|
|
| #BlackLivesMatter and Building Communities in Online Learning |
Welcome to the second issue of our bi-weekly newsletter Recess. This is where we share some of the best content about pedagogy and learning with you.
In the last two weeks, the rest of the world has been following the civil unrest in the United States. There is no doubt that I (being a white, heterosexual, able-bodied man) am among the most privileged people in the world. Although I do my best, I still have a long way to come in terms of understanding the effects that systemic racism has in our society today. To work together towards change we need to acknowledge the experiences of people of color and recognize that systemic racism is real. Earlier this year I read "White Fragility" by Robin DiAngelo which completely changed the way I looked at racism. One of the quotes that stuck with me was:
"I am coaching a small group of white employees on how racism manifests in their workplace. One member of the group, Karen, is upset about a request from Joan, her only colleague of color, to stop talking over her. Karen doesn’t understand what talking over Joan has to do with race; she is an extrovert and tends to talks over everyone. I try to explain how the impact is different when we interrupt across race because we bring our histories with us. While Karen sees herself as a unique individual, Joan sees Karen as a white individual. Being interrupted and talked over by white people is not a unique experience for Joan; nor is it separate from the larger cultural context."
As a company, we will strive to be better. We made a donation to Black Lives Matter whose mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes.
In this episode of Recess, we did our best to pick some additional reading written by much smarter people than us - we hope you will enjoy it!
It’s time for recess!
|
|
|
| Recess is a monthly newsletter sent to more than 5,500 subscribers. You can help us by sharing the newsletter with your friends and colleages. Do you have feedback for us or something you want to see get featured? Just reply to this email! |
|
| FROM OUR BLOG |
|
| Content Doesn’t Matter, Community Does |
| Recently I wrote this post for our own blog about how content is losing its importance in education. Today, you can find almost any information online, and when instructors and universities don't have "better content", they have to differentiate in other ways. |
|
|
|
| How Higher Ed Can Fight Racism: ‘Speak Up When It’s Hard’ |
| Sirry Alang, an associate professor at Lehigh University is interviewed about ways to combat racism in higher education. They also talk about how COVID19 has been disproportionally bad for black and Latino Americans. |
|
|
|
|
| Educators and Race: A Conversation with Author Ijeoma Oluo on Tackling Systemic Racism in U.S. Education |
| While this article is aimed at librarians, it contains a lot of interesting ideas and thoughts about racism in U.S. Education. Librarian or not, give it a read if you want to learn more! |
|
|
|
|
| Confronting Racism on Campus |
|
|
In this panel discussion from Student Affairs Live on YouTube, four student affairs leaders are interviewed about #BlackLivesMatter in the U.S. education system.
|
|
|
|
| Do you feel like you’re making a difference? |
|
|
| Like everyone else, people working with instructional design can wonder how they make a difference in the world through their work. Check out this discussion on Reddit if you want to see how others feel, and jump in yourself if you have anything to share! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
