2025年01月08日
[Event Report] Diversity in the Classroom: A Workshop Exploring Through Case Studies and Activities
- Date and Time: Friday, March 15, 2024, 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM
- Format: In-person (The University of Tokyo, Hongo Campus, Daiwa Ubiquitous Computing Research Building, 2nd Floor Classroom)
- Instructor: Wonhwa Park (Assistant Professor, Center for Research and Development of Higher Education, The University of Tokyo)
- Co-Facilitator: Airi Kawakami (Project Academic Specialist, Center for Research and Development of Higher Education, The University of Tokyo)
- Target Audience: Teachers and graduate students
- Language: Japanese
- Fee: Free of charge
On March 15, 2024, an in-person workshop titled “Diversity in the Classroom: A Worshop Exploring Through Case Studies and Activities” was held.
This workshop was mainly aimed at those who are conducting (or planning to conduct) classes or training sessions related to diversity and multiculturalism, those seeking to create lessons with consideration for diversity, and those interested in developing lessons utilizing active learning.
A total of 16 participants with diverse affiliations and areas of expertise participated in the workshop.
After the workshop, we conducted a post-event survey and received 17 responses (*one duplicate response was received).
To the question “How satisfied were you with the event overall?”, 88% of the participants responded “satisfied” (selecting either the highest rating of “5” or the second highest rating of “4”).
As for the question “Overall, do you think that participating in this event will be useful for you in the future?”, 70% of the participants gave the highest rating of “5” (88% of the total when “5” and “4” were combined).
In addition, we received the following comments in the free description section at the end of the questionnaire.
“∙ The time spent sharing the participants’ questions with the entire group, discussing and sharing ideas was meaningful.
∙ I learned some points of view that I was personally blind to, such as the fact that unconscious bias exists in everyone and that emphasizing diversity may adversely affect minorities.
∙ I learned the effectiveness of the activity at the beginning of the course, in which participants were asked to write “what they expect” and “their current thoughts and opinions” individually, without asking others’ opinions.
∙ I learned that stress (difficulty in participating in learning activities) can be reduced by taking steps such as “think individually, discuss in pairs, and then share with the whole class”.
∙ I was able to reaffirm the importance of creating an environment that is aware of the “3Ks” (especially “with respect.”)”
“I was glad that I learned about “diversity in the classroom” in a very intensive way, both in theory and in practice. In such a short time, I was able to gain a lot of knowledge and skills that I can immediately put into practice in the classroom, such as consideration for students’ names and how to incorporate class activities. That was something that I really wanted to know right now, and I felt really glad that I was able to attend. The overall atmosphere of the workshop was also very friendly, making it easy to share concerns and opinions.”
“I was able to share and discuss my own and other people’s problems. I was able to learn patterns of teaching methods. I gained knowledge about teaching in other fields. I was encouraged by the words, “As long as you have the right direction, you can do it”. The references gave me a chance to learn more.”
“I think it was good that the participants exchanged opinions with each other as well as learned from the experience of the lecturer, Dr. Park, on the various issues involved in diversity. I am satisfied with the valuable learning I gained.”
In the survey, we received many valuable comments on areas for improvement of this event and topics to address in the future events. We will make use of the feedback in our future workshop development.
We received more applications than expected this time, and although the deadline was rescheduled to an earlier date on short notice and the number of participants was expanded, there was still a limit to the acceptable number. We would like to continue to hold workshops in the future so that more people can participate.
For those who were unfortunately unable to attend this year’s workshop, priority will be given to those who attend the next and subsequent workshops.
If you would like to participate in future workshops on similar topics (related to diversity), please click on the link below to register for the information form. We sincerely look forward to your participation.
