Multiculturalism and Student
Learning
Implications for Teaching and
Assessment
Victor M. H. Borden, Ph.D.
Associate Vice President
University Planning, Institutional Research, and Accountability (IU)
Associate Professor of Psychology (IUPUI)
vborden@indiana.edu
Multiculturalism and Student Learning
In Conclusion

Multiculturalism is a multi-layered construct
 Choose some common threads
 Enable individual faculty and staff to experiment and
innovate

Collaborative inquiry is the key to understanding
and constructive change
 assessing together to plan, implement, evaluate, and
improve
To incorporate multiculturalism into your
teaching requires you to hold yourself to the
same learning expectations that you hold your
students
 But first…

Multiculturalism and Student Learning
Who am I?

Social psychological in perspective
 Neo-Lewinian with Argyristic tendencies and a
perverse fascination with situated learning
A lifelong administrator with an added faculty
line
 Areas of specialty

 Multiculturalism: not really
 Diversity: more so
 Organizational transformation through evidencebased practice: I’d like to think so

IR at the core
 Frontperson for the AIR Windbreakers
Multiculturalism and Student Learning
Where am I?


Not Kansas, apparently
Purdue Calumet
 Carnegie 2000 - Master’s Colleges & Universities I
 Carnegie 2005
• Undergraduate Instructional Program:
– Professions plus arts & sciences, some graduate coexistence
• Graduate Instructional Program
– Postbaccalaureate with arts & sciences (business dominant)
• Enrollment Profile
– Very high undergraduate
• Undergraduate Profile
– Medium full-time four-year, inclusive
• Size and Setting
– Medium four-year, primarily nonresidential
• Basic: Master's Colleges and Universities (medium programs)
Multiculturalism and Student Learning
IPEDS Data Feedback Report



















Central Missouri State University (Warrensburg,
MO)
Chicago State University (Chicago, IL)
Eastern Illinois University (Charleston, IL)
Emporia State University (Emporia, KS)
Fort Hays State University (Hays, KS)
Georgia Southwestern State University (Americus,
GA)
Governors State University (University Park, IL)
Indiana University-Northwest (Gary, IN)
Indiana University-Purdue University-Fort
Wayne (Fort Wayne, IN)
Indiana University-South Bend (South Bend, IN)
Indiana University-Southeast (New Albany, IN)
Kean University (Union, NJ)
Kennesaw State University (Kennesaw, GA)
Minnesota State University-Mankato (Mankato, MN)
Minnesota State University-Moorhead (Moorhead,
MN)
Northeastern Illinois University (Chicago, IL)
Northern Michigan University (Marquette, MI)
Northwest Missouri State University (Maryville, MO)
Pittsburg State University (Pittsburg, KS)

















Southeast Missouri State University (Cape
Girardeau, MO)
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
(Edwardsville, IL)
The University of Tennessee-Chattanooga
(Chattanooga, TN)
University of Central Oklahoma (Edmond, OK)
University of Massachusetts-Boston (Boston, MA)
University of Michigan-Dearborn (Dearborn, MI)
University of Minnesota-Duluth (Duluth, MN)
University of Nebraska at Omaha (Omaha, NE)
University of North Carolina at Greensboro
(Greensboro, NC)
University of North Carolina-Wilmington
(Wilmington, NC)
University of Northern Iowa (Cedar Falls, IA)
University of Southern Indiana (Evansville, IN)
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse (La Crosse, WI)
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (Stevens
Point, WI)
Valdosta State University (Valdosta, GA)
William Paterson University of New Jersey (Wayne,
NJ)
Winona State University (Winona, MN)
Multiculturalism and Student Learning
Purdue Cal – Indiana Context
 In
comparison to…
 Purdue North Central
 IPFW
 IU Northwest
 IU South Bend
 IU Southeast
 IU Kokomo
 IU East
Multiculturalism and Student Learning
Student Body Profile 1
14,000
100%
10,000
9,000
12,000
80%
8,000
10,000
7,000
9,303
6,802
60%
6,000
8,000
58%
5,000
6,000
40%
4,000
3,000
4,000
20%
2,000
2,000
1,000
-
Fall Enrollment
0%
FTE Enrollment
% Female
Multiculturalism and Student Learning
Student Body Profile 2
100%
100%
100%
80%
80%
80%
60%
60%
60%
40%
40%
40%
20%
20%
20%
67%
15%
0%
0%
% White
14%
0%
% Black
% Hispanic
Multiculturalism and Student Learning
Student Body Profile 3
100%
100%
100%
80%
80%
80%
60%
60%
40%
40%
60%
40%
20%
20%
20%
0%
0%
1%
% Asian
0%
0%
% Native Amer.
1%
Percent
International
Multiculturalism and Student Learning
6-Year Graduation Rate
100%
100%
100%
80%
80%
80%
60%
60%
60%
40%
40%
40%
20%
20%
20%
23%
21%
8%
0%
0%
Grad Rate Total
0%
Grad Rate - Black
Grad Rate Hispanic
Multiculturalism and Student Learning
Faculty Profile 1
180
100%
100%
80%
80%
60%
60%
160
154
140
120
100
80
40%
38%
40%
60
40
20%
20%
0%
0%
21%
20
Total
% Women
% Minority
Multiculturalism and Student Learning
Faculty Profile 2
100%
100%
100%
80%
80%
80%
60%
60%
60%
40%
40%
40%
20%
20%
20%
21%
0%
0%
% Minority
3%
% Black
0%
3%
% Hispanic
Multiculturalism and Student Learning
Racial/Ethnic Faculty to Student
Ratios
Number of Faculty per Students of Same Race/Ethnicity
400
349
300
260
200
100
52
0
White
Black
Hispanic
Multiculturalism and Student Learning
Back on Task
 What
is multiculturalism in relation to
student learning?
 What can you do at Purdue Calumet to
improve teaching and learning for our
diverse, multicultural student body?
 Why and how is assessment (and
collaborative inquiry in particular) an
important part of the effort?
Multiculturalism and Student Learning
Perspectives on Multiculturalism
 Knefelkamp
 Attending to the variety of learning styles
 Banks’
five overlapping dimensions
 Content integration; Knowledge construction;
Equity pedagogy; Prejudice reduction;
Empowering classroom culture
 Kolb’s
four step approach to MC pedagogy
 Concrete experience; Reflective observation;
Abstract conceptualization; Active
experimentation
Multiculturalism and Student Learning
Perspectives on Multiculturalism

Grant & Sleeter – Context Specific






Perspectives of under-represented peoples
Instructional strategies for multiple learning styles
Promotion of social justice
Removing bias from questions and cases
Appealing to varied interests
Bennet – Teachers as…
 Student advocates; inquiry-based practitioners;
agents of social change; competent with content
Gay – Culturally responsive pedagogy
 Kitano – Developing democratic citizens

Multiculturalism and Student Learning
Recommended Resources 1
 AAC&U
Diversity Web - http://www.diversityweb.org/
Multiculturalism and Student Learning
Recommended Resources 2
http://www.opd.iupui.edu/diversity/resource_guide.htm
Multiculturalism and Student Learning
Multiculturalism and Student Learning
Other Resources

Center for Research on Learning and Teaching (U of M)
– Section on Multicultural teaching
 http://www.crlt.umich.edu/multiteaching/multiteaching.html

EdChange’s Multicultural Pavilion
 Multicultural Teaching Toolbox,
http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/teachers.html



Banks et al., (2001). Diversity within unity: Essential
Principles for Teaching And Learning in a Multicultural
Society (http://www.educ.washington.edu/coetestwebsite/pdf/DiversityUnity.pdf)
Schoem, D., Frankel, L., Zuniga, X., & Lewis, E. (1993).
Multicultural teaching in the university. Westport, CT:
Praeger
National Association for Multicultural Education (NAME)
 http://www.nameorg.org/
Multiculturalism and Student Learning
So What Do We Do?
 If
multiculturalism can be so many different
things to different people at different times,
how do we proceed?
 By developing some core objectives
 With as much or more individual
experimentation, innovation, and creativity
 By bringing more people on board
Multiculturalism and Student Learning
Developing Core Objectives
 What’s
the problem?
 Are racial/ethnic, low SES, or first-generation
performance gaps related to uni-cultural
teaching practices?
 Is there a problem of awareness and/or
acceptance?
 Maybe
its more an opportunity than a
problem
 Given its environment and mission, can
Purdue Calumet stake a claim in this territory?
Multiculturalism and Student Learning
Things to Look At

Leadership commitment
 Is this on senior administrator’s radar screen and, if so, how?
 Are there sufficient rewards, incentives, and supports?

Curricular requirements
 Is understanding and working with human difference part of the
Gen Ed program? Major outcomes? How is it taught and
assessed?

Campus climate
 See recent IUPUI experience

Representational diversity
 What does the gap between student and faculty representation
portend?
 How are different students represented across majors (gender;
race/ethnicity; age, etc.)
Multiculturalism and Student Learning
For Example
Bachelor's Degrees Conferred at Purdue Calumet, 2004-05
Percent Black and Hispanic
Total Number
9% 13%
15%
15%
Social Sciences and History
72
6%10%
Engineering-Related Technologies
69
11% 8%
Computer and Information Sciences
66
4% 14%
Education
57
Health Professions/Life Sciences
56
Communications
53
13%
18%
21%
6%
15% 9%
5%
27%
15% 10%
6%
199
Business
47
Psychology
Humanities and Fine Arts
41
Engineering
40
6%6%
Physics/Math
17
50%
Home Ec/Park Rec
16
Multiculturalism and Student Learning
And What About
DFW rates in popular introductory courses
among various groups?
 Student responses, overall and by group, to key
NSSE items

 Included diverse perspectives (different races,
religions, genders, political beliefs, etc.) in class
discussions or writing assignments
 Had serious conversations with students
• A) of a different race/ethnicity
• B) who are very different in terms of religious beliefs, political
opinions, or personal values
 Understanding people of other racial and ethnic
backgrounds

Compared to faculty responses (FSSE)?
Multiculturalism and Student Learning
How Else Can You Find Out Whether…
 Students
feel welcome in class?
 Teaching methods accommodate different
learning styles?
 There are any unintended “use of
language” barriers?
 There are any biases in examples used?
Multiculturalism and Student Learning
Multicultural Assessment
 There
are many ways to do assessment
 It is about looking for evidence to
determine what is happening, relative to
what you think should be happening
 Evidence takes many forms
 Documented (what others have observed and
written)
 Direct observation – quantitative and
experiential (practitioner and client/user)
 Contextual
Multiculturalism and Student Learning
Assessment All Along the Way
What are you trying to Needs assessment
achieve?
What are you doing to Process assessment
achieve it?
How will you know
when you get there
Outcomes assessment
What can you do with
the results?
Improvement
Multiculturalism and Student Learning
The Outcomes Assessment Matrix
1.
What
general
outcome
are you
seeking?
2.
3.
4.
How
How are How could
would you you trying
you
know it if to achieve measure
you saw
the
what you
it?
outcome?
hope to
see?
5.
What
have you
found?
6.
What are
you doing
about it?
Multiculturalism and Student Learning
Learn About It, and Then…
Identify some core issues to approach as a
community
 Identify interesting practice

 Visit if possible
Brainstorm to adopt and determine how you will
assess
 Try it, check it, learn from it
 Tweak and check or try something else

 But give things time to see if they can be done better
Multiculturalism and Student Learning
Enabling Individual Development
and Exploration
What kind of supports are in place and what
incentives promote there use?
 Important to enable individuals to innovate,
experiment, check, learn, and disseminate

 Scholarship of teaching, learning, and supporting

“Communities of practice” is a useful concept for
enabling individuals to work together toward
individual and collective gain
Multiculturalism and Student Learning
Communities of Practice
 Learning
as a social system (Etienne
Wenger)
 Members of a community, bound by what
they do together and by what they have
learned through their mutual engagement
in these activities
 Based on distinctions between
 Learning about and learning to be (Bruner)
 Knowing that and knowing how (Ryle)
Multiculturalism and Student Learning
CofP is not…
a business or functional unit in that it defines
itself in the doing, as members develop among
themselves their own understanding of what
their practice is about
 a team in that the shared learning and interest of
its members are what keep it together
 a network in the sense that it is "about"
something; it is not just a set of relationships

Multiculturalism and Student Learning
Learning to Teach Better
 We
expect our students to
 Learn how to think differently
(deconstruct/reconstruct)
 Learn how to be effective students
 What
can they expect from us?
 Adopt our teaching strategies to changing
realities
 Accommodate diversity
Multiculturalism and Student Learning
Parting Suggestion
Create a community of practice around
multicultural teaching and learning
 Assess the situation

 Look at available data
 Visit each other’s classes, looking for “multiculturalism
opportunities”
 Talk to students outside class
Come up with some ideas for interventions
 Try them; test them
 Write it up for presentation, publication, and,
most importantly improvement

Multiculturalism and Student Learning
How is This Different?
 Typical
Centers for Teaching and Learning
focus on individual faculty
development/improvement
 CofP approach represents mutual
engagement
 Inherently multi-disciplinary and multicultural
 Can promote buy-in among broader base
Multiculturalism and Student Learning
Local or Global
 Might
Purdue Calumet adopt multicultural
teaching and learning as a strategic
initiative?
 Would it be better to let this grow from the
ground up or is it better to have top-down
direction?
 Is there a hybrid approach that fosters
local organization with leadership support
and incentive?
Multiculturalism and Student Learning
Closing Quotes from Ted Marchese
Good teachers, like "reflective practitioners" in
other professions, constantly test, adjust, and
reframe their models of practice on the basis of
experience and reflection.
 Assessment is a process in which rich, usable,
credible feedback from an act -- of teaching or
curriculum -- comes to be reflected upon by an
academic community, and then is acted on by
that community -- a department or college -within its commitment to get smarter and better
at what it does.

http://www.newhorizons.org/lifelong/higher_ed/marchese.htm