In the most recent issue of the Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, the article, “Climate for Learning and Students’ Openness to Diversity and Challenge: A Critical Role for Faculty” describes the process and results of a study on the relationship between openness to diversity and challenge and the learning climate of higher education institutions. The authors suggest that faculty members have an important role to play in influencing learning outcomes around diversity not only through the content of their courses, but through the climate for learning they create in the classroom and how students view that climate.
Using a framework based in ecological theories of student learning and development within their learning environments, the authors gathered data from 15 institutions in the 2013-2014 administrations of the Personal and Social Responsibility Inventory (PSRI). They then examined the relationship of students’ perceptions of their learning climate to scores on the Openness to Diversity and Challenge (ODC) Scale. The results demonstrate that when students perceive a higher education institution as valuing a broad range of ideas and viewpoints, it positively relates to their scores on the ODC scale.
The authors state that as the primary agents of socialization and the intellectual leaders on college campuses, it becomes the role of faculty to foster a learning climate that encourages openness to diversity and challenge. “This finding suggests that climates for learning should both encourage students to explore new ideas and provide evidence to support their claims and perspectives.” (Ryder, 349). The results to the study show that integrating diverse cultural perspectives broadly across curriculum has a positive impact on creating a college campus that supports diversity and challenge.
Citation: Ryder, A. J., Reason, R. D., Mitchell, J. J., Gillon, K., & Hemer, K. M. (2016). Climate for learning and students’ openness to diversity and challenge: A critical role for faculty. Journal Of Diversity In Higher Education, 9(4), 339-352. doi:10.1037/a0039766