Diversity workshop planned

The Center for Scholarship in Teaching and Learning at Southeast Missouri State University researches different ways to help teach professional teachers how to teach more effectively.

The staff is currently in the preliminary stages of organizing a faculty development workshop for Aug. 15 to 17. Instructional designer in the Office of Instructional Technology Mary Talbut, along with Kris Baranovic, will gather information from different student discussion sessions. The conversation will focus on how and what experiences have caused students to feel uncomfortable in a classroom setting and what faculty members can do to change that. Talbut said by pointing out different diverse moments, students and professors will be able to learn from each other and form stronger communication channels.

For Talbut,the question arose from the Lawrence Ross discussion on how faculty make students feel unwelcome. Ross' discussion addressed that people of color are not accepted on predominantly white American college campuses.

CSTL wants to change that by creating this workshop and continuing the conversation of how to change the classroom setting by inviting students of different racial, ethnic, religious and social backgrounds. The first day will be a day of workshops and will start the discussion of removing those stereotypes that, Talbut said, sometimes even professors bring to the classroom.

On previous faculty development days, the number of faculty members in attendance has ranged from 150 to 175. There will be three keynote speakers on the last day, along with a student panel. Talbut said video also might be taken of students, although their eyes will be covered to protect their identity.

There is even talk of bringing students in to discuss different issues that make professors uncomfortable in the classroom.

"I have had one teacher ask me to stop looking at her because it made her uncomfortable, even though she knows I need to read lips," Jasmine Erthe, a student with a hearing impairment, said in a text message.

"There was one teacher that when I had equipment from Disability Services to help with my being able to hear/take notes, she refused to use the equipment and gave it to me to give back to Disability Services," Erthe said. "But we were able to get this resolved through Disability Services."

This diversity development day is meant to dig deep into these situations and bring students and faculty together to uncover solutions.