whole campus, diverse communities: student promotion of intercultural understanding cj rowe, peter...
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Whole Campus, Diverse Communities: Student Promotion of Intercultural
Understanding
CJ Rowe, Peter Wanyenya & Hedda Hakvåg
Agenda
The Intercultural Understanding Project
The Active Witnessing Model
Practice & Discussion
Evaluation Findings & Questions
Learning Objectives
• Develop the courage to act• Explore approaches to engaging in difficult
conversations• Engage with skills to build relationships
across difference
Intercultural Understanding: A Transformative Student Training
Model • Three-year Teaching and Learning Enhancement
Fund (TLEF) funded project • Partnership between multiple UBC Vancouver
offices:Access & Diversity, International Student Development,
First Nations House of Learning, Equity & Inclusion Office, Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology, AMS, and Dr. Ishu Ishiyama (Faculty of Education).
Project Goals:
• Increase intercultural understanding• Empower students to become active witnesses• Build a community of practice on campus – Grow student capacity for engaging in difficult
conversations and foster respectful campus environments
• Build sustainability
The Really? Campaign
1. Passive Campaign
2. Really? Workshops
3. Peer Facilitator Training
The Bystander Effect
Bystander: a person who observes a conflict or unacceptable behaviour. It might be something serious or minor, one-time or repeated, but the bystander knows that the behaviour is destructive or likely to make a bad situation worse.
The Active Witnessing Model
The “Active Witnessing Model” encourages all individuals to:•adopt leadership roles at the university and in their communities•move from being a passive witness to an active witness in their daily lives•take an active role in promoting positive social change
Active Witnessing Model: Four Levels of Witnessing
Drawn from Ishiyama, F.I. (2011). The Anti-Discrimination Response Training (A.R.T.) Program: The Facilitator’s Guide for Teaching Active Witnessing Skills. (Unpublished manual). UBC, Vancouver, BC.
Active Witnessing Tips & Responses
1. Interrupt 2. Express upset feelings 3. Disagree 4. Question validity5. Point out how it offends and hurts people6. Put the initiator on the spot
Drawn from Ishiyama, F.I. (2011). The Anti-Discrimination Response Training (A.R.T.) Program: The Facilitator’s Guide for Teaching Active Witnessing Skills. (Unpublished manual) .UBC, Vancouver, BC.
Active Witnessing Tips & Responses
7. Help the initiator to self-reflect 8. Support the receiver 9. Ask others for involvement and help 10. Approach other witnesses at the scene11. Send a message to the group12. Reflect on language13. Other?
Drawn from Ishiyama, F.I. (2011). The Anti-Discrimination Response Training (A.R.T.) Program: The Facilitator’s Guide for Teaching Active Witnessing Skills. (Unpublished manual) .UBC, Vancouver, BC.
CAR
• Context• Action • Result
Let’s Practice!
You are an active witness.What is happening in the scenario?What strategies would you use? What words would you say? What might the impact be?
Survey Data
Student Experiences
You don’t want to be a bystander, but you also want to step in in an effective way, and so sometimes. . . that’s not always right at that moment, but you need to make sure that you handle it in a way that if it is later, it’s still effective.
Participant, age 21
Five Key Skills
EmpathyContext evaluationCritical awarenessCreativityCourage.
Student Experiences
What to say when you’re intervening, like “ oh, really?” like “oh, this makes me uncomfortable,” or like . . “Oh, what did you just say?” You know, just to get people to have a chance to, eh, like revise what they say, instead of just being like “oh, what you say is wrong,” you know.
Participant, age 19
Student Experiences
I think [the workshop] made me . . . a lot more comfortable to saying no or what isn’t right, just saying it’s not right, and you know, um . . . and that’s something that I really didn’t, I really didn’t like have before. And I think, like . . . I became more comfortable in my skin almost, it’s like if I feel a certain way then I should be able to express that.
Participant, age 20
Lessons Learned
The value of a dialogic space Critical awareness as student leadership Increasing self-efficacy and awareness The necessity of courage Working with the good intentions Practice, practice, practice
Things to Consider
• Who are the workshop participants?• Framing language “discrimination and
stereotyping”
Moving Forward
• Will continue facilitator training and ongoing workshops.
• Have integrated the Active Witnessing component into student leader training.
• We will continue to assess the efficacy of this program through pre and post workshop surveys.
• Online module for all incoming students.
Peter Wanyenya [email protected] Hedda Hakvåg [email protected] CJ Rowe [email protected]