1. Context, Culture, and Change - WAESO Faculty Workshop
March 2017
Using Context Diversity to Help Students Thrive, Broaden Diversity, and Build Stronger Proposals
This portion of the workshop will introduce participants to a different form of diversity than what is usually considered … Context Diversity. It is based on Multicontext Theory (Ibarra 2001).

2. Context, Culture, and Change - WAESO Faculty Workshop
March 2017
Before digging into the program, we ask the participants to fill out the context diversity worksheet. This assesses where they personally fall in the context diversity spectrum and compares them to the organization where they work.
Instructions: Read each opposing statement, then circle the “M” (for “me”) that best fits how they operate in an academic setting (or wherever they are at work). If they can’t decide between the two sides, circle the one in the middle. Do this quickly without too much thought.

3. Context, Culture, and Change - WAESO Faculty Workshop
March 2017
After all the “Ms” are circled, go back through these statements and answer for the Organization (e.g., your university or department) where you work (organizations have a culture, too). Circle the “O” that matches best … if you have a different color, use that.
Once completed, note that some people align with their organization while others do not. Most commonly, people will note that the organization falls pretty firmly on the left side (LC). Individuals may fall all over the place, but when individuals fall in a different place than the organization (university), conflict or discomfort may occur.

4. Goals – Context Diversity
Introduce you to the Context Diversity Theory and how this may affect you in your teaching, research, and academic careers
Explore aspects of Context Diversity and how it may apply to you.
Practical ways to help students (and you) THRIVE in your program.

5. Context, Culture, and Change - WAESO Faculty Workshop
March 2017
Dimensions of Diversity
Institutional History - traditional
Academic and disciplinary cultures, teaching/
research models
Structural Diversity – Affirmative Action
Numbers of faculty, staff, students, recruitment and retention
policies/procedures, programs, scholarships,
Campus
Climate &
Culture
Multicultural Diversity –racial/eth/gender
Multicultural Student Centers, mentoring programs, leadership training, Academic support initiatives, advocacy programs, identity workshops, ethnic studies
When we look at diversity in organizations, there are typically three “dimensions” that we evaluate (there are likely more, but mostly we focus on the first two dimensions on campuses).
Overarching all of these principles is the Institutional History – traditions of academia (this is how we do things)
Structural Diversity: The number counts that we rely on as a metric. Affirmative action programs address this type of diversity.
Multicultural Diversity: This focuses on programs across campus that help sensitize the community to different cultures.
Context Diversity: This focuses on US and how we do things. NOTE: Structural and Multicultural diversity programs are usually held in special places or offices on campus (e.g., division of equity and inclusion, etc). Context diversity is focused on the culture of how we do things and inclusion by shifting that culture.
Context Diversity
Source: Adopted from Hurtado, et. al., (1999). Enacting diverse learning environments: Improving the campus climate
for racial/ethnic diversity. ASHE/ERIC Higher Education Reports Series 26.

6. Context, Culture, and Change - WAESO Faculty Workshop
March 2017
Characteristics of Context Diversity
Multicontext Theory focuses on the diversity of how your cultural upbringing may influence how you learn things and interact with others while doing so.
We are introducing 7 general categories:
Interaction – one-on-one interaction
Association / Gender and Culture – how you work with others and approach tasks
Time/temporality – how do you handle time?
Space (territoriality) – how do you handle space?
Information – how is information shared and handled?
Learning – what is the purpose of learning?
Academic Systems – what does the system of learning look like in your culture?
We have 7 general attributes of context diversity that we will explore.
Use the Context Diversity Matrix handout to expand on these attributes or categories. The next slides show some of these. NOTE: NEITHER IS RIGHT OR WRONG … JUST THE WAY WE MAY DO THINGS. BOTH ARE IMPORTANT!
I compare high and low context people this way:
A low context person walks into a room and sees objects and describes attributes of the objects (the table is brown and round, etc). A high context person walks into a room and sees objects and relationships between the objects (the chair is near the table so people must be using the table in a certain way).

7. Context, Culture, and Change - WAESO Faculty Workshop
Interaction:
One-on-one communication
March 2017
Contrasting Low Context and High Context behaviors under Interaction (how we interact one-on-one with others). Things that you may note on Interaction:
Low context rely on words and don’t use body language as much, while High Context individuals tend to use body language as part of communication.
Low context communication is direct and blunt (think about comments and edits on papers), while High context communication may be less abrupt.
Further down on the list: Low context people tend to compartmentalize things, so they depersonalize disagreements and “tough it out” rather than “talk it out”. High context people tend to personalize disagreements and need to “talk it out” before moving on.

8. Context, Culture, and Change - WAESO Faculty Workshop
Association:
Working with others
March 2017
Association deals with how we work with others:
Low context people tend to be task oriented while high context people tend to focus on the process (both get to the same place eventually).
Success for low context people means public recognition; high context people seek less direct attention and tend to deflect the attention to the group that allowed for success.
Low context team orientation: I think of this as ‘baton passing’ in research projects, where one expert does their work then passes it on to the next person, with minimal interaction between the experts beyond parameters needed by each. High context group orientation: All members of the group may be fully involved in most aspects of the project, so the ‘baton’ passing doesn’t happen as much.

9. Context, Culture, and Change - WAESO Faculty Workshop
Time (temporality):
How do you handle time?
March 2017
Time:
Low context cultures tend to be highly scheduled and tied to the clock – time is a commodity. High context cultures tend to be less tied to the clock and will work through processes until they are finished, even if that delays them.
Low context people show up to parties on time (or early); high context people follow traditions where being on time means arriving minutes after the posted scheduled time of an event.

10. Context, Culture, and Change - WAESO Faculty Workshop
March 2017
Space (Territoriality):
How do you handle space?
Space:
Low context space has boundaries and more social distance for interactions. High context people have smaller personal space.
Privacy is important for low context people – we don’t ask personal questions. High context people are less concerned with privacy and may ask personal questions if it seems important for how the group will operate.
Personal property: Low context people will “check out” borrowed materials, while high context people may lend things and assume they will eventually get the item back.

11. Context, Culture, and Change - WAESO Faculty Workshop
March 2017
Information:
How is information shared?
Information:
Low context: Information is power so not readily shared; high context: information is only useful if readily shared.
Low context: Information may be compartmentalized and separated from context (e.g., disciplines compartmentalizes information, and often we run experiments that hold some variables “constant” so we can explore interactions); high context: Information cannot be compartmentalized and such disciplinary boundaries make little sense. Embracing the complexity of systems interactions is important.

12. Context, Culture, and Change - WAESO Faculty Workshop
March 2017
Learning:
Why do you learn and how are things taught?
Learning:
* Low context learn best through linear logic. High context people tend to be non-linear in learning (systems thinking).

13. Context, Culture, and Change - WAESO Faculty Workshop
March 2017
Academic Systems:
What does ‘school’ look like?
I don’t like the description here as much as other attributes. Basically, Linear thinking (not just scientific) is valued in low context, while systems thinking is valued in high context.
Individuated teaching and evaluation are low context, while more integrated and group evaluation tends to be high context.

14. Context, Culture, and Change - WAESO Faculty Workshop
March 2017
Characteristics of Context Diversity
7 general categories:
Interaction – one-on-one interaction
Association / Gender and Culture – how you work with others and approach tasks
Time/temporality – how do you handle time?
Space (territoriality) – how do you handle space?
Information – how is information shared and handled?
Learning – what is the purpose of learning?
Academic Systems – what does the system of learning look like in your culture?
Take a few minutes to read through the Context Diversity Matrix handouts on your tables.
Have participants review the matrix.

15. Context, Culture, and Change - WAESO Faculty Workshop
March 2017
Thinking about Context Diversity
Posters contain each attribute of the matrix:
Interaction
Association / Gender and Culture
Time/temporality
Space (territoriality)
Information
Learning
Academic Systems
For each poster, write a brief statement (one sentence) that provides an example of one topic in an academic setting for LC, HC or MC.
Put this on a sticky note.
Gallery walk:
7 Posters placed around the room for each attribute in the matrix. I hang an 11x17 copy of the matrix page next to the poster, and mark LC, MC, and HC to separate the examples that participants develop.
This exercise gets the participants thinking more deeply about the different attributes, and they start discussing the differences between LC and HC approaches. Typically, participants start quickly thinking about how this applies to classroom activities, but I also try to push them to think about how it applies to collegial interaction and T&P.

16. Context, Culture, and Change - WAESO Faculty Workshop
March 2017
Thinking about Context Diversity
Look at the posters and read some of the statements you compiled. Get a feel for how we identified examples of these attributes for the different themes of the matrix.
Do these statements resonate with your experience or do they seem foreign to your experience?
This is a good place to discuss general observations and how participants may apply this knowledge.

17. Context, Culture, and Change - WAESO Faculty Workshop
March 2017
Other Resources
Ibarra, RA, 2001, Beyond Affirmative Action, University of Wisconsin Press.
Chavez and Longerbeam 2016, Teaching Across Cultural Strengths, Stylus Press.
Ibarra’s book, Chapter 3, outlines more details about the LC vs HC attributes. The Chavez and Longerbeam book outlines how these principles can be applied to the classroom.

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