EDI Workshops

forthcoming

Regardless of their sources, microaggressions often occur in different contexts and are usually marked by unfriendly, hostile behaviours toward victims. There are cases of microaggressions in xenophobic reactions to persons from underrepresented social minorities. Defined as “...brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioural and environmental indignities, intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults to the target person or group”, microaggressions considerably harm the victim and, if left unaddressed, may create a non-welcoming environment for students, staff or faculty.This workshop focuses on what microaggressions are, everyday categories, reactions to acts of microaggression, and strategies for responding to microaggressions.

This workshop explores the implications of diversity and the need for creating an inclusive teaching and learning environment at the university.  An inclusive learning climate is where all students receive adequate support to reach their intellectual and academic goals. Students in an inclusive learning environment experience a sense of belonging in the classroom regardless of learning preferences, or experiential or identity backgrounds. Such environments are sustained when instructors and students become mindful of the need for sensitivity to diversity in the classroom.

This presentation focuses on the alignment between the intent of EDI initiatives and their impacts. Inclusion and diversity require intentionality and decisive actions to deliver qualitative results in driving progress. The presentation examines EDI actions and their alignment with the university's equity and inclusion goals. Discussions explore ways staff, faculty and students can align their intent with meaningful impact to support their diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

A discussion on developing diversity and inclusion initiatives within a unit involves several measures that may include collecting and analyzing data to determine priorities and areas of need, aligning EDI strategies with the unit’s objectives, and implementing and regularly evaluating the strategy to ensure progress. This presentation highlights practices for effectively implementing EDI initiatives.

As humans, we all have unconscious biases that impact our decision-making and behaviours.  In many ways that we are unaware of, these biases can undermine our efforts to foster inclusion, equity and diversity. Understanding unconscious/implicit bias and how it impacts our decisions is key to fostering more inclusive environments in our workplaces, teaching and learning, and leadership. This workshop explains how unconscious bias is formed and different forms of unconscious bias, e.g. affinity bias; confirmation bias; social comparison bias; and attribution error. Participants learn about ways to self-examine various biases that influence how we interact and behave around/towards various groups of people, the impact of unconscious bias in the workplace, and strategies for reducing its effects.

This workshop focuses on the concepts and contexts of power and privilege. What does it mean to have privilege? The workshop will consider how social identities (sexuality, gender, race, class and religion) provide or deny privilege. Can we identify whether we have the privilege and how our actions might reflect such privilege? How do power and privilege impact disparities? How can power and privilege be applied to break the cycle of oppression? This workshop explores these questions, allowing participants to examine how social identities create power and privilege and perpetuate oppression. Participants will learn about bias, develop skills for allyship, and take steps toward equity and inclusion.

This workshop aims to introduce faculty, students, and staff to the concept of intercultural competence. The workshop examines why developing intercultural competencies are essential for creating an inclusive and welcoming climate for the university community.  The research states that intercultural competence is an ambiguous term, and many people have challenges applying it to their practices.  This workshop will start from the basics to provide participants with opportunities to discuss the concept, what it means to them, and how it can be applied to their practice.

In our everyday interactions, we may inadvertently use words and phrases that have the potential to be considered unwelcoming by the recipient or an observer. In diverse environments, the language we use can cause harm to those we interact with. Using respectful and mindful language is important in creating and fostering a welcoming and inclusive climate at the university. The objective of this workshop is to explore ways language can exclude and include diverse groups of people and to encourage practice skills for the intentional use of language in interactions in our interactions.

This workshop focuses on gender imbalances, gaps, and discriminatory practices in higher education.  What do we know about the nature, extent, and impact of barriers to the equitable participation of women in higher education? What measures can be applied to address barriers and factors that contribute to gender imbalances in universities?