Learning can be more relevant and interesting to students if they are actively involved in the process as opposed to learning solely through the traditional lecture method. For example, instructors in diversity related courses can utilize "student or peer experiences" to facilitate both the teaching and learning of diversity. This instructor began using peer experiences in a diversity management course several years ago. By using this method, students are able to discuss their personal experiences or the experiences of someone they know to raise awareness of various diversity issues and learn about how to deal with specific concerns in diversity management. This learning approach has made the class more relevant and interesting for students because it uses actual student or peer experiences, as opposed to discussing hypothetical situations or recycled case studies. While a student is talking about a personal experience on a given diversity issue, the rest of the class can learn not only about that specific problem and how the student dealt with it, but have the opportunity to visualize themselves in that situation, ask questions, make comments, and learn from the experience. At the same time, students who are presenting their experiences gain additional perspective by listening to feedback given by the class and having the opportunity to think in retrospect about how they dealt with the incident. This learning approach has had a win-win-win effect for my course from the standpoint of the students talking about their experiences, the students listening to those experiences and the instructor.
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