uwloo

PD 8Intercultural Skills

Units
0.50
Subject
Professional Development

When it runs

  1. F24
  2. W25
  3. S25
  4. F25
  5. W26
  6. S26
  7. F26
  8. W27
  9. S27

Ran in 1 of the last 7 terms. Winter 2027: not on the schedule. Spring 2027: schedule not out yet.

This course provides students with the knowledge and skills needed to work effectively in today's culturally and linguistically diverse workplaces. Emphasis is on understanding how cultural values shape our everyday behaviours, attitudes, thinking processes, and communication styles. Students will examine their own cultural preferences, become familiar with key models used to described cultures, and apply intercultural concepts and tools to analyze cultural issues in the workplace.

Prerequisites

Antirequisites

None listed.

Leads to

No course lists it as a requisite.

Reviewed on UW Flow

30% liked it86% easy24% useful

From 175 ratings and 44 comments on UW Flow. The most helpful comments, quoted as written, without names. Read them all on UW Flow.

  • learned some racism from this course

    Apr 2023 · didn’t like it · 7 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this

  • I entered this course knowing not to be racist. I exited this course wondering if I should be a little racist

    Mar 2024 · liked it · 5 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this

  • This course is easy but ridiculous. It's supposed to teach you interculteral skills (aka don't be racist) but the way it is set up is terrible.
    On assignments they will give you hypothetical scenarios with coworkers and you have to explain their actions. However, you have to use course concenpts for full grades. If a male coworker is constantly interupting a female coworker and you say it could be caused by sexism you loose marks since you didn't use course concepts and say it's because he's hispanic.

    Dec 2024 · didn’t like it · 4 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this

  • "don't be racist" and then you have to be racist to complete hypothetical scenarios in assignments

    May 2025 · didn’t like it · 2 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this

  • Waste of my time and money.

    Apr 2025 · didn’t like it · 1 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this

Discussed on r/uwaterloo

218 posts and comments in 145 threads mention PD 8, February 2013 to December 2024. Quoted word for word, newest first; each reply sits under the post and the comment that started its branch. Search r/uwaterloo for newer posts.

Fall 2024

Spring 2024

pd8 wtf?? 43 points, 12 comments

u/holdupbruhchill: “is this course basically teaching us how to stereotype people of different cultures 💀”

u/LoL_feeder: “PD 8 is still a racist course I see”

u/bee_like_honey: “pd8 type of course to tell you that Hispanics will always be late its in their culture and that if you are doing a presentation to Asians they are not sleeping they just have small eyes.”

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Winter 2024

Black-only swim times, Black-only lounges: The rise of race segregation on Canadian universities 89 points, 40 comments

u/Hot_Ear4518: “\- in their words, does not have a good “relationship with water.” we gotta fire these admins theyre so stupid”

u/TechnicalSpread7368: “This is some PD8 level racism”

u/_Space_Core_: “I'm taking pd8 rn and Its all about being inclusive and treating everyone the same by while giving a bit of leeway for cultural differences.”

u/HoodMilkSTYS: “It may have changed since it's been a long time since I took PD 8, but here's some content from the old version: In the next section of the lecture, I would like to talk about accents. …”

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Fall 2023

Which PD do I take? 1 point, 6 comments

“I see people recommend 13, 9, and 7 but I could not find them in QUEST Winter 2024 offering. Why is it not there for me? I need to enroll in something before the start of the term, help me, please.”

u/Koume142: “If you can't find it, it's not offered in this term, since there is no fking way a pd course is full. I would suggest pd 8 and pd 5 as the second pick. Pd 8, super light. PD 5 gives me the right to write project management on my resume to scare employers (jk).”

u/1000Ditto: “pd8 is generally considered to be "the racism pd" and pd5 is a disgrace”

u/Koume142: “I finished pd8 and pd 5, thus I am racist and a disgrace right now.”

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WHICH PD COURSE SHOULD I TAKE 5 points, 6 comments

u/Afraid-Paper-6558: “i have my 3rd work term in January and have not enrolled in a PD course yet. Which one should I enroll in? I was thinking PD 8? Thoughts/recommendations lmk!!”

u/1000Ditto: “they are all shit pd8 is the racist one: https://www.reddit.com/r/uwaterloo/comments/13n3gz9/how\racist\was\pd8/”

u/AvatarSteed: “I just did PD 13, very very easy and straightforward. Highly recommended if you just want to get it over with. 4 total assessments.”

u/AvatarSteed: “Tbh I haven’t done any others yet but I heard the one you mentioned pd 8 is fairly ez. And funny cause of the discrimination. But I haven’t done it yet cause it wasn’t offered for fall so I chose pd 13”

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PD Course - Easiest one? 11 points, 14 comments

“Need to take one PD course. I heard they are all shit. Which one requires the least amount of work?”

u/Pyr04K: “pd 8”

u/cheeese_cake: “im considering between pd8 and pd13 after checking them out on uw flow, any insight?”

u/SnooRecipes519: “Hey, any update on how PD8 went? I too am looking for easy PD courses and would appreciate any insight you could give.”

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Spring 2023

Would it make a difference if PD was removed forever? 1 point, 13 comments

“also would the university ever consider doing this? sorry if it’s a dumb question lol”

u/ClarkeVice: “It actually would. PD (or work-term reports) are required for a program to be an accredited co-op program and get all of the nice tax breaks that come with that. …”

u/1000Ditto: “… right (eg actual nice content that's informative), but when the course content is : racism (pd8) from 1980s (pd5) reading the ontario engineering law and filling in the blanks (pd22) straight up philosophy (pd9) then it just defeats the purpose if it”

u/JimJimJimBob: “You’re wild if you think pd8 is racist”

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PD8 is lowkey racist 27 points, 10 comments

u/AirPodGoose: “Well, the second one is not racism? It’s very true lol”

u/Elon__Muskquito: “I admit that the title should have been "PD8 is working real hard to enforce stereotypes" rather than "racist". It isn't really racist, but much of the content is certainly stereotypical”

u/Gupta_Gupti_Gupta: “PD8 still kinda stuns me I remember one chapter was like “racial stereotypes are bad” and the next chapter they said that “people from South America aren’t generally punctual””

u/IQuestionTheSnake: “I feel like this is just pointing out comon cultural differences that may seem to surprising to someone not exposed to said cultures, which is the point of PD 8 . …”

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Which PD Course should I take for Arts? I am on my 2nd work term. I have attached the options. Based of your opinion, which one has the least work? Bc I am also taking a PSYCH course with it. 1 point, 2 comments

“&x200B; https://preview.redd.it/x76t831cmycb1.png?width=662&format=png&auto=webp&s=f35d8a89a7c5546df52d95c0372117691b4dd0e3”

u/WolfSuperWarrior: “i’ve taken pd8 and pd13, both are known to be easy af and least amount of work”

u/EurasianZaltpetre: “Pd8 is minimal effort imo”

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Check it elsewhere for Fall 2026

Calendar versions

Undergraduate Calendar