One of the benefits of writing the EDSC Year in Review right now is that, with what has been going on in the world over the past few months –from COVID-19 changing the way we do almost everything to Anti-Black racism protests across the world– it is clearer than ever before that we need to lift up, support, cheer, listen, bear witness, and learn with and from each other to work towards equity and inclusion at different levels. Over the past year, the EDSC has worked to engage with the communities we are part of in a variety of ways.
The CTLT community
The EDSC Committee supported and led a variety of opportunities for learning and resources for CTLT over the past year. We supported the Inclusion Self-Assessment Tool at CTLT, and have implemented some of the recommendations, including curating a toolkit for asking EDI-related questions in interviews. We have supported the CTLT Goals and Priorities in helping our colleagues develop competencies in EDI. We did this by offering a variety of opportunities for learning, including:
- a Conflict Theatre session with our entire unit,
- a lunch and learn session with Josie Gray, The Advisor for Inclusive Design at BCcampus, who facilitated a chat about how to design inclusive and accessible educational resources,
an interactive session on Pink Shirt Day for us and our IKBLC neighbours, - establishing the EDSC/CTLT book club, where CTLTers can share dialogue around a variety of topics.
Going forward, we have a subcommittee that is looking at CTLT learning opportunities for the coming year. These potentially include:
- A Hungry Minds session “Isn’t this too much political correctness?: Open dialogue on language for equity, diversity, and inclusion”
- a CTLT-wide visit to Musqueam
- organizing an ALLY software demo for CTLTers,
- planning a group cohort to engage together through the Reconciliation Through Indigenous Education MOOC.
The Communities we support at CTLT
The EDSC also thought about the people CTLT engage with regularly — those who come to us to workshops and events. Supporting this community, we created a Respectful Space Statement for CTLT Events, Programs, & Services, which is publicized on all our events. We held a session for facilitators before the Summer and Winter Institutes around friendly spaces and correct pronouns. From feedback at this session, we developed Accessibility and Inclusivity Guidelines for Facilitators, which has now been shared widely across campus through Digital Facilitation Wiki, a resource created in the past few months as all facilitation has become remote.
In the months to come, we are looking to create EDI training modules for all facilitators who are part of CTLT events, including Institutes and Celebrate Learning Week.
Our UBC community and beyond
Lastly, we engaged with the larger communities in various ways. Within UBC, we have collaborated with various other groups supporting EDI, including having EDSC members be part of the UBC Sexual Assault and Awareness Month steering committee, where they planned events around campus. In addition, we provided feedback as a group on the Proposed Amendments to UBC Policy SC17 (Sexual Misconduct Policy). We have also reached out to various other departments who are also thinking about equity, diversity and inclusion, including HR, IT and the Library. In fact, we are planning a combined event with the UBC Library for next year’s Pink Shirt Day.
Beyond UBC, EDSCers sat on planning committees and led sessions on EDI at Congress 2019 for delegates from all over Canada and two of our members attended the POD Network annual conference last November, presenting on the CTLT’s engagement with Inclusion Self-Assessment Tool.
Closing
We would be remiss not to send thanks to those members that cycled off the EDSC this year, including Sunah Cho, Nicole Ronan, and Erin Yun. Much thanks to these three for the enthusiasm, energy and spirit they brought to this committee.
