Goal
To assess students' awareness of prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination before the course so that they can see later whether their level of awareness has increased.
Initial Assignment
On the first day of class, tell students that you would like them to take the Slide Tour of Prejudice as soon as possible so that they have an unbiased record of their thinking before the course. Ask them to do this before reading any assignments, and warn them that they should plan to spend at least 20 minutes on this assignment.
It is also important to stress the following points:
- Their answers will remain confidential and not be shared with others.
- They should try to answer as openly and honestly as possible.
- They should take the survey alone and uninterrupted by others.
- If they're not sure of an answer, they should just do the best they can.
- Later in the course, they'll be able to discuss their answers.
Later Assignment
Toward the end of the course, ask the students to retake the Slide Tour while keeping in mind what they've learned from the class (if you are using Understanding Prejudice and Discrimination, ask students to reflect on the philosophy of Interbeing as they view the slides).
After students retake the Slide Tour, they'll be able to see a comparison of their original answers and their current answers, along with a numeric index of any overall change in answers. Tell students to bring these numbers to class and to be prepared to discuss any shifts they had in their answers.
Notes
Most students show an increase in the number of slides they identify as involving prejudice and discrimination. This increase in awareness offers tangible evidence that students are seeing things that they overlooked before taking the course. Instructors can also heighten the impact of this assignment by (1) customizing the Slide Tour for their own purposes (click on the Slide Tour Instructor's Area for details); and (2) viewing the summary of student Slide Tour responses in the Instructor's Area in order to identify slides that showed the greatest increase in awareness.
