is that they are pervasive and occur frequently.
Compare microaggression impact to daily hassle concept.
Psychologists who study stress used to focus on major life events. Over time they realized that minor annoyances, which they called “Daily Hassles” could have as much of a negative impact on people as larger events. For example – you sleep late, can’t find your car keys, get to a meeting late, lose a file…all these seemingly small things add up over time to produce a feeling of stress that can have a powerful effect on you.
And so it is with microaggressions. You are the only Black person in the class and you notice that other students do not sit near you. In your next class there is a group project and the instructor has asked students to choose their own group. You are chosen last and the others in the group ignore you. At dinner later a another students tells you that “you don’t act Black.”
You may not be able to do anything about the news stories, but you do have some control over your own classroom and you can create a safe and welcoming environment that helps all students feel validated.

15. Have you witnessed any of the following?
You speak English so well!
You don’t sound Black.
I don’t think of you as disabled.
You’re too pretty to be a lesbian.
That’s so retarded!
1. Intent: – to compliment the person
Impact: - an assumption that he/she is not really an American
2. Intent? You sound good.
Impact? Blacks don’t sound good.
3. Intent: You seem normal to me
Impact: I ignore the difficulties you face
4. Intent: You are attractive
Impact: lesbians are not attractive
5. Intent: to indicate that another person is weird or strange
Impact: – being “retarded” is weird

16. What do microaggressions feel like?
Write down anything that jumps out at you or serve as “aha” moments.
They are subtle, stunning, and often automatic exchanges which are perceive as “put downs.”
They result from stereotypes and implicit bias
The difficult thing about them is that the person doing/saying them is likely to be unaware that what they are doing has such an impact on others.
The current presidential race aside, obvious prejudicial comments are no longer acceptable in our society. People who make comments like this are ostracized and may even loose their jobs (Donald Sterling banned from NBA after making racist comments). This leads some to think racism does not exist, but the truth is that it has changed form. It is now much more subtle, and shows up in these microaggressions.
The key to microaggressions is that they are occur frequently; are often meant in positive ways but felt in negative ways by the recipient; often the recipient
Compare microaggression impact to daily hassle concept.
Psychologists who study stress used to focus on major life events. Over time they realized that minor annoyances, which they called “Daily Hassles” could have as much of a negative impact on people as larger events. For example – you sleep late, can’t find your car keys, get to a meeting late, lose a file…all these seemingly small things add up over time to produce a feeling of stress that can have a powerful effect on you.
And so it is with microaggressions. You are the only Black person in the class and you notice that other students do not sit near you. In your next class there is a group project and the instructor has asked students to choose their own group. You are chosen last and the others in the group ignore you. At dinner later a another students tells you that “you don’t act Black.”
You may not be able to do anything about the news stories, but you do have some control over your own classroom and you can create a safe and welcoming environment that helps all students feel validated.
If Microaggressions Happened to White People

17. What can faculty do? Do something!
Understand your own racial/cultural identity.
Acknowledge and explore your own biases.
Be open to discussing biases that arise in the classroom.
Remember that our words/actions have unintended impacts.
This is a life-long process.
The worst thing you can do when an issue arises with your students is nothing. This is mentioned as an issue over and over by students.
It is OK to say you’ll address it another day to give you time to think about how to respond.
How does your race impact your own values, biases, prejudices and assumptions about human behavior? This helps you maintain awareness that there are different world views.
Helps you to anticipate how others (i.e. students) who are similar to you might react.
e.g., define your whiteness in a non-racist manner to help alleviate defensiveness.
3. Knowing your own biases raises your own awareness and reduces the chance that you will act on them.
E.g. – The more you can learn about the experiences of people different from yourself, the more likely you are to be aware of the arguments made by people in that group and you will not get caught off-guard or miss comments that could be hurtful.
In higher education, many faculty assume that our politics are similar and make insulting comments about people who have different views. This happened in a previous version of this workshop, where a participant stated that he believed that people of the other party were idiots.
What could you do to ensure that your “automatic” reactions do not arise in response to comments in your courses or at faculty meetings that would inadvertently alienate a student or colleague.
Consider the following questions
Recall the incident in which you first became aware of differences.
What was your reaction?
Were you the focus of attention or were others?
How did that affect how you reacted to the situation?
2) What are the “messages” that you learned about various “minorities” or “majorities” when you were a child?
Did you learn these messages at home? In school?
Have your views changed considerably since then? Why or why not?
3) Recall an experience in which your own difference put you in an uncomfortable position vis-à-vis the people directly around you.
What was that difference?
How did it affect you?
4) How do your memories of differences affect you today? How do they (or might they) affect your teaching?
Establish ground rules for class interactions
Manage yourself – breathe!
Control your perceptions of the event
Help students think about the issue
Speak with students outside of class

18. We can change the way we interact
If it’s OK with you, can I ask you more about ?
I don’t know much about this, but I am wondering if I can ask you about…
I may make a mistake in the way I phrase this…
Learn about other groups – watch movies like “12 years a slave” or “Transamerica” or “The Danish Girl”
Read books about other groups
Get to know people from other groups in a personal way so that stereotypes take a back seat to the reality of the individual.
Smith, Marini (2015) Microaggressions and You. Los Angeles Southwest College.

19. Thank You! Angela Linse alinse@psu.edu Wideline Seraphin
Please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Angela Linse
Wideline Seraphin