Linda Hill here with a question. Can Inclusive Leadership be shared through books and on-line courses?  I have always agreed with Confucius that experience is the best teacher, At the same time I love learning from books and the internet. I am intrigued by distance education courses that engage students through reading, writing, exercises, assignments, activities and quizzes. Is this also a form of experiential education?

Several years ago, my book: Connecting Kids: Exploring Diversity Together was chosen as the text book for Everyone Welcome: Diversity in Early Childhood and School-Age Programs.  Everyone Welcome is one of 80 courses offered by The Care Courses School, a distance education school that has taught more than 100,000 child care providers and other professionals, parents, foster parents, volunteers, and many others who care about and care for kids. Each year over 100 of these students complete the Everyone Welcome course. I wonder how many of them are continuing to develop their own Inclusive Leadership skills while facilitating and mentoring Inclusive Leadership development in children? This would be an interesting research project for a child and youth care student to take on.

I am hopeful that Connecting Kids is making a difference in guiding care-givers throughout North America and around the world to learn how to “Help young children discover how differences enrich their communities and their lives.”  Everyone Welcome was developed by Clairece Feagin, Founder of and Educator at The Care Courses School. Clairece holds a master’s degree in education from Harvard University and has been writing books and courses for parents and child care providers for many years. Clairece and her husband Joe Feagin have also done extensive research on racial and ethnic issues in the United States and are co-authors of the well known university text book: Racial and Ethnic Relations (Prentice Hall, 2011).

Clairece has combined her background in diversity education with the information, stories, skills and activities in Connecting Kids to provide a deep and meaningful exploration of diversity for anyone who is working with children. Clairece chose Connecting Kids partly because she appreciates the “…numerous learning activities to help children feel comfortable with others from different cultural, language, racial, ethnic, religious, lifestyle, and economic backgrounds.”

Connecting Kids and the Everyone Welcome coursebook can be ordered from the Care Courses School by enrolling in the self paced “Everyone Welcome” course ($40.00 US). (The Care Courses School offers three more distance diversity education courses for people who care about and care for children).

Connecting Kids and other Inclusive Leadership books can also be ordered from the Inclusive Leadership Co-operative. Proceeds from ILC book sales help us keep Inclusive Leadership experiential education affordable. Inclusive Leadership books may be ideal gifts for people you know who are involved in any aspect of building welcoming and inclusive communities. With guidebooks in hand, it is perhaps a little easier for individual Inclusive Leaders to create our own experiential education opportunities! Click here to take a look at books to buy from the ILC.