EDI Workshops

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI): An Overview of the Basics 

This presentation is an introductory guide to provide a starting point to learn about equity, diversity, and inclusion in the higher educational setting. This presentation provides a broad overview of awareness of EDI issues and engagement practices that support a climate of equity and inclusion at the university community.

Managing Diversity: Implementing Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives 

A discussion on developing diversity and inclusion initiatives within a unit involves a number of measures that may include collection and analysis of data to determine priorities and areas of need, aligning EDI strategies with the unit’s objectives, implementing and regularly evaluating the strategy to ensure progress. This presentation highlights practices towards effectively implementing EDI initiatives.

Gender Equity Issues in Higher Education 

This workshop focuses on gender imbalances, gaps, and discriminatory practices in higher education.  What do we know about the nature, extent, and impact of barriers to equitable participation of women in higher education? What measures can be applied to addressing barriers and factors that contribute to gender imbalances in universities?

Intent and Impact: Promoting a Culture of Equity and Inclusion

This presentation focuses on the alignment between the intent of EDI initiatives and their impacts. Inclusion and diversity require intentionality and decisive actions to truly deliver qualitative results in driving progress. The presentation examines EDI actions and their alignment with the university's equity and inclusion goals? Discussions explore ways that staff, faculty and students can align their intent with meaningful impact to support their diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

Introduction to Intercultural Competence

The purpose of this workshop is to introduce faculty, students, and staff to the concept of intercultural competence. The workshop examines why developing intercultural competencies are important for creating an inclusive and welcoming climate for the university community.  The research states that intercultural competence is an ambiguous term and many people have challenges to applying it to their practices.  This workshop will start from the basics to provide participants with opportunities to discuss the concept and what it means to them and how it can be applied to their practice.

Intercultural Communication: Cultural Values and Communication Styles

Do you experience complex cross-cultural communication situations? To effectively navigate the increasingly diverse teaching, learning, and working spaces, staff, faculty, and students at the university need intercultural awareness, knowledge, and skills. Through reflection and discussion, the presentation examines culture as a perceptual lens, explores cultural differences in communication styles, identifies barriers to effective intercultural communication, and shares skills for bridging the language and culture divide.

Unconscious/Implicit Bias

As humans we all have unconscious biases that impact our decision-making and behaviors.  In many ways that we are unaware of, these biases can undermine our efforts to foster inclusion, equity and diversity. Understanding what unconscious/implicit bias is and how it impacts our decisions is key to fostering more inclusive environments in our workplaces, in teaching and learning, and, in leadership. This workshop provides an understanding of how unconscious bias is formed and different forms of unconscious bias e.g. affinity bias; confirmation bias; social comparison bias; and attribution error. Participants learn about ways to do a self-examination of a variety biases that influence how we interact and behave around/towards various groups of people; the impact of unconscious bias in the workplace; and, strategies for reducing its effects.

Power and Privilege

This workshop focuses on the concepts and contexts of power and privilege. What does it mean to have privilege? The workshop will consider how social identities (for example sexuality, gender, race, class and religion) provide or deny privilege? Are we able to identify whether we have privilege and how our actions might reflect such privilege? How do power and privilege impact disparities? In what ways can power and privilege be applied to break the cycle of oppression? This workshop explores these questions, offering participants an opportunity to examine ways in which social identities create power and privilege and perpetuate oppression. Participants will learn about bias and develop skills for allyship and taking steps towards equity and inclusion.

Anti-racism or Difficult Dialogues

Staff, students, and faculty experience situations where identity differences significantly impact interactions and may hinder positive communication. This presentation provides a space for dialogue towards developing awareness and skills that can be applied in difficult conversations about race and racism. The objective is to build familiarity and competency for engaging in discussions or dealing with different types of discrimination, such as gender bias, ableism, and religious or anti-LGBTQ and other oppressive situations.

Anti-discrimination Response Training

Developed by Dr. Ishu Ishiyama of the University of British Columbia, ART uses a witness-centered approach to help bystanders develop a personal tool kit to respond to discriminatory comments, disrupt hurtful conversations or behavior and support those targeted on the basis of differences in race, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation, gender, age, nationality or any other difference.

Microaggressions in the work, learning and teaching environments

Regardless of their sources, microaggressions occur often in different contexts and are usually marked by unfriendly, hostile behaviors towards victims. There are cases of microaggressions in xenophobic reactions to persons from underrepresented social minorities. Defined as “...brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral and environmental indignities, intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults to the target person or group”, microaggressions considerably harms the victim and if left unaddressed, may create a non-welcoming environment for students, staff or faculty.This workshop focuses on what microaggressions are, common categories, reactions to acts of microaggression, and strategies for responding to microaggressions.

Inclusive Language in Diverse Environments

In our everyday interactions, we may inadvertently use words and phrases that have the potential to be  considered unwelcoming by the recipient or an observer. In diverse environments, the language we use can cause harm to those we interact with. Using respectful and mindful language is important in creating and fostering a welcoming and inclusive climate at the university. The objective of this workshop is to explore ways language can exclude and include diverse groups of people, and, and to encourage practice skills for being intentional in the use of language in interactions in our interactions.

Inclusive Teaching and Learning in diverse Classrooms

This workshop explores the implications of diversity and the need for creating an inclusive teaching and learning environment at the university.  An inclusive learning climate is an environment where all students receive adequate support to reach their intellectual and academic goals. Students in an inclusive learning environment experience a sense of belonging in the classroom regardless of learning preferences, experiential or, identity backgrounds. Such environments are sustained when instructors and students become mindful of the need for sensitivity to the diversity in the classroom.

Equity in Higher Education

What is the difference between equity and equality in the higher education context? In simple terms, equality focuses on treating everyone the same while equity focuses on providing everyone with the means to meet their full potential based on their needs, abilities, and experiences. Equity in education requires systems that equitably support individuals, based on their needs, abilities, backgrounds and experiences, to achieve positive outcomes. This workshop focuses on steps to equitably support faculty, students, and staff in their respective roles and experiences at the university. Participants will examine dimensions of equity and measures to minimize barriers that staff, faculty and students may face in their respective roles.