Geena Davis fell off a cliff.

My jaw dropped.

Not quite the same response, and hopefully not only because I wasn’t standing anywhere near a rock face. I was adding ‘blurbs’ to the Respectful Workplace course and in so doing, came across a couple of videos being used to promote knowledge of and reflection on diversity, and also workplace harassment. Here is not the place to ‘out’ the problematic aspects of these resources. Suffice to say, they need ‘updating.’

I’ve been immersed in the world of ‘interculturalization’ (the latest ‘word’ to describe an area, always in a constant state of flux and evolution) and times have moved on; thankfully. The fact that the new college strategic plan has social justice and understanding diversity as key elements is testament to both desire and will. And action; everywhere. As Bob Dylan sang, the Times They are A-Changin’.

Speaking of changing and action, we all know that if we want to change the world we have to begin with ourselves. In between working on the final modules for Craft Service, I’ve been considering what PD I need to engage in to ensure I continue to be able to fully support colleagues and to better inform a Teaching and Learning Intercultural Strategy. Starting with the basics, I’ve signed up for refresher courses on Blackboard, BlueJeans and Kaltura, and a session on Hyflex. 

In BlueJeans, I’ll be using the ‘people’ feature to promote engagement and facilitate creating breakout groups (e.g., asking participants to put where they’re coming in from, next to their name, or their group number), and adding more visuals to future BBL courses I create. It was a useful reminder attending the BlueJeans session, also because I used my iPad; I had to figure out again where to find various functions and was reminded of which ones are not available using this kind of device. I’ve deleted recordings I no longer need in Kaltura and BlueJeans. Once I’ve attended the Kaltura refresher, I’ll be creating a couple of short intercultural videos for faculty to access any time is convenient. I have PD funding to do UBC online course Leadership in Intercultural Contexts and will sign up for that next week (it runs September to November). I’ve started exploring resources on Hyflex learning, for example this Professor’s Guide to Hyflex Learning

As Plato said:

The beginning is the most important part of the work.