Listening to Dr. Amy Bradshaw was really eye-opening to see this connection between IST and Social Justice that is only recently beginning to unfold. I appreciated hearing how Bradshaw's (2018) article came to be and what a pioneer she sounds like. To have so many people encouraging her to publish her conference piece truly shows the direction IST is wanting to head.
Dr. Bonk asked Dr. Bradshaw a great question about what can our field do to promote, acknowledge, incorporate, and so forth the lens of social justice. Her response was absolutely perfect--we can't just say what can we do, but "what do we need?" She went on to further explain we don't want to passively plan and engage (do to) others, but rather what do we, as IST professionals, need to learn so we can provide something useful, beneficial, and meaningful to our learners. Bradshaw (2018) spoke on this thought in her article as well, "We must seek and learn other ways of engaging, such as dialectics instead of debates, cultural synthesis instead of cultural invasion" (p. 342).
I think what I found so interesting about this intersection of Social Justice and IST is there are no templates for how to incorporate D.E.I., rather guides, supports and methods. However, IST is a field very reliant on templates, so I can see why the social justice piece had been missing up until recently. And one more interesting thing, Dr. Klein mentioned how the student with a career as a Consultant for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for NY Health Dept. was very unique and unexpected, but really this is what IST should be shooting for as a regular position.
Bradshaw, Amy C. (2018, March 23). Reconsidering the instructional design and technology timeline through a lens of social justice. Tech Trends, 62, 336-344.
Hi Rebecca,
I really enjoyed reading Dr. Bradshaw's article and watching the Zoom as well. I really applaud her for the work that she is doing in an area that has been so largely ignored. It reminds me of that saying, "you don't know what you don't know." From the responses she got to her conference presentation, it sounds like this is an area where the field just didn't notice what they didn't notice, and now that she's brought it to the forefront, I hope that the field will continue to rise to her call to action.
The article in Dropbox didn't load with the images for me, so I went on to IU Libraries and downloaded the PDF from…
Rebecca,
Thanks for sharing your thought. I missed the Zoom session but will have to carve out some time to sit down and watch it. I will have to compare what Dr. Bradshaw said and recommended to what Dr. Enlida Romero-Hall states in her Zoom on Monday with the IST community. It will be interesting to see if their thoughts overlap between social justice and Feminist Pedagogical Tenets. I am not surprised that there are no templates for incorporating as I see templates as rigid, and you would be forcing D.E.I. in when it might not precisely fit into the instruction in that way. Yet, guides, supports, and methods can easily be ignored. I think the…
Rebecca,
I need to watch this one also, as I was sad that I had other plans on this day - this was one of the most interesting articles I've read. I can't wait to put Amy Bradshaw's session on my list of things to do when things settle down! I also find this so interesting and timely for our field as well as the state of the world and society. What's that saying, we (IST) are "uniquely positioned" to work in this area "for such a time as this."