{"id":9157,"date":"2021-04-12T14:27:23","date_gmt":"2021-04-12T13:27:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/?p=9157"},"modified":"2022-02-18T14:02:27","modified_gmt":"2022-02-18T14:02:27","slug":"the-anti-racism-learning-technology-community-of-practice-guidance-for-content-developers-part-2-of-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/2021\/04\/the-anti-racism-learning-technology-community-of-practice-guidance-for-content-developers-part-2-of-4\/","title":{"rendered":"The Anti-Racism & Learning Technology Community of Practice: Guidance for Content Developers -Part 2 of 4"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s time to start thinking about anti-racist content for technology-enhanced learning<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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Samantha Ahern, Faculty Learning Technology Lead (The Bartlett), UCL
\nAlistair Cooper, Educational Technologist, School of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge
\nSheetal Kavia, eProjects Manager, Centre of Technology in Education, St George’s, University of London
\nCoco Nijhoff, Senior Teaching Fellow (Library Services), Imperial College London
\nJim Turner, Senior Learning Technologist (Teaching and Learning Academy), Liverpool John Moores, University<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Introduction<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We are writing from one of three subgroups within the recently formed Anti-racism & Learning Technology Community of Practice (AR&LTCoP)<\/a>. This sub-group aims to explore practical ways to examine and interrogate digital content in the curriculum through the lens of geographic, racial, and other forms of bias. This post aims to begin exploring what we in the learning technology community can do to address racism in our own field. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The important task of working toward decolonising the curriculum will need to encompass digital learning content and the work of content creators as educators. We expect this to be the first of several posts from our sub-group, with topics to follow such as the application of frameworks to create anti-racist content and the development of a toolkit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Broadly, we aim to join up with initiatives and policy in our profession, including the ALT Ethical Framework and our own institutional strategies. To this end, we recognise the need to engage in a dialogue with others in the community in the interest of advocacy through collaboration, leading to future recommendations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Our motivation<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We are deeply concerned about the impact of structural racism in our learning communities. A 2020 report by the UCLA Law Promise Institute for Human Rights<\/a> explores racism in the context of human rights within the realm of new information technologies. As Hayley Ramsay-Jones states, the biases of tech creators are embedded at every level of the tech design process, from conception to production and distribution. The awarding gap between white and BAME students is another widely acknowledged outcome of structural racism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Gary Loke from Advance HE discusses on WonkHE<\/a>, even the use of the term \u2018BAME\u2019 poses the risk of homogenising different groups’ experiences. A key lesson from Loke is the clear link between identity and a sense of belonging as it relates to student success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within our own professions (which include educational technology, librarianship, and leadership in Higher Education contexts), there is an acknowledged white majority. Our own points of view, the embedded structures in which we exist, and the relative position of this majority can be present in every level of the development of digital learning content. We need to be aware of how this presence has the potential to influence the content we produce. These effects may not be immediately apparent to many of us, particularly to white practitioners. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An awareness of the potential detrimental influences of structural racism can be useful at each level of developing digital learning content. We aim to identify practical strategies to refine our development methods, as well as in the content itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Digital learning content and structural racism<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Relevant aspects of our work we wish to highlight include, but are not limited to, the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n