CTL to participate in the Erasmus + project “SensiClass” on teaching sensitive topics in diverse classrooms

The Center for Teaching and Learning in partnership with CEU's Cultural Heritage Studies Program collaborated on the international project, "Tackling sensitive topics in classroom". The three-year project, sponsored through the Erasmus+ scheme 'Strategic Partnership for Higher Education' included expert colleagues from the University of Tartu, the SGH Warsaw School of Economics, and the University of Hradec Králové. 

The project produced a toolkit and other resources for secondary and higher education teachers who teach on sensitive topics in diverse classrooms. 

The short-term objective of the project was to develop high-impact pedagogical strategies to enrich classroom instruction and to promote social change towards more tolerant and inclusive societies. The long-term objective was the development of meaningful courses for students who come from diverse cultural, institutional, and educational backgrounds.

The CEU team took a lead in developing a toolbox for faculty which will help them to address the challenges inherent to culturally diverse higher education classroom. This toolbox aims to provide meaningful pedagogical solutions and strategies to bridge and leverage cultural differences that may arise between students and their professors, and among students. It  supports faculty in designing courses with potentially sensitive content as well as in creating a safe and inclusive classroom environment.

At the end of the project, a multiplier event was organized for university faculty in Hungary and the neighboring countries as well as for CEU faculty and doctoral students (future faculty). This event provided participants with the opportunity to reflect on the dilemmas of teaching sensitive topics, issues around intercultural communication and social inclusion. Participants also had a chance to apply new ideas and materials for redesigning their own course content to address the needs of international and culturally diverse student groups.