Bridging Co-Curricular and Curricular Learning in Gender and Sexual Diversity Awareness by Nora Sobel and Bradley West
“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
T
his quote from Martin Luther King Jr. is a good reminder that just because something is not happening to you, and you are not contributing to it, it does not mean that you should just sit idly by. It is important to speak up against oppression and take action. This is what one of our Red River College (RRC) colleagues have shared after completing the Gender and Sexual Diversity Awareness Course, a new online educational resource developed and implemented by RRC’s Diversity and Intercultural Services that is helping the organization to advance our efforts in inclusion, accessibility, sustainability, and meeting curricular outcomes. Introduction Established in 2010, the LGBTT* (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, TwoSpirit) Initiative at Red River College (Winnipeg, Manitoba) provides educational opportunities and resources to build communication, understanding, and respect for gender and sexual diversity throughout the College, including in-class two-hour LGBTT* Awareness Workshops for students to discuss gender and sexual diversity in their intended professions, and one-day Awareness and Ally Trainings for both students and employees, which have already developed over 300 Allies across campuses, programs and services. Based on the success of the in-person educational sessions and the ongoing demand for more trainings and workshops, RRC decided to make a qualitative jump and further expand their LGBTT* learning opportunities by developing a Gender and Sexual Diversity (GSD) Awareness Course that could provide a 24/7, online, sustainable, and flexible option for students, faculty, and administrative staff to increase their awareness and understanding around LGBTT* matters. With this course, RRC intended to expand their learning options for part-time, distance, and regional students, as well as for faculty and administrative staff that could access the online course at the classrooms, offices, or any remote location. Another important goal was supporting students in developing their LGBTT* 26 / COMMUNIQUÉ / TOME 17 / NUMÉRO 3 / HIVER 2017
awareness and understanding not only for the College environment but also for their future workplace environments and the broader community. Course Design Funded by a RRC Project Innovation Fund (PIF), this project developed six 50-minute online modules that cover LGBTT* Terminology; Cultural Considerations; Manifestations of Homophobia, Biphobia, Transphobia, and Heterosexism; Strategies for Inclusiveness; History of Pride and LGBTT* Rights; and College, Local, and National Resources. The project also developed an introductory module featuring student and staff testimonies from other areas of the College that provide different perspectives about the importance of LGBTT* awareness. Finally, an additional Ally Module, with supplementary activities for participants who completed the previous six modules and would like to become Allies, was also developed as part of this project. All these modules are organized within an online course housed in the Brightspace learning management system (called LEARN at Red River College). In addition to video lectures, the course also includes accompanying self-reflection activities and resources, separate discussion boards for students and employees, and transcripts and closed captioning of all videos for enhanced accessibility. The course is fully scalable; each module was created as a stand-alone module that can function as a 50-minute independent learning experience in the classroom or remotely, for individuals and/or cohorts of students. The modules are also linked to offer a one-day learning experience. The exploration of the additional resources can provide a 30-hour-plus program. The end result is a course that is dynamic in both its content and navigation, and gives users full control of their learning experience. Users can choose if they wish to watch videos, read transcripts, activate the closed captioning, or take advantage of all formats to enhance their learning journey. Users can also go as deep as they would like into the subject matter or they can focus on specific content areas of interest over time in a manner that best meets their individual learning needs and styles. In-House and Cross-Departmental Approach One of the aspects that makes this course very unique is that it was developed by College staff and is offered as supported co-curricular programming by College staff, as opposed to trainings developed by Student Associations or offered by external community stakeholders. The GSD Course was inspired by the content of the awareness trainings developed by the Rainbow Resource Centre (the local LGBT social agency) and the Sexuality Education Resource Centre (SERC) of Manitoba. Having access to in-house expertise of Bradley West (gender and sexuality educator for over 17 years, who was previously employed by both organizations), the course content was structured and customized based on the specific College learning needs of students, faculty and staff. A successful collaborative approach was also a highlight of this project, especially with the RRC Teaching Learning Technology Centre (TLTC) that supported our work through regular consultations with instructional designers and LEARN trainers, as well as the recording and editing of the video segments led by the College eTV Studio media technicians. The initiative also brought the opportunity for new cross-departmental initiatives feeding into this project and creating synergy among College areas. Some examples include the implementation of new video closed captioning software at the RRC eTV Studio that was piloted with this project, the development of a customized design for the LEARN course site that can serve as a model for other courses, and the recording of testimonies with guest speakers from other areas of the College (Human Resources, Counselling, Faculty, Students’ Association) to provide different perspectives about the importance of developing educational tools to enhance awareness around Gender and Sexual Diversity.