For my contribution to the sharing forum, I chose to share a video from my elective unit which is Inclusive Teaching & Learning. The video is a documentary entitled ‘The Room of Silence’ which address race, identity and marginalization at the Rhode Island School of Design.

This documentary highlights the experiences of students (incl. students of colour) who tackle subjects around race in their work and the responses they get from their tutors & peers. It was of particular interest to me when I initially watched it, as I felt I could relate to many of the experiences that were shared throughout the documentary – I too, have attended an art/design school and had the experience of neither being represented nor understood by my academic tutors. Sure, made it through and graduated with honours, but what would my emotional experience have been like had I felt more free and encouraged to be myself and not to simply tow the line in order to make sure I was producing work that I thought my tutors would approve of and mark accordingly. Now that I am in the position of Academic, it led me to ask the following questions (both to myself and my peers):

• How are you ensuring that your students work is critiqued fairly?
• Does your teaching environment/style allow students to feel comfortable addressing issues such as faith/race/gender?

In addition to the above questions, I also considered discussing things such as unconcious bias and the possibility of having pre-concieved ideas about students and/or their work. Unfortunately, due to a lot of disruption, a lack of participation (myself included) and life in general taking over just before summer break, there was very little interaction on any my groups discussion topics. I was however able to relate to the person who did respond to my post:

“Thanks for sharing Merissa. I’ve been teaching for just over a year and in my first teaching pairing I partnered with a lecturer who openly identified as queer and I am a black. From a perspective of representation, I felt that we subconsciously – by the mere act of ‘being’ – helped to create an open environment for students. As well as, consciously embedding content that represented diverse perspectives and addressed issues of representation, the other etc. I’ve since learnt from students’ that having such an environment enabled students to feel comfortable and speak confidently. Also, as a black lecturer, I’m acutely aware of attainment issues and bias in the assessment process. This has led to uncomfortable but necessary dialogue professionally but fortunately, it is a topic we are working on as a team.“

Too often, we underestimate the importance of simply ‘being’ in an educational setting, and the effect it can have on students.