College Diversity and
Learning Reconsidered
Campus Activities by Diversity Speaker Clint Cora
College
diversity can be a significant element in the overall
learning
experiences of college and university students during their years on
campuses. This fits in rather well with
the ideas presented in Learning Reconsidered, a document
released jointly by NASPA (National Association of Student Personnel
Administrators) and ACPA (American College Personnel Association) in
2004.
Learning Reconsidered explored the ways that college students
experience learning on campuses and how it can be further
enhanced. It suggested that students learn not only by
absorbing facts during courses in classrooms and lecture halls, but
also utilize the entire campus resources as part of a more full
development for them.
Helping college students learn and develop is not limited to just the
domain of faculty professors. Learning Reconsidered claimed
that other campus staff could also play a huge role in helping students
in their overall development. These other campus staff could
include leaders and student advisors in campus activities, student
affairs or residence life. Even student governments can play
a role here.
Most campus activities offered to students such as music bands,
comedians, movie nights and other types of acts have been purely
entertainment in nature. There was very little actual
learning involved with such offerings on campus. In other
words, these acts resulted in little, if any development for students.
The Learning Reconsidered document may change some of the types of
campus activities that take place in the future now that campus staff
realizes that significant development for students can indeed take
place outside the classrooms. Instead of programming
activities that are just purely entertainment, different types of
programs with some inclusion of a learning element for students can be
added. Such programs represent golden opportunities
that will help fulfill specific learning outcomes described in Learning
Reconsidered.
One such opportunity to achieve a Learning Reconsidered outcome is
related to college diversity. Because many college and
university campuses have become more diverse with students of different
ethnicities, diversity has become an important issue of campus
life. Both the general student body and staff are therefore
ripe for further exposure to diversity training, awareness and skills
education.
Specific education and awareness in this area will help students
utilize the increased diversity on campuses as a positive learning
experience. Diversity is not just about forcing
everybody to get along and tolerate each other. A
good program can help encourage students to use diversity in many
positive and rewarding ways. Students who have been exposed
to diversity programs will generally give great feedback
about these learning experiences.
One of the outcomes of Learning Reconsidered is Humanitarianism, which
involves the understanding and appreciation of other people and
different cultures. A good diversity event or program that
increases awareness of different cultures to students will fulfill this
particular learning outcome.
Examples of possible campus diversity events are cultural arts shows
such as music, dance and theatrical acts. Also extremely
important are educational programs with guest speakers specializing in
diversity topics and teaching relevant skills for use in diverse
environments. Such programming is not only entertaining, but
helps to enrich students’ lives as the exposure to diversity education
will help them become more effective in their own futures.
This is particularly important for graduates who will soon work in
diverse workplaces that are so prevalent in North America and
internationally today.
Although Humanitarianism is the most obvious outcome that a
well-designed diversity
program for campuses will fulfill, there are
other Learning Reconsidered outcomes that can also be addressed as well
depending on the type of activity. Other possible outcomes
are Cognitive Complexity, Knowledge Acquisition, Integration and
Application and Inter and Intrapersonal Competence. These are
discussed in a separate article in the link just below.
So no
less than four possible outcomes of Learning Reconsidered can be
achieved with the right campus diversity program.
To possibly book me as
a diversity speaker
as part of your campus diversity program, see my College Speaking
Programs.
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