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Using survey method, this study explores how diversity courses are offered, what is taught in those courses and how learning outcomes are assessed in those courses in 64 U.S. journalism and mass communication programs. This study also seeks to determine the preferred teaching approach to diversity in these programs and whether there is a relationship between the status of a program's offering of a dedicated course on diversity and its teaching approach. One of the key findings of this study is integrating diversity content across the curriculum is popular among both the programs that offer a course on diversity and the programs that do not offer a course on diversity. Another finding, unexplored in some past studies, suggests that these programs use critical thinking-oriented independent and applied assignments significantly over testing as assessment tools of diversity learning outcomes.
Keywords: curriculum, diversity, journalism, learning outcomes, mass communication, pedagogy, teaching approaches
INTRODUCTION
The role of diversity in U.S. media-and, indeed in higher education-has gained increasing prominence in the past few decades. More and more, both the media and journalism/mass communication programs have recognized the need for attention to the total communities they serve, including groups that statistically are minorities in the total population. This study seeks to assess the impact of such recognition on instruction provided by U.S. journalism/mass communication programs as they train the students who will become the next generation of professionals.
The main goals of this research, therefore, are to understand how U.S. journalism and mass communication programs teach diversity, including what they teach about diversity, whether they offer separate courses or include diversity in regular classes, and how they assess the learning outcomes of diversity instruction.
Previous studies on the state of diversity education in journalism/mass communication programs analyzed the impact of the diversity standard put forth by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (ACEJMC), the content of diversity-related courses offered in accredited programs, the enrollment in diversity-related courses and the level at which such courses are offered (Biswas & Izard, 2010; Bressers, 2002; Kern-Foxworth & Miller, 1991; Ross & Patton, 2000). These projects did not always provide comparative analyses between accredited and non-accredited programs. But some few results indicate that, in fact, many non-accredited programs offer...