Instructional Design Strategy in Developing a Unit for Teaching Microaggression Prevention in a College Undergraduate Course

Author : Ivan P. Nikolov, PhD

Abstract : Research related to microaggression as part of the diversity and inclusion HR policies is quite extensive and practices vary. Beginning in the 1970, when Harvard’s Chester Pierce (1970) coined the phrase as an expression of everyday low intensity expression of negative attitude towards targeted minorities in the black/ white relations, today it encompasses multiple strata of the US population. Teaching microaggression prevention in higher education started in the 1990s with the idea to educate undergraduate students about the dangers and consequences of such behaviors. However, presently teaching microaggression prevention is under some external pressure to change towards a more integrative approach. This change is related to administrative limitations towards diversity and inclusion education and research in higher education settings. This article is discussing an attempt to apply instructional design process (Rothwell, W. et. al. 2016) in developing an authentic learning curricular unit (Herrington and all, 2014; Ainsworth, L. & Donovan, K. 2019) to teach about microaggression for my undergraduate class.

Keywords : microaggression, diversity and inclusion, higher education, instructional design, authentic learning, and curriculum development.

Conference Name : International Conference on Pedagogy, Curriculum, and Instructional Design (ICPCIND-26)

Conference Place : Sofia, Bulgaria

Conference Date : 12th Jun 2026