A Dynamic Diversity Definition

Several major factors have shifted the long-standing definition of diversity beyond race, gender, age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, religious and political beliefs, and cultural differences. Media and global communications experiences are among the many technology advancements in everyday life that have affected the cross-cultural trend. Consider the following examples of technology that impact 21st-century experiences of diversity:

• Emergence of international social media platforms (e.g., Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.)
• More affordable and more accessible long-distance communication
• Less control of news and entertainment industry solely by mega corporations
• Individual creation and distribution of news, entertainment, and other media
• Loss of travel professionals' exclusive control for bookings and reduced costs for international travel (e.g., Travelocity, Expedia, etc.)

This chapter has already introduced and discussed intersections of technology, international diversity, and opportunities for learning. As a result of these and many other innovations, there have been enormous changes in exposure and understanding of diversity. The next sections explore two other areas of diversity—disability awareness and sexual orientation—and 21st-century learning skills and change.

Sexual Orientation Awareness and Learning

In the midst of these changes in our increasingly rich, diverse society, learning contexts and activities may include enhanced opportunities to explore and reexamine our beliefs and values. Adult learning strategies are able to provide several skills and strategies to navigate contested societal and cultural questions.

For instance, when instructors carefully design project-based learning experiences, they can also create opportunities for sharing different perspectives of concepts and situations. In order to complete such assignments, participants must learn to collaborate and understand the view of the other team members. Critical thinking, analysis, respect, and peer learning are vital 21st-century learning skills that can be cultivated when exploring sexual orientation and equity issues. Participating in learning experiences such as these, adult learners have opportunities to unveil the critical interplay and consequences among cultural values, critical thinking, and technology innovation.

Cross-Cultural Interactions

From Linked In to e-mail, large-group and two-person video conferences, cloud-based collaborative spaces, and VOIP instant audio and video communication, personal and professional interactions constantly and transparently span cultures and the globe. It has become more usual to see images of people of all cultures using cell phones in remote places (e.g., a Hindu elder in the middle of a busy market, a Caribbean sailboat captain wading in the clear blue water and setting nets, or Nigerian adults accessing Facebook from remote desserts and jungles). Similar to the chapter-opening scenario, media images and portrayals can dominate our understanding of different cultures unless we critically reflect on the purpose, message, and limitations of media.

Thus, many new needs for cultivating diversity awareness, perspectives, and skills have been included in accreditation requirements, curricular planning, and research and also in many colleges' self-assessment initiatives. The next sections introduce an overview of prominent contributions to diversity research and education.

Diversity Research

Written for the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU), Kuh's 2008 report is one of the most comprehensive documents that provides a research-based definition of 21st-century learning outcomes for higher education. This report was a valuable contribution to higher education not only because of its focus but also because of its expansive breadth. This synthesis of multiyear research and several different studies examined the needs and expectations of many of the major stakeholders in higher education. The final results represented the perspective and needs of student learning outcomes based on (1) dialogue with hundreds of colleges and universities, (2) analysis of the business community's recommendations and reports, and( 3) requirements for accreditation among four fields: engineering, business, nursing, and teacher education.

The results revealed four major areas of essential learning outcomes:

• Knowledge of human cultures and the physical and natural world
• Intellectual and practical skills
• Personal and social responsibility
• Integrative and applied learning (Kuh, 2008, p.14)

The importance of facilitating cross-cultural learning experiences was further delineated as a critical outcome under the major outcome of “personal and social responsibility.” Within this particular outcome, it is described as “intercultural knowledge and competence” (Kuh, 2008, p. 14).

Gears and Audience

During 21st-century daily life, adults transition between cultures much like shifting gears on a 15-speed bicycle. The interculturally competent person will be able to navigate these changes so deftly that one cannot even hear the clicks as he or she shifts. Meanwhile, because of their inattention, adults who lack this skill will not only have trouble figuratively finding the next gear but also may feel as if they will drop the chain or hit a tree.

The multitude and frequency of cross-cultural communication interactions emphasizes the need to include not only intercultural knowledge but also intercultural competence. For example, when users open their e-mail, they find messages from a host of different countries. And although some might be spam, likely at least several are from friends, colleagues, and even family who reside or are visiting other nations. Consider the challenges in switching from sending an e-mail to a colleague within your college department to one with a drastically different worldview (e.g., education versus physics). Even in this local case, educators need to consider whether their audience will readily understand specific educational technical terms and vice versa.

Now, let's increase the complexity of the example slightly. Consider a native Western colleague e-mailing an East Indian physics professor from the same college. In order to communicate effectively, each of the participants needs to consider the specific cultures of their colleague. Was the native Western professor always raised in a Western culture household? How long has the professor from East India lived in the Western country? In the same vein, is either of these people primarily associated with a specific cultural heritage or community? I know professors who have lived in the United States 30 years and still have minimal English skills because they stay sequestered within their native community, except for teaching time. I also know foreign professors who have lived in the United States just a few years and have become enmeshed in the American culture, leading to linguistic and cultural competence. Assumptions about audience are exceedingly dangerous, especially in the realm of technology-based communication in which visual cues are often absent and at best limited. Understanding your audience is essential.

These examples illustrate the several aspects of intercultural competence relevant to life in the digital age: diversity awareness (Cooper, He, & Levin, 2011; Spring, 2007); multicultural communication skills (Spring, 2007; Ginsberg & Wlodkowski, 2009); and inclusive perspectives.

Prior to extensive discussions of intercultural competence, popular discussions recognized online-based communication's need for specific skills. In the 1990s, this skill set was originally referred to as netiquette. Originally, this concept included users' needs to understand such practices as capital letters represented someone screaming, the meaning of text messaging acronyms (e.g., ROTFL, LOL, BRB, BTW, etc.), the appropriate use of smileys (emoticons) to represent emotions and their meanings, and so on. In addition, communication form changed in this medium.

Originally, e-mail communication followed the same structure and formality as traditional letters; now it is customarily used in a less formal and more direct form. The current state of online and e-communication requires both netiquette and intercultural competence. The essential nature of these skills is because of at least three factors: (1) the frequency and scope of cross-cultural communications, (2) the increased complexity of cultural identity in a mobile and global society, and (3) the high stakes of corporation profit that hinge on daily, technology-based international communication.

The literature provides several models for understanding these changes in diversity and the new skills that are needed for success in the digital age. The next section introduces several of these models.

Intercultural Competence

Cui and Awa (1992) aptly illustrated intercultural competence when they referenced a sojourner (someone who lives temporarily among another group of people who is able to communicate effectively outside of his or her own cultural frame or context). This definition proves an effective description of cultural competency even 20 years later, because it incorporates several vital elements:

• The sojourner: someone who travels outside of his or her cultural home
• Makes one's meaning understood completely and fully
• Across cultures: crossing those great visible and invisible differences among different groups of people

As mentioned, Kuh (2008) research report confirmed the nature of skills that stakeholders identified as needed among learners in higher education for success in the 21st century. Intercultural knowledge and competency were among those listed as well as personal and social responsibility. The literature on intercultural competence provides substantial direction as to the details of those skills.

The philosophical foundation of intercultural competence is social justice (Browne, 2012); this perspective includes recognizing individuals' value, their unique histories, and their worldviews. Many educators agree that the preferred approach to model teaching intercultural competence includes the culturally democratic classroom (Browne, 2012) or culturally responsive classroom (Ginsberg & Wlodkowski, 2009). This orientation means that institutions, faculty members, administrators, and learners must explicitly value and respect the cultural backgrounds and characteristics of all learners. Not only must these elements be valued and respected but also they must be represented in the curriculum (Browne, 2012).

For decades, the area of cross-cultural competence has been studied under many names, including the well-formed field of intercultural effectiveness (ICE) (Chang, 2007). The complexity of the concept was referenced as far back as 1997, when McPhatter argued that there are three main components (enlightened consciousness, a grounded knowledge base, and cumulative skill proficiency) and that these were not only interrelated but also adopted together.

Another important advancement was the delineation of the research-based five-competence model for measuring ICE developed by Han (1997, 2012). Each of the competencies delineates another essential skill and supports not only measurement but also understanding and planning instruction much more clearly: (1) the ability to handle psychological stress, (2) the ability to effectively communicate, (3) the ability to establish interpersonal relationships, (4) the ability to have cross-cultural awareness, and (5) the ability to have cultural empathy (Han 1997, 2012).

Additional contributions by Deardorff's (2004) research articulated the process of achieving intercultural competence. These stages included successively developing awareness, understanding, acceptance, respect, appreciation, new attitudes, skills, and behaviors in reaction to cross-cultural experiences. Intercultural competence provides a very rich body of research and literature to understand diversity in the digital age and provides the opportunity to assess one's readiness and capabilities in communicating and working with people different from ourselves. Critical reflection and dialogue with people near or far are beneficial modes of working through and developing new understandings and behaviors.

Cyberculture

What is cyberculture and what does it reveal about communication and relationships in an information-rich society? Cyberculture is the culture or social conditions and relationships that develop through computer (technology)-mediated communication (Bell, 2006; Lévy, 2001). Using a lens of cyberculture to consider diversity explicitly introduces the context of digital communications for cross-cultural communication.

Numerous studies in mass communication and the social sciences have explored how cyberculture manifests itself in a host of different ways. The following provides just a few examples of this research:

• Laura Croft: Tomb Raider is MacCallum-Stewart's (2014) subject as she examines the manifestation of feminist perspectives and role and depiction of women in media through the fictional hero in the popular simulation game series Tomb Raider. Her meta-analysis includes the work of many authors and researchers who have seen Tomb Raider as the embodiment of social moral and cultural mores (Dovey, & Kennedy, 2006; Gibson, 2012).
• Gandy (2007) studied cyborg urbanization, or the intersection of human, machine, or system (think about the computerized fitness tracker you might use such as a Fitbit) or your GPS, which learns your traveling routes to anticipate your destination.
• Uncapher (2007) researched the phenomenon of electronic homesteading (i.e., purchasing and selling virtual real estate in spaces such as Second Life).
• Turkle (1995, 2005, 2012) presented several issues with digital technology and how it continues to change human relationships.

Turkle on Diversity

Turkle's (2005, 2006) work led to consideration of diversity in the digital age and frequent technology use. She presented how technology has been changing the nature of our interactions. Not only do users employ technology more frequently but also they communicate differently because of it (Kitchenham, 2005; Turkle, 2005, 2006). Important for this discussion is the fact that such technology use includes people who are similar and dissimilar in background, experience, and perspective.

Scaffolding the ICE objectives and competencies provides insight into how adults use technology for their cross-cultural communication. It also provides direction for cultivating new strategies for it as well. Critical reflection, peer learning, and journaling are among the learning activities that are very effective as modes for facilitating meaningful discussions about different cultural understandings and perspectives. In addition, different technology contexts and use provide case study examples for review, analysis, and discussion (e.g., misunderstandings, or miscommunications online, in text messages, etc.) (Carrier, 2010).

Furthermore, research reveals that learners may be more forthcoming in their opinions and perspectives when they are at the computer screen versus in face-to-face classroom. The virtual space enables people to choose their words more carefully and not reveal physical reactions to emotions (e.g., blushing, red-faced, sweating, etc.). Strangely enough, at various times virtual communication can be either the source or the solution to cross-cultural communication issues. Group reflection, debriefing, or role-playing may be useful in developing more effective approaches for participants and building community.

Generational Model

A final concept that is helpful in understanding how adults approach diversity is the generational model of communication and technology use. It is reasonable to expect that because people born before 1970 were educated in schools without desktop computers or laptops, they may have a very different orientation and experience with ubiquitous technology today.

Many studies have documented the differences in technology choices and technology uses based on generation, occupation, and personality (Pew Research Internet Project, 2014; Wang, Wu, & Wang, 2009; Yi, Wu, & Tung, 2005). Research has also revealed the many significant challenges for transformative learning that new technologies can create for faculty members (King, 2002, 2003; Kitchenham, 2005, 2006). Therefore, diversity of experience is emanating from users' experience rather than from the object or receiver of the communication or action. Adult learners have much more variability of experience that needs to be considered in postsecondary instructional design. This diversity of personal perspective and history provides a rich medium for growth, interaction, reflection, and change when used for positive purposes.

Strategy 9.1: Connections in a Global Context

This activity provides opportunities for learners to reflect on communication in a global context. Collectively, participants develop their own code of participation for all interactions that will respect diversity of experience, understanding, and communication.

• Depending on the nature of the learning experiences, instructors can provide a preliminary code of participation in paper or electronic format and have learners revise it to their satisfaction.
• A very powerful process will result in all learners participating in creating the community guidelines.
• Critical questions to the process include the role of why, what, and how when communicating through technology to people different than themselves.
• The class rereads the characteristics of the different models listed in this chapter's previous sections to guide their exploration.
• Providing a written rationale for each point in the code is also very helpful to guide learners through processing the details for their group decisions.

Strategy 9.2: Integrated Media Displays

In this strategy, integrated media displays are created to facilitate identification issues related to cultural and individual diversity. Integrated media displays are creations that may include any combination of technology productions to effectively express personal and group perspectives. Photography, audio and video recordings, digital animation, and digital illustration are all media easily created through free or inexpensive applications for portable devices such as smartphones, tablets, and laptop computers.

A good approach to begin such activities would be to have a group of learners decide on what aspects of diversity will be included in the activity. At that point, small groups begin to plan how they want to create their media display and what needs to be gathered. Negotiation, dialogue, understanding, and respect are all skills that may be facilitated through this activity.

Learners can also participate in identifying issues to explore and design the assignments. Examining the literature regarding facilitating learning through arts-based education can provide more options for different media and project formats (Hanley, Sheppard, Noblit, & Barone, 2013; Mitchell, DeLangeb, Moletsaneb, Stuart, & Buthelezib, 2005).