Students develop cultural awareness by examining cultural differences and concepts that impact individuals and society.

During your Diversity course, you may have done some of the following:

• Examine the importance of diversity, which explores traits and experiences (e.g., age, race, ethnicity, gender, abilities, race, sexual orientation, veteran status, etc.) that are different from your own
• Explore characteristics of cultural competence, such as:
  • Identifying your own cultural background
  • Describing how you fit into multiple contexts/cultures
  • Reflecting on interconnected relationships between different conditions of diversity within an individual (e.g., race, gender, class, abilities, sexual orientation) and related disadvantages and discrimination
• Analyze individual and cultural differences (e.g., self, others, discipline, profession, institution, world and beyond)
• Compare and contrast culturally related concepts connected to the discipline
• Explain how globalization impacts individuals and society

Reflection Activities

First, clearly identify and describe your Diversity course. Then, select and incorporate evidence that demonstrates you achieved a majority of the outcomes. To do so, you will need to complete at least 2 of the reflection activities listed below. As this is a digital portfolio, avoid relying only on writing.  Consider providing pictures, video, or other media to demonstrate skills obtained or enhanced by this experience.

You can use video to respond to some of the prompts, so long as you also include materials you produced during the experience.

1. Please select one of the diagrams: cultural competence and/or DMIS . Use the diagram to explore your thoughts about culture prior to taking any diversity related courses. Discuss what stage you were at from the diagram and how your upbringing, race, religion and values shaped you and brought you to that stage of development. Use the same diagram to reflect on your current cultural awareness. Discuss how your courses, lessons, service learning experiences and discussions influenced the stage you are in. Reflect on how you have grown more culturally aware and the role that awareness will play in your career.
2. Reflect on your diversity related course by discussing how lectures, assignments, and experiences had you explore and analyze cultural concepts within your discipline. Provide specific examples and your views of those experiences.
3. Include one particularly significant assignment from your diversity course. Write a reflection of how that assignment addressed one of the key concepts of diversity, how it influenced your cultural awareness, and how you believe it relates to your future profession.
4. Share and discuss additional coursework, websites, assignments, activities and experiences that shaped your views regarding cultural intersectionality. Examine your professional plan to continue to challenge bias and grow as a culturally aware professional.
5. Include a one minute reflection video regarding your diversity course experience. What were key experiences and concepts you will take away from this process? How will this be useful to you in the future?
6. Have you applied concepts from your diversity experience in another context, such as a family, social, professional/workplace, or other activity? If so, how did you do so? If not, how might you apply concepts you learned in the future?
7. Analyze/discuss an aspect of diversity that you think is important and its influence in today’s world. Why?

If one or more of the prompts don’t seem to directly address your experience, please feel free to interpret them to some degree, allowing you to respond in an authentic way. This is your experience; these prompts are meant to help you share it in a way that is useful to multiple audiences.