valerie whittlesey increasing student learning of diversity in psychology
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Valerie WhittleseyIncreasing Student Learning of
Diversity in PsychologySEPA Meeting
March, 2006
Outline
• Reasons for Teaching about Diversity Issues in Psychology
• Attitudes and Experiences of Psychology Faculty in Teaching about Diversity & Recommendations
• Reviewing Diversity Research in Teaching of Psychology & Recommendations
• Conclusion
Importance of Teaching about Diversity
• Allows students to be fair and equitable in their interactions with other people
• Helps prepare students for employment in an increasingly pluralistic society after college
• Makes psychology more relevant for all students
Importance of Teaching about Diversity
• May encourage students from all backgrounds to enter the psychology profession
• Will increase students’ knowledge of psychology
• Will enrich students’ emotional and personal development
Teaching Diversity: Experiences and Recommendations of APA
Division Two MembersJane Simoni, Kathy Sexton-Radek,
Karen Yescavage, Harriette Richard, Alene Lundquist
Diversity Survey- Purpose
• Descriptive data on respondents, their institutions, and students
• Respondents’ attitudes toward teaching diversity issues
• Respondents’ recommendations for diversity resources
Teaching Diversity Survey
• Survey distributed to Division 2 members in 1995
• Survey sent to 2,108 members
• 703 members responded
• Return rate- 33%
Diversity Survey- Demographics
• 14% Asst. Professor• 23% Assoc. Professor• 37% Full Professor• 5% Emeritus
• 8% Teachers• 6% Adjunct
Instructors• 1% Visiting Professors• 6% Other Positions
Diversity Survey- Demographics
• 33% Liberal arts college
• 20% Community college
• 11% Technical institution
• 11% Research university
• 19% Comprehensive university
• 6% high school
Diversity Survey- Demographics
• 40%- Less than 3,000 students
• 19%- 3,000- 4,999 students
• 12%- 5,000- 6,999 students
• 11%- 7,000- 9,999 students
• 18%- Greater than 10,000 students
Diversity Survey- Demographics
• 37% Suburban institution
• 32% Urban institution
• 29% Rural institution
Diversity Survey- Demographics
• 27% Midwest
• 21% Mid-Atlantic
• 21% South
• 9% West
• 7% New England
Diversity Survey- Demographics
• 80% White students
• 10% African American students
• 6% Hispanic students
• 3% Asian American students
• 1% Native American students
Diversity Studies- Demographics
• 62% Women
• 38% Men
Diversity Study- Multicultural Courses Taught
• 12% Psychology of Gender
• 2% Psychology of Minority Groups
• 2% Racism and Sexism in America
• 3% Women and Society
• 15% taught one of four multicultural courses
Diversity Survey- Importance of Diversity Education in Courses
• 1 (not important)
• 5 (of major importance)
• Mean- 3.94
• SD- .86
• Between 3 (somewhat important) to 4 (important)
Diversity Survey- Time Allotted to Discussion of Diversity
• 14%- One class period
• 40%- A couple of classes
• 20%- A couple of weeks
• 13%- Most of course
Diversity Survey- Issues of Diversity
• 89% Ethnicity and social class
• 77% Ageism• 73% Appreciation of
diversity
• 71% All sexual orientations
• 40% Cultural isms• 12% Gender
perspectives
Diversity Survey- Goals in Teaching Diversity Issues
• 85% Heighten sensitivity and awareness
• 77% Broaden understanding of human condition
• 72% Tolerance
• 44% Enhance psychological mindedness
• 32% Expose personal perspectives
• 13% Political action• 8% Other
Diversity Survey- Pedagogical Methods to Attain Goals
• 69% Lectures & discussions
• 57% Textbook readings
• 49% Field trips and discussions
• 39% Other
• 38% Guest speakers• 37% Selected readings• 35% Student
Presentations• 28% Videotape and
discussions• 25% Research papers
Diversity Survey-Barriers, Aids, and Successful Strategies
• Three open-ended items about barriers, facilitating factors, and successful strategies
• Two raters & content analysis of respones
• Interrater reliability (.90 to .94)
Diversity Survey- Barriers
• 27% Incorporating diversity issues into courses was not relevant
• 23% Time constraints
Diversity Survey- Barriers (con’t)
• 25%- No barriers• Most barriers listed by
less than 10% of respondents
• Student apprehension• Lack of adequate
resources• College univ.
curriculum
• Professor inadequacy• Low department
support• Campus climate• Heightened tension• Community climate
Diversity Survey- Facilitating Factors
• 30% Resource rooms & books
• 17% Workshops• Less than 10%• College curriculum• Videotapes• Campus climate
• Community perception
• Student attitudes• Parental attitudes
Diversity Survey- Successful Strategies
• 18% Discussion• 14% Experiential
activities• 11% Cross-
disciplinary approaches
• Less than 10%• Student presentations• Campus-wide
activities• Media presentations• Community activities• Papers• Journal articles
Teaching Diversity: Experiences and Recommendations of APA Division Two
MembersFollow-Up Study
Loreto Prieto, Val Whittlesey, Diane Herbert, Carlota Ocampo, Allison
Schomburg, and Dominicus So
Diversity Survey- Follow-Up Study
• Survey distributed to Division 2 members in 2000
• Survey sent to approximately 3,000 members
• 648 members responded
• Return rate- 22%
Diversity Study-Follow-Up Study
• Although the return rate was lower than original study, the demographic institutional, campus, and course based characteristics of the 2000 sample match known population parameters of 2002 STP membership survey.
• Also, descriptive data on respondents, their institutions, and students similar to 1995 study.
• Results similar to 1995 study; respondents’ attitudes toward teaching diversity issues and recommendations for diversity resources.
Diversity Survey- Follow-Up Issues of Diversity
• 94% Race/ethnicity• 94% Sexual
orientation• 91% Sex/gender• 86% Ageism• 82% Social class
• 78% Physical disabilities
• 78% Religion• 73% International• 70% Mental/learning
disabilities• 66% Language
differences
Diversity Survey-Follow-UpBarriers
• 57% Time constraints• 36% Lack of
perceived training/resources
• 21% Diversity issues are not relevant to course content
• 18% Student apprehension about dealing with diversity issues
Diversity Survey- Follow-Up Study
• For the follow-up study, faculty respondents were additionally asked four questions:
- their own personal level of acceptance toward diverse persons
(broadly defined)
- the level of importance they attached to incorporating diversity issues
into their courses
- their estimation of the level of importance their students attached to
having diversity issues incorporated into courses
- the level of acceptance they have felt from their students when
diversity issues have been incorporated into courses
Diversity Survey-Follow-Up Study
• Each item was constructed on a 5-point Likert scale with Not accepting/not important and Very accepting/very important as polar anchors.
Diversity Survey- Follow-Up Study
• Faculty acceptance of diverse persons (mean = 4.7; sd = .53).
• Faculty perceptions of the importance of incorporating diversity issues into their coursework (mean = 4.2; sd = .94).
• Faculty perceptions of the importance their students attach to having diversity issues incorporated into their courses (mean = 3.4; sd = .99).
• Faculty perceptions of the acceptance of students to incorporation of diversity issues into course work when instructors included it (mean = 3.9; sd = .82).
Diversity Survey-Recommendations of Both Studies
• Ensuring that more psychology faculty see the relevance of diversity issues in the psychology curriculum.
• Overcoming time constraints and lack of training and knowledge of diversity that faculty feel.
• Need to focus on all facets of diversity.
• Examining directly student attitudes of the importance they attach to incorporation of diversity into course work and their acceptance of this incorporation.
Review of Diversity Research in Teaching of Psychology:
Summary & AgendaCarlota Ocampo, Jane O’Connor,
Loreto Prieto, Val Whittlesey
Diversity Review
• David Johnson’s database obtained from the webpage of the Office for Teaching Resources in Psychology
• www.lemoyne.edu/OTRP/index.html• Used to identify TOP works published from
1974 to 1999• Authors manually consulted TOP 2000
issues
Diversity Review- Diversity Categories
• Aging• Disability• Gender• International• Nontraditional
students
• Race/ethnic• Several diversity
categories• Sexual orientation• Social class• Religion
Diversity Review- Taxonomy of Methodologies
• Activities• Articles• Bibliographies• Comments• Course descriptions• Demonstrations
• Empiricals• Equipment• Reviews• Software• Surveys• Symposias• Interviews
Diversity Review- Raters
• .91 Interrater agreement coefficient in determining which articles were diversity related
• .97 Interrrater agreement coefficient in determining the diversity category that the articles fit into
• .90 Interrater agreement coefficient in determining the methodology for the diversity studies
Diversity Review- # and % of TOP Diversity Studies
Total Studies Published 1974-2000
N = 1,860
Total # of Studies Published 1974-1987
N = 994
Total # of Studies Published 1988-2000
N = 866
Diversity Studies 1974-2000
N = 136
7.31%
Diversity Studies 1974-1987
N = 46
4.63%
Diversity Studies 1988-2000
N = 90
10.39%
Diversity Review- Diversity Categories of Studies
• 35% Gender• 17% International• 13% Aging• 12% Several
categories• 10% Race/ethnicity
• 10% Sexual orientation
• 3% Nontraditional students
• 0% Social class• 0% Disability• 0% Religion
Diversity Review- Methodologies of Diversity
Studies• 30% Articles• 25% Courses• 19% Activities• 10% Empiricals• 5% Comments• 4% Surveys
• 3% Demos• 2% Interviews• 1% Software• 0% Bibliographies• 0% Equipment• 0% Reviews• 0% Symposias
Diversity Review- Frequent Diversity Methodologies
• International articles- N = 12
• Gender courses- N = 11
• Gender empirical studies- N = 10
• Gender classroom activities- N = 9
• Gender articles- N = 8• Several diversity
category articles- N = 7
• Aging classroom activities- N = 7
• Racial/ethnic courses- N = 6
Diversity Review-
• The 70 works in the previous slide represent 50% of all diversity studies published in TOP between 1974 to 2000
• Publications concerning gender issues constitute 38 or 28% of total diversity works
Diversity Review
• 28 diversity empirical works represented 1.5% of all published works in TOP and 21% of diversity studies published in TOP from 1974-2000
• Eight (28.5%) of empirical diversity articles during the earlier period
• 20 (71.4%) of empirical diversity articles during the latter period
Diversity Review- Empirical Diversity Studies
• Gender (17; 61%)• Sexual orientation
(4;14%)• Aging (3;11%)
• General diversity (3;11%)
• International (1;3.5%)
Diversity Review- Empirical Diversity Studies
• One-third of studies exploratory in nature
• Gender based issues offered more information regarding previous findings or theory related to study in question
Diversity Review- Recommendations
• Increase amount and programmatic focus of diversity research
• Increase theory driven empirical research using experimental design
• Continued attention to differential impact of teaching curriculum, materials, and methods on diversity
Diversity Review- Recommendations (con’t)
• Increased use on development of instruments to measure diversity teaching goals
• Increased examination of underexamined groups• Increased knowledge about psychology and its
ability to address diversity issues• Increased understanding of and support of diverse
psychology professoriate
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