Diversity Competencies in Teaching and Learning

RWTH Aachen and the University of Cologne join forces to develop "DiVers,“ a web-based self-assessment tool for gender and diversity competencies in academic teaching and learning. The universities’ application was successful in a competition run by the Center for Competency Development in Diversity Management in Teaching and Learning, KomDiM for short.

The one-year project, scheduled to start in January 2014, is to further develop the competencies of university instructors in the arena of diversity. With the help of "Divers," university teachers are to realize the potentials of diversity for high-quality teaching and implement adequate measures to further improve teaching and learning, taking into account diversity-related aspects.

"Divers“ seeks to encourage instructors to engage in self-reflecting practice and to integrate gender and diversity-related aspects in the subject matter. Furthermore, teachers will be provided with new perspectives on the design of communication and interaction, teaching and learning methods, and the evaluation of student performance. With the help of self-assessments, simulated teaching situations, and various exercises to broaden the range of teaching behaviors, the competencies of university teachers are to be further developed.