A Training Framework and Follow-Up Observations for Multiculturally Inclusive Teaching: Is Believing That We are Emphasizing Diversity Enough?

The authors present a theoretically and empirically grounded training for multiculturally inclusive teaching for new instructors. After implementing this training, qualitative data were gathered from instructors to identify their experience of the training and concerns related to incorporating issues of diversity into their classrooms (Study 1). At the end of the semester immediately following the training, quantitative data were gathered from instructors and their students to examine the interaction between students’ and instructors’ perceived diversity emphasis (Study 2). When allowed to choose the extent to which they incorporated issues of diversity in their classes, the instructors differentially reported emphasizing diversity in class. In addition, results from multi-level linear modeling analyses demonstrated that instructors’ reported emphasis on diversity in the classroom did not predict students’ perceptions of the inclusion of issues of diversity. The authors discuss implications for the development of multiculturally supportive programs of learning at universities.