The Center for Academic Innovation (AI) has announced that the Science Learning Center (SLC) is one of eight 2019 Academic Innovation Fund awardees of the Expanding Equity and Inclusion call for proposals.

The SLC project will develop online training modules for student staff on topics of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). The SLC team is partnering with the Community-Engaged Academic Learning (CEAL) to conduct focus groups that will identify specific training topics that students feel are relevant to their lived experiences on campus. Potential training topics include: sense of belonging, implicit bias, stereotype threat, microaggressions, and bystander intervention.

The goal of this project is to provide a set of resources that all university units could utilize to prepare student staff to confidently handle issues around DEI during their campus employment. The project is composed of three phases. In phase one, the SLC will develop five training videos on DEI topics and collect data on the efficacy of online versus in-person training. This is the phase currently funded by the AI grant. In phase two, the SLC will develop course content for the videos and an online platform for course delivery. Once these two components are combined into an online module and testing is completed, the modules will be fully implemented into SLC student staff training. The SLC will continue to collect data on the efficacy of these training modules.

Phase three will focus on the expanded use of the modules to other units on the UM campus. This phase will conclude with the compilation of data and submission of a research article for publication. The SLC staff also intends to present this research at local, state, and/or national conferences.

Phase one of the project is currently underway, and should wrap up in Fall 2020. Phase two is set to be completed with the launching of the full online platform by Fall 2021 with phase three to begin immediately following.

For more information on the Office of Academic Innovation’s Diversity grants, please see their website at the following link:
CREATING A SOCIALLY JUST UNIVERSITY IN THE 21ST CENTURY (DE&I)
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