The roles of ingroup identification and implicit bias in assessing the effectiveness of an online diversity education program

Diversity education is increasingly recognized as important to the health of a university, however, little empirical work has examined the intergroup processes at play and the effectiveness of online diversity education on college students. This research utilized a repeated-measures mixed factorial design to examine the implicit and explicit effects of online diversity education delivered at a large public university during the course of a semester. The study design was informed by intergroup contact, social identity, and computer-mediated communication research. Findings contribute to theorizing about intergroup processes in the reception of and learning from diversity education and point to practical avenues for employing online diversity education in higher education. Recommendations are made for practitioners interested in designing and delivering diversity training online in an interactive learning environment.