How to Teach to a Diverse Audience

With an growing global economy and new education options, the student body is more diverse than ever. This provides teachers with a lot of new opportunities, but also poses some new challenges.

Luckily, there are some great resources out there to prepare teachers for this new cultural diversity in the classroom. We've scoured the web and these are 53 resources that stand out from the rest. They are all university or government resources, or are part of respectable online portals. We've divided them into seven categories to help you find exactly what you need.

General  -  Race  -  Disabilities  -  International  -  Adult  -  Gender & Sexuality  -  Other

General

1. Creating Inclusive College Classrooms (University of Michigan): The university's Center for Research on Learning and Teaching offers this comprehensive guide, which includes choosing appropriate course content, bringing awareness to assumptions, planning accommodations, and more.
2. Critical Behaviors and Strategies for Teaching Culturally Diverse Students (Education Resources Information Center): This government resource is broken down into teacher behaviors, instructional strategies, and resources.
3. Diverse Classrooms (The Ohio Learning Network): This hub offers resources specific to Ohio, and resources for teachers in the US and around the world. The site has a section devoted to its seven core principles, which include encouraging contact between student and faculty, developing reciprocity and cooperation, using active learning techniques, and more.
4. Diversity: Teachers, a site dedicated to helping teachers with their profession, provides this resource center, which includes lesson plans, activities, and professional and web resources. This site is a great place to find resources like classroom activities and teaching kits, and also a host of useful information and tips.
5. Diversity and Complexity in the Classroom: Considerations of Race, Ethnicity, and Gender (UC Berkeley): This is a chapter from the book Tools for Teaching by Barbara Gross Davis. It includes general strategies, tactics for overcoming stereotypes, advising and extracurricular activities, and more.
6. Diversity in the Classroom (Ohio State University): This article is written by a professor from the Fisher College of Business. It talks about the importance of keeping diversity in mind in a global economy and then goes over some personal tips she has developed during her career.
7. Diversity Database (University of Maryland): This is an index of multiculturalism and diversity resources. You can look at syllabi, issue-specific resources, and more.
8. On Diversity in Teaching and Learning: A Compendium (University of Colorado at Boulder): The best way to get a handle on what this great resource has to offer is to check out the table of contents. It boasts a list of helpful and comprehensive academic articles written by various professors.
9. Diversity Web: An Interactive Resource Hub for Higher Education: This site is broken down into four major sections: Diversity Innovations, Research and Trends, Diversity & Democracy, and Diversity Postings.
10. Do's and Don'ts of Inclusive Language (Honolulu Community College): This article focuses on language and word choice. It is broken up into useful sections and at the end, there is a chart of general examples of inclusive language.
11. Helping Faculty Teach Diverse Students and Diverse Topics Effectively: Principles and Guidelines (San Diego State University): This guide offer concrete, solid advice on teaching strategies such as syllabus design, grading, and classroom behavior.
12. Illinois Association for Cultural Diversity (Western Illinois University): This is a great collection of university resources as well as links to journals and descriptions of useful documentaries and fictional films.
13. Inclusive Teaching (University of Washington): This resource is great because it not only includes all of the basic and sound strategies, but it also includes links to teacher self-assessment questions and surveys.
14. Instructional Consulting: Teaching & Diversity (Indiana University Bloomington): This hub is broken down into multiple sections and clearly lays out what you can find on the site. It breaks down teaching tips into useful categories, like general, gender-related, age-related, race-related, religion-related, and more.
15. Michigan State University Advances Diversity Within Community: This site provides MSU reports, position statements, and campus resources, as well as a list of general, worldwide resources.
16. Multicultural Enhanced Learning for Diversity (Penn State University): This university database provides a place for Penn State faculty to discuss diversity and find and share resources.
17. Multicultural Online Resource Guide (Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis): This hub was designed in order to combat the low graduation rates of minority students. It has a great search tool to connect teachers to academic work on inclusive teaching.
18. Multicultural Pavilion: This great hub is brought to you by Paul C. Gorski and EdChange and has a range of features including tips, original essays and articles, training and workshop information, news, and more.
19. Preparing Teachers for the Diverse Classroom: A Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign): This great academic essay is a good place to start in educating yourself about the importance of recognizing diversity in your classroom. It introduces important studies and findings.
20. Recognizing and Addressing Cultural Variation in the Classroom (Carnegie Mellon): This resource is one of the best, most comprehensive guides out there for faculty. Its 30 pages are well-written and easy-to-digest. The Table of Contents is split into three sections—Background Issues, Cultural Variations, and Suggestions for Instructors—and gives a great overview of the content.
21. Students' Ideas about Diversity in the Classroom (University of Virginia): This short article provides an analysis and description of diversity in the classroom from the perspective of students. It's also part of a helpful Teaching Resource Center.
22. Teaching Diverse Learners (Brown University): Part of Brown's Education Alliance, this resource focuses on principles for culturally responsive teaching. It breaks down this topic into seven sections and clearly walks you through each.
23. Teaching Tips for the Success of All Students in a Diverse Classroom (Texas A&M University): This PDF lays out the basic concepts of teaching to a diverse audience. It's written by an Associate Professor in the Higher Education Administration Department of Education Administration and Human Resource Development.
24. Teaching Tools (University of Florida): This is a brief overview of university teaching practices and strategies for responding to student diversity.

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Race

25. Perceptions of Faculty Behavior by Students of Color (University of Michigan): This document was created in response to the feedback of students of color, who reported negative contacts with faculty. It goes over all of the students major concerns and then introduces strategies to address these concerns.
26. Teaching in Racially Diverse College Classrooms (Harvard University): This resource focuses on racially diverse students and provides great, clear guidelines for your classroom.
27. Teaching Tolerance (A Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center): This site tackles the larger goal of reducing prejudice, improving inter-group relations, and creating equal education opportunities for all children.

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Disabilities

28. Students with Disabilities as Diverse Learners - Center on Disabilities Studies: Plenty of teaching for students with disabilities resources including presentations, professional development, and assessment resources.
29. Disabilities Resources for Teaching Inclusively (University of Massachusetts Amherst): This PDF starts by explaining different disabilities and how they can affect learning, then moves onto effective teaching strategies. It also includes FAQs and teacher checklists.
30. Drew University Writing Instructor Guidelines: Teaching Students with Learning Disabilities: This resource is specifically for writing instructors and includes common indicators of dyslexia, strategies, tutoring tips, and more.
31. The Faculty Room (University of Washington): This is a center for faculty and administrators at post-secondary institutions to create a successful environment for all students, including those with disabilities.
32. Learning Disabilities Association of America: This site provides support for people with learning disabilities and their parents, teachers, and other professionals. They have useful resources like "Successful Strategies for Teaching Students with Learning Disabilities."
33. Making Accommodations for Students With Disabilities: A Guide For Faculty and Graduate Student Instructors (University of Michigan): This resource was created in response to student focus groups which concluded that instructors demonstrate a lack of knowledge about disabilities and accommodations, and that they have difficulty talking with students about these issues.
34. Strategies for Teaching Students With Learning Disabilities (West Virginia University): This resource takes teachers through everything from possible indicators of learning disabilities to classroom strategies.
35. Teaching Guide: Teaching Strategies for Students with Learning Disabilities (Colorado State University): This is a well-designed site that provides explanations, strategies, and a list of Internet resources.
36. Teaching Students With Disabilities (Illinois State University): This site provides a great list of reports, databases, articles, and more on teaching students with disabilities.
37. Teaching Students With Disabilities (UC Irvine): This resource is part of the Disability Services Center at the university. It covers FAQs and examples of academic accommodations,.
38. Teaching Students With Disabilities (Yale University): This resource goes over general procedures and then goes into more details in different sections devoted to different types of disabilities.
39. Teaching Students With Disabilities - A Practical Guide (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign): This brochure addresses topics such as time, access, answering questions, physical access, exams, and more.
40. What is Universal Design for Learning (CAST): CAST (the Center for Applied Special Technology) aims to expand learning opportunities for all, especially those with disabilities. The organization has a great section on Universal Design.

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International

40. Intercultural Communication (Michigan State University): The director of the Office for International Students & Scholars lays out the basic principles for creating a successful learning environment for international students.
41. International Students (University of Virginia): This PDF can be found in the university's online Teaching Resource Center. It goes over all of the important strategies.
42. Suggestions for Teaching International Students More Effectively (Oxford Brookes University): This resource was designed to help Oxford teachers who have students from outside of the UK. It has a lot of useful tips and strategies, and has a nice section on the reaction of "stay-at-home" students to students from outside of the UK.
43. Teaching International Students: Some Tips (Marietta College): This resource was writer by the Director of ESL and of International Programs at Marietta College. It covers lectures, reading assignments, group work, and more.
44. Teaching International Students: Strategies to Enhance Learning (The University of Melbourne): This 18-page resource is one of the best out there. It covers all the key strategies in the main part of the text, but also includes side notes of things to watch out for or more specific tips.

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Adult

45. Characteristics of Adult Learners (Rochester Institute of Technology): This resource outlines characteristics of adult learners and compares them to younger students. It also offers teaching strategies, teaching styles, and more.
46. Teaching Adult Learners (Ferris State University): This resource provides an overview, general ideas, guidelines, key principles, and more.
47. Teaching Adult Students (Kansas State University): This PDF is presented by the Center for Faculty Evaluation & Development at Kansas State University. It tackles all the challenges of teaching adult students and offers concrete advice.
48. Tips for Teaching Adult Students Online (Worcester Polytechnic Institute): Online teachers face a particular challenge, as their students are not even limited by a physical space. This resource is very detailed and online teachers should definitely check it out.

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Gender & Sexuality

49. Making Colleges and Universities Safe for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Trans gender (GLBT) Students and Staff: This resource is broken into six sections that cover creating a successful environment for LGBT students and staff. Sections include Policies, Training and Development, Employee Concerns, Community, and more.
50. What Can an Individual Faculty Member and an Academic Department Do to Improve the Campus Climate for GLBT Students? (university of Nebraska-Lincoln): This resource tackles creating an inclusive environment from both a departmental and an individual level.
51. Undergraduate Women in Science and Engineering: Providing Academic Support (University of Michigan): This resource focuses on creating a successful environment for women in science and engineering fields, areas where women give up their majors in higher proportions than men.
52. Women's Studies Online Resources (University of Maryland, Baltimore County): This hub provides links to resources about women's rights and women's issues.

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Other

53. Teaching Concerns: HOOS on the Team? (University of Virginia): This resource aims at helping teachers understand student-athletes and create learning environments where they can succeed.

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