‘Put yourself in my shoes’: an active learning exercise for the instruction of d (17/69) -- 100 Ideas for Active Learning

‘Put yourself in my shoes’: an active learning exercise for the instruction of diversity Dr George Kyparissiadis What is the idea? “Put yourself in my shoes” is an active learning exercise designed to help students appreciate the dimensions of diversity and the value of inclusive representation by adopting perspectives through the eyes of diverse audiences. The exercise takes students through the schema of identity, diversity, and representation on media, and asks them to consider the issue through the perspective of people that are underrepresented in contemporary texts, such as advertising. In the context of formative assessment, students select an advertisement (print or video) that portrays social groups and models of different abilities, genders, ethnic identities, etc. They are then asked to put themselves in the shoes of the person being represented in the ad, and to write in the first person how they feel seeing themselves in an advertisement. The purpose of the exercise is to encourage students to develop empathy and appreciation for diversity and inclusion. Why this idea? It has been shown that formative assessment can improve student learning in the classroom (Bubb et al., 2013). This exercise has been designed as an ungraded take-home assignment, that allows students to engage fully with the material and purpose of the exercise at their own pace. The exercise consists of a research component, role playing, and in-class discussions, around the students’ contribution as well as contemporary perspectives on diversity. The course material stems from the principles of the Cultivation Theory, which posits that the content we consume through media affects our perception of the world. Audiences develop impressions and biases for different social groups, based on the portrayal, or lack thereof, of these groups on media such as television, social media and outdoor advertising. The representation of diversity in media raises, therefore, ethical, legal and social considerations that can be assessed by appraising the situation and appreciating the value of inclusion and appropriate representation (Cluley, 2017, Mosharafa, 2015). The exercise encourages students to revisit their own preconceptions around specific identities, and to switch perspectives with them. Their outlook is then shared with their colleagues through an online blog as well as an in-class presentation of their experience. Students are encouraged to comment on each other’s contribution, allowing for the discovering of new identities, which may even be represented in class. This practice stimulates empathy, team spirit and a deeper understanding of the necessity for representation and inclusion. How could others implement this idea? The exercise ‘Put yourself in my shoes’ was originally designed as a formative assessment in a course on Advertising Theories, but can be adapted for different Liberal Arts and Sciences courses. The implementation presented below regards the exercise in