Photo taken from https://www.jclcinc.org/
In 2022 our Associate Director, Rachel Crookes, began the process of planning some courses to support students and researchers to undertake more equitable and inclusive research projects. To ensure we develop high quality courses, Rachel assembled a panel of expert reviewers from a community of librarians and faculty, with the support of the Joint Council of Librarians of Color (JCLC Inc.) in collaboration with librarians from the National Associations of Librarians of Color (NALCo).
In this blog post we go behind the scenes of the panel’s formation, the valuable feedback given so far, and tell you what our next steps are for developing the courses as part of Sage Campus.
Assembling the Panel
There are many challenges that researchers and students from all backgrounds can face when trying to undertake research that is truly equitable and inclusive.
The Sage Campus team wanted to build a panel that brought experts from different backgrounds and areas of practice to help ensure the courses were focusing on the right things, were theoretically sound but also highly practical and applicable to real world research projects.
Rachel approached the Joint Council of Librarians of Color for assistance with forming the panel of course reviewers, as she felt the community would be very valuable contributors. With the JCLC’s support, Sage received over a dozen applications from enthusiastic librarians.
Rachel conducted virtual interviews with each candidate to learn more about their areas of expertise and interest and match the candidates up to the most appropriate course outlines. We had a shortlist of four course titles in mind, as well as some draft outlines, topic lists and learning outcomes.
The first task for all approved panellists was to answer questions about several of the course outlines and provide feedback on the drafts. Rachel encouraged ‘radical thinking’ from the get-go, such as re-titling courses, re-imagining learning outcomes and topic lists. All feedback was welcome.
A Wealth of Insightful Feedback
Our panel of expert course reviewers rose to the challenge and provided detailed, honest feedback that spanned from evaluating the draft course structures to offering more granular critiques that challenged us to clarify definitions, helping us dive deeper into topics and challenges.
The panel’s contributions compelled us to do things such as:
Define our terms to better understand the scope of each course: For example, what do we mean by “culture”? Are we referring to country cultures like being Sri Lankan or are we referring to Black American culture, Deaf culture?
Add topics missed, either as a topic or as a whole module: Suggestions included adding a new module on Implementing Culturally Responsive Research, following the IRB through data collection and analysis.
Re-think course structure: All courses are being re-thought structurally, so we either focus on topics in different priority level or re-organize the learner journey.
Consider the cross-over between courses: For example, we were asked to reconsider how our ‘Doing Culturally Sensitive Research’ course links and connects with our course on ‘Working with Marginalized Groups’ – not to mention the language challenges presented with these wordings.
What’s next?
This exciting project is progressing, with our editorial team diligently collating feedback on each course outline, so we can make informed decisions about which courses to pursue, improve the courses’ blueprints and put expert Instructors in place.
Rachel and her team will be following up with all reviewers to share insights from the panel and demonstrate how their feedback has influenced course outlines so far. Reviewers will also be taking part in a virtual workshop with Sage staff to discuss the overarching themes across the courses and work with the course Instructors to unpick some of the most challenging aspects of the course development.
With launch of the first E&I courses slated for early 2025, our review panel will remain active from now through mid-2024 and oversee the whole process from concept to final production to ensure the courses speak to our original mission and goals.
“The panel has been amazing so far… really challenging us to re-think our curriculums and be bold and brave as we shape these course plans. They have all shown such generous spirits and willingness to share expert perspectives, and I can’t wait to share with them the changes we’ve already made and then build on that with storyboard drafts through the rest of 2023 and beyond. It’s one of the most exciting projects I’ve worked on yet!”
Rachel Crookes, Associate Director of Sage Campus
About Sage Campus
As a digital library product, Sage Campus provides university-wide access to the full suite of 37 self-paced online courses worth over 280 hours of online learning for skills and research methods. Librarians can find out more about how Sage Campus works for institutions and get a 30-day free institutional trial. Faculty members, students and researchers who would like to use Sage Campus for their teaching or own learning can recommend Sage Campus to their library.