This study examined master's students' experiences with multicultural curriculum. It found that over time students developed a more complex understanding of key concepts like privilege and oppression. Initially students saw privilege as only economic and oppression as affecting only marginalized groups, but later recognized various privileges they had and oppression as systemic. Students also shifted from seeing social justice as charity to viewing it as an ongoing process requiring allyship. The educators' approach, including assignments that challenged but also supported students, impacted learning. The study recommends further research on diverse students' experiences with such courses and on White educators teaching them.

1. K R I S T I N I . M C C A N N , P H . D . C A N D I D A T E , H I G H E R E D U C A T I O N
L A U R E N A D A M S , 3 R D Y E A R U N D E R G R A D U A T E S T U D E N T W O M E N ' S S T U D I E S
G E N D E R S T U D I E S , M A J O R E D U C A T I O N P O L I C Y S T U D I E S , M I N O R
MASTER’S STUDENTS’ EXPERIENCES WITH
MULTICULTURAL CURRICULUM

2. BACKGROUND & PURPOSE
• 73% of graduate preparation
programs require students to take a
multicultural competency course
• To understand master’s students
experiences with multicultural
competency and social justice
curriculum in a graduate preparation
program

3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
• How, if at all, did students’ understandings of core
concepts of the multicultural competency course
change over time?
• What, if any, changes were due to experiences students
had in the required course?
• What, if any, changes were due to experience students had
outside of the required course?
• How, if at all, did educators’ approach to the
multicultural and social justice curriculum impact
students’ experiences?

4. LITERATURE
• Dearth of research focusing on multicultural
competency in the higher education literature
(Pope et al., 2009)
• Little is known about master’s students’ experiences
with multicultural curriculum (Pope & Mueller, 2005;
Pope et al., 2009)-especially from a qualitative
perspective.
• Today, there is still a need to understand “how best
to successfully prepare multiculturally student affairs
professionals” by talking to faculty who teach
multicultural courses (Kelly & Gayles, 2010, p. 84).

5. METHODOLOGY
• Conceptual framework: Literacy
theory and modified components of
Hurtado, Milem, Clayton-Pederson, &
Allen’s (1998, 1998) framework for
understanding campus climate.
(Attention to the context in which
students experienced the curriculum.)
• Basic qualitative approach (Merriam,
2009)
• Constructivist approach (Jones,
Torres, & Arminio, 2006)
• How do people make meaning of their
experiences?
• How do people construct their worlds?
• Crystallization approach (not
triangulation) (Ellingson, 2006)

6. PHOTO ELICITATION ASSIGNMENT
• Part 1
• Students took 2-3 photos of
what they considered to be
representative of privilege,
oppression, and social justice
in their everyday lives.
• Paragraph justification
• Part 2
• Students had opportunity to
re-justify and/or replace
photos.
• 5 page extended essay on
their learning over the course
of the semester

7. CHANGE OVER TIME: SELECT THEMES
• Privilege
• Part 1: Economic/socioeconomic privilege
• Part 2: Similar themes in the photo elicitation project; however, new themes
gleaned from part 2 essay and interviews
• New awareness; complicated thinking
• Ex: Students became more aware of privileges they did not realize they had (e.g., religion;
sexual orientation; sex/gender); students had a layered understanding of their privilege
• Oppression
• Part 1: Marginalized populations=oppression
• Part 2: Similar themes in the photo elicitation project; however, new themes
gleaned from part 2 essay and interviews
• Oppression as a system; individual implication in systems of oppression
• Social Justice
• Part 1: Volunteerism/charity=social justice
• Part 2: Social justice as a never-ending process; challenges to social justice;
connections to one’s professional practice; allyship as a way to enact
social justice
• Both White and students of color experienced these themes.

8. SELECT IMPLICATIONS
• Research
• Continue to apply new frameworks to understand the phenomenon of
multicultural competency.
• Consider other methods for research (e.g., case study; mixed
methods; phenomenological interviews; ethnography)
• Focus on diverse student populations who are engaged with required
multicultural-related courses.
• Focus on White educators who teach multicultural-related courses.
• Practice
• Educators should consider teaching practices that both challenge
and support students’ learning—such as via the Learning Partnerships
Model (LPM) (Baxter-Magolda, 2004)
• Educators should consider more attention to the ‘action’ component
of social justice in higher education

9. NEXT STEPS
• Kristin’s Defense
• Research Team
• Summer 2014 Research
• McNair Scholars Program
• The College Experiences of Black
Female Alumni at Predominately
White Institutions
• Loyola Undergraduate Research
Opportunities Program
• Social Justice Fellowship
• Graduate School for Lauren
Kristin & Lauren in action at a weekly meeting

10. THANK YOU
• Kristin
• McNair