Multicultural Course Research Articles

The Asian Pacific American heritage: a companion to literature and arts

Special Features *Many of the articles are written in a popular style, accessible and appealing to high school students and lay readers * Other articles are intended for the instructor teaching a multicultural course for the first time who may be unfamiliar with Asian Pacific * American culture * The Companion presents articles written by preeminent authorities in their field * A Cultural Lexicon or glossary of terms and concepts, a Chronology, Suggestions for Further Reading, and a section on useful Statistics enhance the reference value of this unique volume *The articles address women's issues and contributions in detail *A selection of first-person memoirs personalize culture and customs in a dramatic and compelling way.

Reviews

Chris M. Anson, Lesley K. Cafarelli, Carol Rutz and Michelle R. Weis (eds) Dilemmas in Teaching: Cases for Collaborative Faculty ReflectionPatricia Senn Breivik Student Learning in the Information AgeBarbara E. Walvoord and Virginai Johnson Anderson Effective Grading: A Tool for Learning and AssessmentWilliam E. Campbell and Karl A. Smith (eds) New Paradigms for College TeachingAnn Intili Morey and Margie K. Kitano Multicultural Course Transformation in Higher EducationFrancis X. S. J. Clooney Hindu Wisdom for All God's ChildrenStephen R. Haynes Holocaust Education and the Church‐Related College: Restoring Ruptured TraditionsWarren A. Nord Religion and American Education: Rethinking a National DilemmaD. G. Hart and R. Albert Mohler, Jr (eds) Theological Education in the Evangelical TraditionPatrick W. Carey and Earl C. S. J. Muller (eds) Theological Education in the Catholic Tradition: Contemporary Challenges

Multicultural Content in Social Work Graduate Programs

ABSTRACT This paper reports the results of a national survey of Deans and Directors of graduate social work programs and of social work faculty responsible for teaching graduate-level multicultural courses. The findings indicate the use of a combined infusion and designated course model is the most prominent in addressing the CSWE diversity curriculum content requirement. Although there is substantive content on traditionally oppressed minority populations, there is an increasing number of groups and topics under the banner of diversity. There is heavy reliance on traditional teaching methods and little consistency in the educational resources used to teach the courses. The demographic composition and perceptions of social work faculty who teach multicultural courses are reported. The implications of the findings are discussed.

Pedagogy of Possibilities: Teaching About Racism in Multicultural Counseling Courses

The topic of diversity/multiculturalism is explored in terms of how to teach about racism in counselor education programs. Issues about racism in general, how racism is handled in multicultural counseling courses, and strategies for successful teaching are explored.

Changing the Learning Paradigm through the STC-Link Electronic Archive

This paper describes an undergraduate, upper-division, multicultural core course at the University of Colorado at Denver entitled “Science, Technology, and Culture” and its companion electronic archive, “STC-Link.” STC-Link, an Internet web site, contains a syllabus with class assignments, e-mail, chat capability, and student generated materials from several case histories: “The Animas La Plata Project”; “Hohokam irrigation”; “The San Luis Valley Aquifiers”; “Inka Fountains and Water Works”; and “Culture and the Internet.” The case histories are stored as HTML files and are retrievable through technology to illustrate interrelationships in science, technology, and culture, emphasizing issues related to race, gender, and the individual. A full third of the class is devoted to a design project, where students are web page developers, making them active participants in authoring STC-Link for future students and researchers. As a teaching aid in the classroom and at distance, STC-Link encourages cooperative learning and facilitates a more open and experiential understanding of technology and culture. Through rapid retrieval of images, maps, graphs, formatted text, and remote web sites relevant to the topic at hand, students and the instructor realize a new teaching paradigm. The paper concludes with three observations. First, so far, the best use of STC-Link as a teaching tool is in the design aspect of the course, because of the participatory nature of this use of the archive. Second, the success of STC-Link as an electronic stand-alone archive leads the writers to anticipate further development of the archive as an Intranet and on-line distance education course. Third, after three years of using STC-Link in the classroom, the writers are convinced that new teaching technologies, especially the Internet and the web, will radically change the nature of classroom and extra-classroom instruction. These changes are itemized in the conclusion. The web site address is: http://www.cudenver.edu/stc-link.

Notable multicultural training in APA-approved counseling psychology and school psychology programs.

On the basis of the initial work of M.R. Rogers, J. Martin, and L. Druckman (1994) regarding exemplary multicultural training occurring at school psychology programs, the authors examined salient aspects of 5 American Psychological Association (APA)-approved counseling psychology and 5 APA-approved school psychology programs nominated for their reputation for multicultural training. Twenty-two percent of the program faculty represented a racial-ethnic minority group, at least 2 faculty members per program were involved in multicultural teaching, and 90% of the programs offered a multicultural course. Program faculty at the notable programs were actively involved in relevant research, routinely made presentations at national conferences regarding their scholarship, regularly participated in campuswide multicultural committees, and generally reported their university training environment to be supportive of multicultural issues.

Multicultural Training for Undergraduates: Developing Knowledge and Awareness

The changing demographics of the United States have lead to increased training of multicultural issues in graduate counseling programs. Graduate students report higher levels of multicultural competencies after completing a multicultural counseling course. Similarly, this study indicates increased multicultural awareness and knowledge among undergraduates completing a multicultural course.

Resistance in Multicultural Courses

This article explores the objectives and classroom dynamics of multicultural courses, describes various forms of student resistance to these courses, and suggests methods of teaching that can prevent and alleviate student resistance. Teachers should anticipate resistance from students in courses on multiculturalism and can view such challenges to the material or to the teacher as opportunities to make the issues relevant to the students' own experiences. Teaching preparation and techniques, including use of the syllabus as a guiding structure for the course, use of a case studies approach, short feedback evaluations, setting of ground rules for discussion, establishing a climate of trust and open inquiry, and using anecdotal texts to illustrate historical information are discussed as ways to engage students and work productively with resistance.

Multicultural Counselor Training: Students' Perceptions of Helpful and Hindering Events

Counselor trainees perceptions during a multicultural counseling course highlighted the importance of experiential activities and ethnically diverse speakers to the development of awareness and knowledge.

Sociology of Race and Ethnicity: Strategies for Comparative Multicultural Courses

Diversity breadth requirements, also known as multicultural requirements, are fast becoming an integral part of undergraduate education in American universities. This newly created requirement imposes a number of demands on comparative multicultural courses, including courses on sociology of race and ethnicity. In this essay we identify the challenges to curriculum development posed by the sociology of race and ethnicity as a specific example of a comparative multicultural course. We show how conventional course design, which is group-oriented, is less likely to fulfill the new demands and challenges confronting comparative multicultural courses. We propose a new, concept-oriented course design and provide suggestions for implementation.

Exploring multicultural competencies of occupational therapists: implications for education and training.

The purpose of this investigation was to explore the influence of demographic and educational variables on self-reported multicultural competencies of occupational therapists. A sample of 94 occupational therapists currently working in the field participated in this investigation. Multicultural course work, seminars and workshops, percentage of minority patients worked with, and highest degree held were found to correlate significantly with self-reported multicultural competencies. Regression analyses found that highest degree held, percentage of minority patients worked with, multicultural course work, and participation in multicultural seminars and workshops accounted for about half of the variance in multicultural awareness. These findings are discussed in terms of academic courses and continued professional training and education for occupational therapists.

The View from Women's Studies

ROM THE PERSPECTIVE of a women's studies program director, debate over political correctness (PC) has been puzzling. The media suggest that those who advocate campuses free of racism, sexism, and homophobia are guilty of tactics of intimidation and coercion, of imposing a new code of curricular content and campus values on unwilling students and teachers. We/they collectively are accused of advocating multiculturalism-an idea to which, in its simplest form, nobody objects. As one of critics of politically correct admits, multiculturalism merely acknowledges and attempts to incorporate into curriculum and campus environment the wide range of cultures that cohabit U.S. ... It represents discovery on part of minority groups that they can play a part in molding larger culture even as they are molded by it.1 The trouble, according to critics, is that as a movement, multiculturalism is rarely benign. These critics fear that multicultural courses will displace traditional subjects, depriving students of what they call heritage of Western culture. They argue that codes of conduct and attempts at curricular reform designed to promote tolerance instead inhibit free speech. I have two responses to this argument: first, that women's studies is, with cause, sometimes cast as a villain by its critics in PC debates, as it naturally casts its lot on side of multiculturalism. And, second, that some of accusations about inhibiting and divisive nature of defining behavior as politically correct are disturbingly familiar to those of us in women's studies programs. This double identity-of perpetrator and victim, of accuser and accused-derives from our attention to commonalities and differences in both our theory and practice. It also creates something of a conundrum in women's studies programs, one we need to understand and work through if our common enterprise is to flourish.

Multicultural Family Studies: Educating Students for Diversity

A multicultural perspective is likely to become essential to the professional preparation of family scholars and to successful participation in the global economy. A survey of educators of comparative family studies identified the types of information that are needed for multicultural family courses. Issues related to social inequality were considered particularly important. According to respondents, the lack of useful instructional materials and of a professional climate to support comparative work limits the effectiveness of educators in this area.