Training and Orientation Practices in Distance Education for Faculty Success with Diverse Students in Cyberspace

The student population is becoming more geographically and culturally diverse in the online arena because students from all parts of the world are able to register for online classes. These diverse students need competent and qualified online facilitators that are able to use diverse teaching pedagogies to meet their learning needs. Therefore, developing and training faculty members through a successful orientation program to integrate diverse cyberspace technology into the classroom for student learning are a necessity today. As such, administrators should focus on the effective development, training, and retaining of technologically savvy educators to teach in various distance learning modalities (online, on-ground, and blended formats) using cyberspace technology while focusing on effectively achieving learning outcomes with diverse students. The document discusses diversity issues, the desires and views of online students based on a survey of 229 graduate students, and suggestions for new online faculty members. An emersion model of training used for faculty orientation and development is presented. Publication Reference: Mujtaba, B., (2004). “Training and Orientation Practices in Distance Education for Faculty Success with Diverse Students in Cyberspace.” Teaching and Learning (TLC) Conference. October 4-8; Las Vegas, Nevada. Becoming a Culturally Competent Educator Society can condition people to behave in predictable patterns which at times can negatively impact others. Educators, like all other human beings, come from the society and follow the same patterns. Thus, educators too can fall victim to societal conditioning with regard to differences that exist among groups of human beings. What differentiates effective educators from others who continue to behave based on past conditioning and assumptions is that they think before they act and they choose their actions based on current facts instead of biases and opinions. Today’s environment is very diverse and very different from what it has been in the past. As such, educators must also change with it by being innovative in their teaching and facilitation skills with diverse learners. Unfortunately, the traditional culture of academia which is more than 1,000 years old and many of today’s educators are known for cherishing the paradigm of “what was and is must always be.” Some cultures of traditional academic organizations tend to be very conservative and many of their educators can also be highly resistant to innovative ways of doing things. Business strategists tend to agree that to move forward, academic organizations must first remove this mindset from their cultures (Westerbeck, 2004). Westerbeck stated that “like all modern organizations, business schools will survive or perish on their ability to evolve with and within a rapidly segmenting marketplace.” According to Gary Hamel, visiting professor of strategic and international management at the London Business School, “business schools can be notorious institutions of habit” which has served them well for over a century but it is not going to get them through the next decade if they do not bring about changes to their culture and environment. Business gurus in academic offer the following suggestions for modern business schools wishing to be successful in the twenty first century environment (Westerbeck, 2004): 1. Defy conventions. 2. Innovate. 3. Do not follow fads. 4. Create new competitive contexts. 5. Do not just research—experiment. 6. Globalize. 7. Form the future—do not follow it. The modern business schools should be creating meaningful change. College Teaching and Learning Conference Los Vegas, 2004 2 Plato long time ago stated that learning occurs in the mind regardless of time, location and many of the outside variables. Perhaps Plato was saying that the Socratic method of questioning concepts and phenomenon can lead to learning by thinking both formally and informally. Similarly, learning about diversity in education is not an innovation but it can take place regardless of whether it is formal or informal. However, when it comes to diversity in human beings, it takes reflection and conscious thinking on each individual’s part to separate opinions and myths from the current facts. The term diversity describes the many unique characteristics and qualities that make a person (student) similar to or different from others. Some of these characteristics can be apparent such as skin color, hair color, body size, and general appearance. Other characteristics such as ethnicity, disability, religion, financial status, age, value, cultural background, sexual orientation, and many others are not always apparent based on one’s first impression as they could require more interaction and communication with the person. It is imperative that educators not judge students based on assumptions and must treat everyone fairly and equitably based on their level of actual performance. In 1975, The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) mandated that young students with disabilities be educated in the least restrictive environment. This was meant to place students with various disabilities in regular classrooms as much as possible so that expectations of performance can be the same from them as with any other student. In 1980, the Science and Engineering Equal Opportunities Act was passed and it proclaimed that “it is the policy of the United States to encourage men and women, equally, of all ethnic, racial, and economic backgrounds to acquire skills in science, engineering and mathematics, to have equal opportunity in education, training, and employment in scientific and engineering fields, and thereby to promote scientific and engineering literacy and the full use of the human resources of the Nation in science and engineering” (SEEOA, 1980). As recent as 1990, The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed to ensure equal opportunities to individuals with disabilities in the areas of employment, public accommodations, state and local government, transportation, and telecommunications (WEEA, November 1999). Unfortunately, unfairness and blatant discrimination still exists in the work environment and such legislations can assist in providing equal opportunities to everyone (Karahalios & Mujtaba, 2004). In the mean time, educators can make sure that their learning environment is free of discriminatory and unfair behaviors by creating an inclusive classroom regardless of whether they are teaching onground or by cyberspace. Diversity encompasses the multitude of experiences, aptitudes and attitudes available in today’s population. Diversity initiatives encourage educators to empower their students as well as to tap into their wealth of differences in order to achieve synergistic results in the learning process. In return, these students will be ready to satisfy, excite and delight their diverse customers and achieve organizational effectiveness by delivering superior customer value as a result of diversity initiatives modeled in the classroom by educators. Robert Reich, Secretary of Labor during Bill Clinton’s first Administration as President, said, “No longer are Americans rising and falling together as if in one large national boat. We are, increasingly, in different smaller boats.” So, classroom students will become progressively more diverse and educators need to tolerate differences, respect them, understand their nature, and educate students about them so they can successfully work with today’s diverse organizations and customers. Eventually, this may lead or at least contribute to students’ personal and professional success. What is success in a diverse education environment and who defines it? According to Sophocles, “success is dependent on effort” and not necessarily physical characteristics or limitations. According to Brian Tracy, Author and Speaker, "One of the most important rules for success is this: Every great success is the result of hundreds and thousands of small efforts and accomplishments that no one ever sees or appreciates." Successful education to everyone wishing to learn is a moral imperative in today’s diverse environment of adult learning. Educators are obligated to avoid making statements that lower learning expectations from students as a result of their gender, ethnicity or country of origin in order to create a healthy learning environment for all students. Most people are aware of the fact that they need to eliminate all harassment-related issues from the learning environment but some do not think much about the concept of self-fulfilling prophecy in relation to the diverse environment of education, diversity management concerns in learning, and effective teaching practices geared toward adult educators of diverse populations. It is apparent that diversity exists in both the student and workforce population today and will continue to increase at a growing rate. There is a moral responsibility for each faculty member to become a cultural ally and a TRUE educator with regard to today’s diverse students and workforce. Valuing diversity and becoming a TRUE educator requires each person to tolerate differences, respect differences, understand differences, and to educate others about these differences in order to maximize the productivity of students in the workforce so they can remain competitive. Valuing diversity is not just an idea that sounds good and promotes positive publicity for the institution. Valuing diversity and the educator’s genuine commitment to its thorough implementation are critical to one’s success as an individual educator and to students’ survival in the real world. In order for educators and students to College Teaching and Learning Conference Los Vegas, 2004 3 be successful, they should become culturally competent. Cultural competency can be defined as the continuous learning process that enables individuals (faculty and students) to funct