Diversity

 

Designing a Diversity Course

Diversity courses facilitate students’ development as culturally literate members of society.

Little Mr. Seminole and Jr. Miss Florida Seminole stand together in the middle of Doak Campbell stadium's field. They are wearing traditional regalia under their pageant sashes.

What are the learning objectives of Diversity courses?

  1. Analyze some aspect of human experience within a culture, focusing on at least one source of diversity (e.g., age, disability, ethnicity, gender, language, race, religion, sexual orientation, social class, or other).
  2. Explore one’s own cultural norms or values in relation to those of a different cultural group.

What aspects of course design are necessary to certify a course for Diversity?

The course submission must reflect the following information:

Diversity courses facilitate students’ development as culturally literate members of society.

  • The course must contain some form of substantial assignment which accounts for at least 25% of the final grade and requires the student to demonstrate having achieved the course competencies.
  • Students must be provided criteria for evaluating performance on the Diversity assignment(s), feedback (including instructor and/or teaching assistant response), and opportunities for revision.

Note: Only college-level courses (1000 or higher) are approved for the Liberal Studies curriculum.

Credit hours:

  • Graduation Requirement courses can be less than 3 credit hours if desired.
    • State-Mandated Writing courses cannot be less than 3 credit hours.
    • Formative Experiences courses can be variable credit (0 or more hours).
  • Variable credit hour courses should have a clear justification (ex: internship, seminar with rotating topics).

What language must be included in the syllabus?

There are two components of required syllabus language:

  1. Statements approved by the Faculty Senate, and
  2. Statements for each Liberal Studies designation the course is certified for

 

Faculty Senate required syllabus language:
All syllabi are required to include the syllabus language statements approved by the FSU Faculty Senate, available at https://facsenate.fsu.edu/Curriculum-Resources/syllabus-language.

Liberal Studies required syllabus language:

The following statement can either be 1) adapted specifically to the course content, or 2) pasted verbatim into the syllabus. In either case, the meaning of the language should be clearly communicated to students.

 

This course has been approved to meet FSU’s Liberal Studies Diversity requirement and prompts your development as a culturally literate member of society.

In order to fulfill FSU’s Diversity requirement, the student must earn a “C–” or higher in the course.

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

  1. Analyze some aspect of human experience within a culture, focusing on at least one source of diversity (e.g., age, disability, ethnicity, gender, language, race, religion, sexual orientation, social class, or other).
  2. Explore one’s own cultural norms or values in relation to those of a different cultural group.

 

Can I combine Diversity with any other Liberal Studies areas?

  • Diversity can be combined with any General Education designation.
  • Diversity can be combined with any of the University Wide Graduation Requirements.
    • If you choose to add a writing designation to your course proposal, note that a course can only fulfill one type of Writing requirement.
      • A course may be E-Series/State-Mandated Writing “W” or Upper-Division Writing.
    • Note that a course can carry either the Scholarship in Practice (SIP) or Formative Experience designation, but not both.

Is there a syllabus template I can use to develop a Diversity course?

Yes. While there is no strictly required format for syllabi, our office has created the following document that you may use to facilitate the process of creating a Liberal Studies syllabus: Syllabus Guide - Diversity

Who should I contact if I have more questions or concerns?

  • Faculty may contact Kestrel Strickland with any questions about Liberal Studies course design, as well as questions about using the Curricular Request Application (CRA) to submit curricular requests for Liberal Studies approval.
  • You may also browse the FAQ for commonly asked questions and answers.