Valerie Whittlesey Increasing Student Learning of Diversity in

Valerie Whittlesey Increasing Student Learning of Diversity in Psychology SEPA 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 Members Jane 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% Crossdisciplinary 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 Members Follow-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-Up Barriers • 57% Time constraints • 18% Student apprehension about • 36% Lack of perceived dealing with diversity training/resources issues • 21% Diversity issues are not relevant to course content

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 & Agenda Carlota 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 19742000 N = 1, 860 Diversity Studies 19742000 N = 136 7. 31% Total # of Studies Published 19741987 N = 994 Diversity Studies 19741987 N = 46 4. 63% Total # of Studies Published 19882000 N = 866 Diversity Studies 19882000 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