As I come to the end of an intense week, which also happens to be the last week before I take my summer vacation, it seems fitting to be thinking of the new page that is turning in my role as Global Learning Facilitator, and also from a broader perspective, the new page turning in the world of post-secondary education.
While much uncertainty remains in terms of how the fall will roll out, I sense an optimism that wasn’t present this time last year. Life will likely not return to how it was and in some senses that is a good thing. There is an urgency now, that wasn’t present before, to finally address some of the inequities and injustices in the world, particularly in education. The past few weeks have been a time of horrific events and revelations, if one can call something a ‘revelation’ when it has been known by many for decades. The fact that the BCCIE Summer Conference had the theme of Addressing Privilege was certainly fitting. The conference began with an amazing Keynote Address that among other themes, explored privilege in language. I hope to listen again to the recording and to reference some of the insights so eloquently expressed, in my work in the fall. As an Applied Linguist, it is heartening to hear talk of the power of language, the inherent language inequities that face people for whom English is not their first language (or if it is, their ‘variety’ of English does not hold the same privilege), and these are issues less frequently discussed beyond the realm of language teaching. There was a synchronicity in hearing this presentation and then flipping over to the conference on Academic Integrity, the latter concept being so heavily premised on privileging certain ways of knowing and communicating .
The presentation I did with Heather Tobe on Uncovering Bias and Privilege Using An Intercultural Lens was well received. We had 34 attendees, who engaged in the interactive portions and asked thoughtful questions. There is an appetite for this kind of discussion as we all struggle with understanding not only our own privilege, but also how we may inadvertently be perpetuating the disadvantage of others. There were several other great presentations, including one on Building CommYOUnities, through various initiatives for international students, and another on Addressing Privilege Through Intercultural Competence Frameworks. The advantage of hosting the conference online is that I’ll be able to watch the recordings of those presentations I was unable to attend. I was also essentially attending two conferences at the same time.
My other presentation, Toward Decolonizing International Exchange and Academic Mobility had 15 attendees, which is pretty good on the third afternoon of a conference (and an exceptionally beautiful June day). I’ve already had someone from SFU reach out to me to express their interest in this project work.
I managed this week to catch up on creating a couple more handouts. I had less time than I anticipated to create more resources, and also not having a properly functioning right-hand and the attendant pain, definitely hampered some of my creative activities this week. Hopefully my vacation will sort out that ‘issue.’ I know that moving forward, I will need to ensure that I carve out specific ‘sacred creation’ times to ensure that resource creation doesn’t fall to the bottom of my ‘to-do’ list.
Which brings me to the updates that have been made to my Global Learning Facilitator role. I’m excited to end the academic year on a high, particularly since it’s been a challenging one for all of us. The new strategic plans along with the launch of the College’s first Indigenization Plan signal a new chapter in the College’s history. My GLF role is both ‘returning to its roots’ and ‘synchronizing’ with the new college plans, with more detail, concrete action points and opportunities for creating greater connections between the Office of Global Engagement, Indigenous Education and the Centre for Teaching and Learning Innovation. I’m excited already about the fall!
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