Blog 3

1. Shades of Noir

From the website of Shades of Noir, it gives more intuitions about how to use the artefact in the critical pedagogy and the diversity cases we could look at in the teachings. As from the last few years teaching experience, I received a lot of questions, especially from the international students for the projects assessments, that they are asking whether they should only use the cases from the UK or Western countries. When I read through the website of Shades of Noir, it makes me to think about more how to decolonize when we use or apply the cases in the classroom. 

From reading the articles from the website, it gives me the ideas about choosing the cases more broadly from the dataset. The reason why the international students ask the questions again and again, same every year, is as the teacher, we failed to show the decolonized and diversity in the classroom, which generates the question from the students about whether we are only asked to focus on the cases from Western countries.

By reading the website, I realize I could use more diverse cases, from different regions, as examples and to reduce the whiteness in the education.

2. A pedagogy of social justice education: social identity theory, intersectionality and empowerment. Aaron J. Hahn Tapper.

From the social justice education, the article indicates three pillars of the education, which transformative the traditional education system, to a more not defined, but multicultural, inclusive diverse learners’ education system. As we all have the different identities in the classroom, it argues the students’ identities should also be taken into accounting in all the education settings. The teaching in the classroom is ideally to inclusive students but not a linear relationship in teacher to student. This inclusive students’ identities into the teaching could nurture or make the students think and critical reflection.

In the article of intersectionality, it appears the students could show more supportive in a peer cooperation relationship, to complete a teamwork rather than to finish the project individually, feeling more isolated. The teamwork also works as the more tightly common bond with the students, to marginalize the conflict in the natural differences they have.

As review to the teaching, based on the traditional teaching method, simply teacher preparing the knowledge and to teach in the classroom, to conduct a student-centred teaching may more engage in the classroom and motivate them for the critical thinking. Working in peers in the classroom also could generate more peer supports with diminishing the conflicts between the students, which empowering the abilities of learning knowledge for the students.

3. Witness unconscious bias video

By watching the video, it reminds me how we ignore the unconscious bias in our daily life, in the teaching. As I am the lecturer in economics, I experienced and could observed some unconscious bias in the minority model. People may have the unconscious bias in racism as they model the groups of the people based on their ethnics, for example, the students may think the students or lecturers from the Asian country should be good at mathematics and calculations.

Now I am more aware of the unconscious bias in the classroom, which makes me to think about how to reduce this unconscious bias in racism. People may have the unconscious bias from the news, social media, as it consistently to plant the fixed images attached to the certain groups of the people in race. However, to more cautious about this unconscious bias, it needs more communications, or teamwork with diverse team members. We have unconscious bias because we did not realize how much information we know from the other people. To get students more communications with each other, to have teamwork, could provide the chance for them to know each other much better.

4. Retention and attainment in the disciplines: Art and Design.

It is quite helpful to read through the article talking about the retention and attainment in the HEA. This gave some ideas and thoughts that I never think about before and also it sheds the light for the direction for me to rethink about my pedagogy in the next academic year.

• Leave the space to the students for the self-direction learning

In the article, it is quite interesting to mention about the project-centred learning to link the student’s individual direction of their studies. To create a suitable learning environment could help students to be more critical and to conduct their own identity works. However, how to leave the appropriate space for the students for the self-directed learning is quite important. If as a teacher, we only stand and watch the students do, the students may feel lack of supports as it seems too little to teach. However, if we as a teacher to guild too much for the students, it may also limit their creativities and limited their abilities in critical thinking.

• Give the feedbacks as guidelines

The crucial part for leaving space to the students but also could make them feel supportive is the feedbacks we give. On one side, if we can give the sufficient feedbacks to the students, rather than asking them what we want to see, just to show what are the possibilities they could have, are more beneficial to build the trust between the tutor and the student relationship.

5. SoR: White academia-does this affect you?

From reading the article, it is the first time I realized how the white academia affects me in my education experience for the last ten years and how I should more focus on diversity afterwards. It was shocked me to read the numbers and the gap between the white academic staffs and others. I did not realize it was such as big gap over there, in arts. What I realized as a reflection for myself, after reading the article, is about the education I had for the last ten years in the UK. From time to time, I used to show the cases to students when I used to study from my lecturers in the university. However, if I looked back again, I realized how the little diversity I did in my teaching. To recall the memories, most of my lecturers used the cases and examples from the US, UK, Canada, but seldom from the Asian, African, or other countries. When I prepared teaching to the students, I used the similar cases which are familiar for me, but now I realized how the little diversity it is. This impacts from the white academia influencing me about the way of my teaching as well. I tried to be the same or similar as them. However, after reading this article, I realized if may not change if I am not aware to change something in my teaching. As my students, in the future, as fashion managers, as teachers, they may use the similar cases or try to act the same as me in the white academia world. This is the first time I sit down and rethink about how I can review my pedagogy in a more diverse, multicultural ways.

References

Hahn Tapper, A, (2013). A Pedagogy of Social Justice Education: Social Identity Theory, Intersectionality, and Empowerment. Conflict Resolution Quarterly, 30(4), pp.411-445.

Richards, A. and Finnigan, T. (2015) ‘Embedding Equality and Diversity in the Curriculum: An Art and Design Practitioners Guide’. York: Higher Education Academy

Shades of Noir (2010). Race. Available at: www.shadesofnoir.org.uk

Witness: Unconscious Bias, (2016), University and College Union. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6XDUGPoaFw