How to include an EDI discussion in Personal Academic Tutorials - Transcript

Personal Academic Tutorials take different forms across the University, but all of us as academic leads need to build a bond of trust with our students. One way to do that is to weave diversity and inclusion into topical conversations with them. 

Colleagues who aren’t from underrepresented groups sometimes feel uncomfortable with, or struggle to broach, such discussions. In this micro-CPD, I offer three concrete examples of how to talk about diversity and inclusion.

1. Open a general discussion about employment. Get students to explain what they do or don’t find useful about resources like Worklink, the Careers Network, and LinkedIn. Ask them to select web sites of companies they’d like to work for and then evaluate the company’s commitment to diversity and inclusion.
2. Select a short piece of academic writing. Give the students time to read it, then ask them to consider whether there is unconscious bias in it. For example, why is this considered an important topic to study?
3. Issues with group work are often raised by students seeking unrealistic magical solutions. Use the opportunity to discuss differing communication styles and neurodiversity. What could change in their communication methods, their task allocation, or their decision-making strategy to help their group project move forward more efficiently?

These discussions can foster a sense of inclusion, and maintain student engagement in, PATs. I hope you’ll include them in yours.