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Politecnico di Milano

Embracing Diversity

This course promotes the inclusion of women and LGBT people to drive innovation in academic, social and corporate environments and considers the effects of discouragement and self-exclusion on female talent in STEMs.

If you are a POLIMI student you have to log in using your Person Code. This is the only way to prove your participation in this course for official recognition.

This MOOC is one of the three finalists of the Airbus GEDC Diversity Award 2019.

Course description

Because of gender stereotypes, women are still given fewer opportunities in life and they have to put more effort into making people understand their value and creativity. LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) people can also be discriminated against because of prejudices and biases.

Embracing diversity is essential for developing the talent of everyone and for promoting creativity and innovation in academic, social and corporate environments. This 4-week course is aimed at understanding what the roots of biases and stereotypes are, what practical solutions are possible to adopt to promote the inclusion of women and LGBT people in these environments, and why gender and sexual diversity drives innovation and generates new energy.

The course considers the effects of discouragement and self-exclusion on female talent in science, technology, engineering and math, known as STEMs, which has big repercussions in the work world. It also shares some actions useful to motivate girls to study STEMs and reports the cases of some organizations that have decided to promote inclusion to create a fertile, authentic work environment for everyone. Finally, the course provides a bibliography about gender and sexuality.

Project number 561642-EPP-1-2015-1-IL-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

T.I.M.E. Association. Project D-STEM

Top Industrial Managers Europe

The realization of the second week of the course, focused on gender and STEM, has been funded with the support from T.I.M.E. Association in the framework of D-STEM Project.

All videos included in the MOOC are provided with subtitles both in English and Italian.

The course materials will still be available to all registered users for a long time, even after the closing of the edition.

You can access the course absolutely free of charge and completely online.

Prerequisites

No prerequisite knowledge is required.

Discussion forum

A Forum section is available. The Forum is designed to allow students to exchange opinions and discuss open questions.

Quizzes and scores

In each week you will find self-evaluation quizzes specifically created to help you check the status of your learning progress. The course will be considered as completed if you obtain at least 60% of the Total Score.

Activities

The course includes also activities aimed at raising awareness on the topics proposed and stimulating the discussion among students. These activities are not requested to obtain your Certificate of Accomplishment, however they can contribute to enrich your learning experience.

Certificate of Accomplishment

The Certificate of Accomplishment will be released to anyone who successfully completed the course by answering correctly to at least 60% of the questions. You will be able to download the Certificate of Accomplishment directly on the website.

Once you have successfully passed the course, you can request the Certificate of Accomplishment without waiting for the end of the edition.

The Certificate of Accomplishment does not confer any academic credit, grade or degree.

FAQ

For further information, see FAQ page.

Course Faculty

Andrea Notarnicola

Andrea Notarnicola

Andrea Notarnicola is a diversity and inclusion practitioner. His career in culture change, education and communication consultancy began 20 years ago in Electrolux. Then he joined the Deloitte Consulting Change Leadership team.

In the last 20 years, he has worked on diversity and inclusion with many organizations. He has specialized in internal communications, training and coaching, and he has been involved in the delivery of a wide spectrum of projects. As a partner of Newton, he was the project leader of the open distance Master Programme MASTER 24, which involved more than 10,000 people.

He is the training manager of Parks, a European association for LGBT issues in the workplace. He has been a lecturer for several universities and schools with many of which he still collaborates: 24 ORE Business School, Venice Ca’ Foscari, IULM, Udine, Cattolica Milano, Bocconi, Pavia, Trieste, MIB School of Management, ALMA Business School, and Domus Academy.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

  1. Classes Start

    May 15, 2023
  2. Classes End

    May 12, 2024
  3. Length

    4 Weeks
  4. Estimated Effort

    1-2 hours/week
  5. Language

    English
  6. Course Number

    ED101
  7. MOOCs For Professionals
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