Indianapolis, Indiana (April 2007)- Beginning with the fall 2007 semester, University College will put a greater emphasis on the importance of integrating diversity and multicultural components into its learning community classes. The 11th Annual University College Learning Communities Colloquium will take place May 11, 2007 from 9:00am–3:30pm on campus in Lecture Hall 102 for members of all learning community instructional teams. Attendees will have the opportunity to discuss methods for effectively infusing the curriculum with multicultural components.
Recently on the IUPUI campus, cultural and diversity issues have come to the forefront. School administrators have been encouraged to incorporate a greater emphasis on multicultural perspectives in the curriculum. University College will emphasize the importance of this topic in the learning community classrooms. Participants of the Learning Communities Colloquium will learn teaching methods to enhance that process.
Events planned for the Learning Communities Colloquium include an announcement of a common reader; a presentation by the University College Theatre Troupe of a thought-provoking piece called “Into the Wild,” followed by a facilitated discussion of the diversity issues it illustrates; and two concurrent sessions devoted to best practices for incorporating diversity throughout the learning communities.
Learning communities at IUPUI are first-year seminars led by an instructional team made up of a faculty member, a librarian, an advisor, and a student mentor. The classes are designed to help freshmen transition successfully from high school to college.