Promoting the study of diversity under such circumstances is a special challenge. Professors can teach about the many cultures that have contributed to American history and society, but frequently their students have little sense of cultures markedly different from their own. Furthermore, by focusing on race in the classroom and on the minority status of a few individuals, we may increase the alienation students of color often feel in racially homogeneous classes. Computer mediation alleviates the panoptic pressure of oral discourse and reduces the struggle to monopolize the discourse space. Students can have a greater sense of safety and students in general and students of color in particular may assert their ideas more forcefully and directly.
Technology also offers new ways of diversifying the classroom itself.
The broad reach of the Internet makes it possible to pair racially homogeneous classes with more diverse classes at other institutions. Students discussed on-line such topics as mainstream and alternative family structures, family patterns in African American, Latino, Native American, and European American cultural settings, along with the more general issues of racism, discrimination, affirmative action, and immigration. Inter-class dialogues about such issues can be difficult, but also provide valuable learning opportunities not available in traditional classrooms at predominantly white institutions. The liberating effect of the CMC environment can lead to more forthright exchanges, although instructors also need to be aware of the potentially inflammatory nature of the discussions. This conflict can be highly productive, however, in revealing prejudice and mistaken assumptions that underlie some of our students' beliefs.