Increasing Students' Understandings of Factors Impacting Student Experiences and Outcomes in Education: A Postsecondary Intervention

• In Event: Roundtable Session 3
  In Roundtable Session: Students and Society: Developing Broader Skills

Abstract

The paper is an exploratory study focused on the effectiveness of mandatory diversity courses in the discipline of Education Studies. Data were collected on a University of California campus through a fifteen minute survey of students (n=848) who completed an education course that also fulfilled the University’s diversity course requirement. A social justice approach to postsecondary education, in the discipline of Education Studies, theoretically frames the research. The diversity courses in the Education Department have effectively increased students’ understandings of issues of race, socio-economic status, and language in education. The courses appear less effective in increasing students’ understandings of gender and education. It also appears that specific pedagogies have impacted students’ understandings of societal factors that influence student achievement outcomes.

Author

• Thandeka K. Chapman, University of California - San Diego