Diverse Learning + Students

Rec­og­niz­ing that the con­cept of ‘diver­si­ty’ encom­pass­es all the ways in which humans may dif­fer from each oth­er, this sec­tion focus­es on resources aimed at sup­port­ing inter­na­tion­al stu­dents and / or stu­dents for whom Eng­lish is an Addi­tion­al Lan­guage (EAL). As humans we have com­plex iden­ti­ties that go beyond one or two ‘labels,’ there­fore many of the resources includ­ed in this sec­tion will also be use­ful to con­sid­er for all learn­ers.

Teach­ing online syn­chro­nous­ly or asyn­chro­nous­ly or just hav­ing com­po­nents of learn­ing hap­pen­ing dig­i­tal­ly can present some new chal­lenges and oppor­tu­ni­ties for teach­ing and learn­ing. This hand­out shares some thoughts and sug­ges­tions for instruc­tors.

  • The Inter­cul­tur­al Class­room in the Dig­i­tal Realm: Sug­ges­tions for Teach­ing [PDF]

Being more aware of cul­ture and cul­tur­al per­spec­tives, norms and expec­ta­tions, teach­ing and learn­ing expe­ri­ences, espe­cial­ly work­ing with stu­dents in group set­tings, can be mis­un­der­stood. Check out this hand­out on how dimen­sions of cul­ture may influ­ence group work with diverse learn­ers.

  • How Dimen­sions of Cul­ture Influ­ence Teach­ing, Learn­ing and Work­ing in Groups [PDF]
  • Tips for Design­ing and Assess­ing Mul­ti­cul­tur­al Work [PDF]
  • For Stu­dents: 5 Tips for Stu­dents Work­ing Togeth­er on Group Projects [PDF]

Engag­ing stu­dents in ways that pro­mote agency in their learn­ing jour­ney is an ever-evolv­ing art. No two stu­dents are the same, and equal­ly, no two class­es have the same dynam­ics and ener­gy.

Inclu­sive engage­ment in the class­room requires both the instruc­tor and the stu­dents to reflect on their cul­tur­al iden­ti­ties and devel­op an appre­ci­a­tion for dif­fer­ent per­spec­tives and world­views.

Hav­ing open con­ver­sa­tions with our stu­dents about the con­nec­tions between lan­guage, cul­ture, and com­mu­ni­ca­tion helps them reflect on their own assump­tions when com­mu­ni­cat­ing with diverse oth­ers. Our cul­tur­al iden­ti­ties are com­plex, and we must encour­age reflec­tion on the dan­gers of mak­ing assump­tions about oth­ers.

Regard­less of the sub­ject mat­ter, explor­ing with stu­dents how cul­ture influ­ences their inter­ac­tions is cru­cial in fos­ter­ing mutu­al­ly respect­ful and inclu­sive learn­ing envi­ron­ments. The fol­low­ing com­mu­ni­ca­tion mod­el can be taught to stu­dents to help them devel­op their inter­cul­tur­al flu­en­cy.

The ODIS Model
4 overlapping circles with a word in each: Observe, Describe, Interpret, Suspend Judgement

Observe: When fac­ing a reac­tion, response, or behav­ior that is not expect­ed, step back and catch any judg­ment that may cloud our abil­i­ty to see oth­er pos­si­bil­i­ties.

Describe: What is hap­pen­ing? Notice the full con­text (i.e., phys­i­cal set­ting, tim­ing, atmos­phere, etc.) of the sit­u­a­tion. Use fac­tu­al and non-debat­able descrip­tions to avoid con­clu­sion or judg­ment.  

Inter­pret: Con­sid­er pos­si­ble expla­na­tions of what is hap­pen­ing. Think beyond our own view and expand our think­ing to include how oth­ers may look at the sit­u­a­tion through dif­fer­ent lens­es.

Sus­pend Judg­ment: While engag­ing in all of the steps above, sus­pend cer­tain­ty of what makes sense. Stay neu­tral and objec­tive at best.

Uni­ver­sal Design for Learn­ing (UDL) is a research-based edu­ca­tion­al frame­work for design­ing cur­ricu­lum, instruc­tion, and assess­ment that antic­i­pates and accom­mo­dates learn­er vari­abil­i­ty rather than react­ing to it. UDL guides instruc­tors to remove bar­ri­ers and increase access by build­ing flex­i­bil­i­ty into cours­es from the out­set — so that all stu­dents, regard­less of abil­i­ty, back­ground, learn­ing style, or expe­ri­ence, have equi­table oppor­tu­ni­ties to learn and suc­ceed (see CAST+1).

The UDL frame­work is built on three broad prin­ci­ples:

  • Mul­ti­ple Means of Engage­ment: how learn­ers are moti­vat­ed and sus­tained in the learn­ing process (IRIS)
  • Mul­ti­ple Means of Rep­re­sen­ta­tion: how infor­ma­tion and con­tent are pre­sent­ed (IRIS)
  • Mul­ti­ple Means of Action & Expres­sion: how learn­ers demon­strate what they know (IRIS)

These prin­ci­ples come from cog­ni­tive sci­ence and learn­ing the­o­ry research, and are trans­lat­ed into the CAST UDL Guide­lines, a prac­ti­cal tool for edu­ca­tors: UDL Guide­lines

Key Considerations for Implementing UDL (see IRIS)

  • Iter­ate with feed­back: con­tin­u­al­ly refine your course based on stu­dent feed­back and learn­ing ana­lyt­ics to strength­en inclu­siv­i­ty
  • Start with learn­er vari­abil­i­ty: antic­i­pate dif­fer­ences in back­ground, expe­ri­ence, inter­est, and learn­ing pref­er­ences when design­ing learn­ing objec­tives and plan­ning activ­i­ties 
  • Build flex­i­bil­i­ty into mate­ri­als: include a vari­ety of options for access­ing con­tent (text, audio, visu­als) and for stu­dents to engage with it at dif­fer­ent lev­els 
  • Offer choice and agency: empow­er stu­dents to select how they engage with tasks and demon­strate under­stand­ing where pos­si­ble 
  • Use clear and con­sis­tent lan­guage: clar­i­ty helps all learn­ers under­stand expec­ta­tions, reduc­ing con­fu­sion and unnec­es­sary bar­ri­ers 
  • Align assess­ments with prin­ci­ples: design assess­ments that allow for vari­abil­i­ty in expres­sion with­out low­er­ing aca­d­e­m­ic expec­ta­tions (IRIS)

Learn More

 Back to Top