Training Faculty for Diversity Infusion in the IT Curriculum

Abstract

In this chapter we offer a flexible training environment and strategies for diversity infusion in the Information Technology curriculum. The chapter overviews “My First Diversity Workbook,” and the ways in which it may be used in diversity training for faculty. The major part of such workshops consists of four parts. In the first part, the trainer talks about his or her positive experiences of diversity infusion in the curriculum, and serves as a motivational component of the training. The second and third components explain how to get inspired for micro and macro infusion of topics in the curriculum from the outside and the inside. By using external examples and facts, or internal experiences and introspections, the instructors may successfully diversify a unit lesson or the whole curriculum. In the fourth component, the trainer talks about continuing to share classroom experiences after the workshop is done—usually online, within the framework of an e-group. We describe fitting these four components into two different contexts, and outline in detail the schedule and experiences of participants from those two workshops, custom-tailored to the needs of the institution that the training was designed for. These workshop patterns are fully replicable. The chapter not only describes the author’s strategies in covering the topics, but also provides a selection of sources that the trainer and the participants may use when replicating or modifying these trainings.