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NoWAL conference: A toolkit for change: collaborative diversification of reading lists
- 1. https://www.kent.ac.uk/studentsuccess A toolkit for change: Collaborative diversification of reading lists Laura Bailey, Miriam Jeyasingh, Wayne Laviniere & Emma Mires-Richards NoWAL University of Liverpool, 28 June 2019
- 2. https://www.kent.ac.uk/studentsuccess Background and rationale • Reading lists are an important representation of the legitimised ideas, theories and perspectives that dominate within a subject area • Reading lists guide student reading choices • “Narratives and systems of knowledge are not neutral, not even in reading lists.” – module convenor
- 3. https://www.kent.ac.uk/studentsuccess Students want this! • [If my modules had a diverse reading list,] “I’d take so much pride in my studies and be so happy. I’d just be soaked in my studies. And because everyone on the course is doing it you can have a proper conversation… let’s talk about it.” • (Black stage 3 student, focus group Feb 2019)
- 4. https://www.kent.ac.uk/studentsuccess Aims • Support academic schools to incorporate more diverse schools of thought and authors within their reading lists • Enabling us to develop professional expertise as to what initiatives have worked in other libraries, and who publishes in the area of interest, whether niche or mainstream. • Promote the benefit of this approach so that academics and students get involved in what our collections look like and engage in building and developing representative collections.
- 5. https://www.kent.ac.uk/studentsuccess The audit • Complete audit of reading lists in department of Religious Studies within the School of European Culture & Languages • 23 undergraduate modules • Paid student researchers worked with academic staff • Gender • Ethnicity • Nationality • Accessibility • Modernity • Core/background • Last updated authors items list
- 10. https://www.kent.ac.uk/studentsuccess Looking at evidence • Visualising data • Blueprint of process for other schools/departments
- 11. https://www.kent.ac.uk/studentsuccess Library measures • Witnessed the impact of pilots – developing processes and support to mainstream with other schools. • Toolkit webpage to be launched July 2019 • Book groups – fostering sense of belonging (safe spaces) • Developing in-house skills and knowledge • External networks/partnerships JISCMail LIS-DECOLONISE@JISCMAIL.AC.UK
- 12. https://www.kent.ac.uk/studentsuccess Toolkit Process map: • Demonstrates cultural competence • Supports the development of key graduate skills • Encourages student engagement
- 13. https://www.kent.ac.uk/studentsuccess Module convenors respond… • Module convenors in the pilot reported that it sparked classroom discussion and reading list review • They were surprised at the results, particularly those who teach e.g. post-colonial theory, or with a feminist perspective • But we also shocked the stereotypical white male convenor! • Indicates that this research needs to raise awareness before change can result
- 14. https://www.kent.ac.uk/studentsuccess Module convenors respond… “I was surprised that my list was as white and male as it turned out to be, and I did make a point of mentioning it to students on that module and on another, final year module that I teach. Some shrugged their shoulders and said that sometimes it's only white men who have written the good books (!); others responded much more enthusiastically about the idea of an audit, and it led to a good discussion about decolonising the university.”
- 15. https://www.kent.ac.uk/studentsuccess Module convenors respond… “[W]hat I have done is draw attention to the gender and ‘world view’ of each of the authors… In due course I’d like to go further and change the imbalance in terms of offering a greater diversity of readings.”
- 16. https://www.kent.ac.uk/studentsuccess Outcomes and future plans Diversity Mark Award: Rolled out to additional schools for 2019/20 Diversity Toolkit: Providing practical advice to academics on finding diverse resources in their disciplines Developing skills/networks: Sharing knowledge and practice with colleagues to inform our guidance and collection development
Editor's Notes
- Good morning Wayne/Emma Introductions What we are sharing today: Our experience of working collaboratively across teams and with students in the last year in an attempt to make an impact on diversifying the curriculum.
- Emma? Understanding the impact on attainment figures and completion rates Campaigns around decolonising /diversifying the curriculum Setting context – why? It is not necessarily a new idea but recent years has seen growing campaign around the idea of a diverse and inclusive academia. 2015#RhodesMustFall = originating University of cape town as a collective movement of students decolonising their institution and curriculum. Why is My Curriculum White?, at UCL https://www.soas.ac.uk/blogs/study/decolonising-curriculum-whats-the-fuss/ Diversity at Kent as we are looking at a broader range of characteristics that could apply across gender/race/sexuality/age/ability/socio-cultural background/ 3) Impact on this sense on belonging widely reported by https://iet.open.ac.uk/file/innovating-pedagogy-2019.pdf ‘considering multiple perspectives and making space to think carefully about what we value’ OU innovation report : Innovating pedagogy 2019
- Wayne? An important point here is that they were saying that white students are scared to talk about race, because they think they’ll get it wrong, and black students feel like they ought to know this stuff but how could they if they never get taught it? They go on to say lots more about that but the main thing is that if it’s on the reading list, it’s up for discussion and opens up that conversation.
- Emma The Diversity Mark work came out of the student success (EDI) project Jan Moriarty’s concept which was looking at the colour of our curriculum at Kent. using reading list was just one of the interventions for addressing unexplained differences in attainment or awarding gaps. Across the education sector there have been calls on universities to diversify their curricula, in terms of incorporating more diverse schools of thought and authors within reading lists. Reading lists are never claimed to be ‘learning’ in its totality, and off-list reading should always be encouraged; but research shows that they do put in place structural barriers which create a ‘correct’ set of readings around a topic. What is removed or absent from that ‘correct’ set is just as important as what is included. See yourself on the shelf – reading lists are crucial for changing the while Eurocentric focus of collections!
- Emma? PLEASE be sure to credit SSPSSR in Medway, following their processes, and the of course all the library work that went along with that! Wider DM working group. The project originated in the central Student Success team (it was Jan’s idea), SSPSSR Medway did the first audit stressing the importance of paying student researchers. As part of the wider DM work a pilot audit of reading lists was carried out within SSPSSR at our Medway Campus led by Dave Thomas and Barbara Adewumi and Evangeline & Collins 2 paid student researchers who carried out desk research on ethnicity and gender of authors. We learnt a great deal from this work alongside the earlier pilot in SECL where we reviewed a smalled sample of reading lists and analysed to share back with academics – this stage had been missing the student voice so extended with funding to recruit Wayne and Miriam to act as student resarchers. We looked at a number of metrics and assessed findings around authorship the items themselves and the way in which lists were used.
- Note that all these graphs are not absolutely complete; some info still missing. It’s fairly representative though. Total number of authors recorded: 1642 Total number of items: 1295
- ‘Other’ (people will ask) might be Hispanic/Latinx, Jewish, etc.
- Oceania is nearly always Australian. This is independent of ethnicity, so for example African includes a white South African author. Asian is under-represented because of the way the data was input, so some of the Asian authors on the previous slide are quite likely to be Asian here as well as normally if they were, say, Asian American, that was recorded.
- A few modules had some very old texts on as well, not included here.
- Emma Visualising data – at analysis stage we decided that a visual representation would be a powerful way to share findings Provided a ‘snapshot’ via infographics (used the free version of Piktochart) of the list, used broad indicators to show metrics in an impactful way to academics and begin conversation on the subject of diversifying. Broad coverage - i.e. accessibility – format so available regardless of environment location or individual learning need, diverse perspectives considered via measures such as (ethnicity, gender, identity) illustrated via looking at author, content and date range of materials presented – place of publication is something that we are also currently considering in an extended project. Engagement - overall useful feedback comments shared from convenors perspective in that it helped to highlight areas for focus potentially and Encouraging dialogue between students, convenors and professional services staff
- Emma Process map to share with schools and development of diversity mark badge that can be integrated within modules to indicate status including link out to other info such as recommend a book padlet to build our knowledge and crowdsource info. A fund to acquire books to support diverse perspectives. Alongside this, the library developed a toolkit to improve diversity on lists and in holdings, as well as student and staff engagement with this process. This toolkit supports staff in finding new items for their lists. Students are supported through the introduction of themed reading groups, tied into liberation months using online reading lists and physical book group – currently under discussion regarding taking forward with students continuing to facilitate, with the library offering a support package (space, marketing, resourcing) Future measures are also planned: student agency will be promoted by a prominent ‘recommend a book’ button on the website (this facility exists but is not well used) alongside explicit discussions in class about the nature of a reading list. A ‘badge’ to identify lists that have undergone scrutiny is under consideration Intern to audit existing databases and potentially investigate other suppliers - As we have a key role with publishers we are looking at our supplier through the perspective DM and talking to them about their catalogue lists and discovering new supplier to support the SM agenda. So we are building on our external network with other HEI and librarians and hope to continue to do this through Sharing our own practice here at Kent. Different practices/approaches Sharing resources/ talking to publishers JISCMail LIS-DECOLONISE@JISCMAIL.AC.UK
- Emma We conceived the notion of a ‘diversity mark’ that could be applied to reading lists to encourage and identify the progress in diversifying our library collections. What is this idea? How could the library work in partnership with academic colleagues to develop diverse collections through reading lists? We theorized around our role and the potential benefit The process map is a circle that reads clockwise and starts with the Library: We work with academics to provide data on reading lists* using the RL service We can also offer support on selecting more diverse resources – providing advice on the existing resources/collections we hold, potential acquisitions in subject areas and current awareness in discipline Academic Process is to reflect on the data and discuss with their students – there are various ways this can be done from a focus group or seminar discussion through to formative assessment activities and co curation of a bibliography. This leads to a review their reading lists that includes more diverse content This activity leads to curriculum change as more diverse content is included That in turn engages students improves their overall experience and develops graduate attributes: cultural awareness intellectual curiosity and critical reflection. Whats more it provides evidence for TEF assessment criteria (LE2 &LE3) Scholarship, Research and Professional Practice (LE2) The learning environment is enriched by student exposure to and involvement in provision at the forefront of scholarship, research and/or professional practice Personalised Learning (LE3) Students’ academic experiences are tailored to the individual, maximising rates of retention, attainment and progression Department for Education (2017) Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF), [Online] London: DFE Available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/658490/Teaching_Excellence_and_Student_Outcomes_Framework_Specification.pdf So this is the theoretical basis of the Diversity Mark project and emerging process. Will it work?
- Doing this raises awareness and sparks conversation. Action is required; ‘in due course’ isn’t quite there yet!
- Diversity mark award - Launch the award and make available to all schools. We already have 4 signed up for next year. – SPS, Psychology and Poltics & IR this is in partnership with other SSP interventions Other schools - interest from other subjects English Business and History - Alongside this however we in the library have developed an online toolkit that will be launched next month and will give practical support and tips. Also possible to approach us . Develop in house skills and knowledge - Develop our networks with internally and with other HEIs to share and enhance our own practice – conference with libraries to look at sharing bp but also talk to publishers. Looking at existing reources to broaden our knowledge of content within and to highlight where diverse and multiple perspectives exist but may not be visible enough. Spring 2020 hoping to hold a conference around publishers and diversifying resources Diversity mark award for reading lists that have been audited and updated - Care needs to be taken with this! Other schools to follow the process we have set out Individuals or schools can follow the same process, depending on time, resources and willingness Develop in house skills and knowledge