Twelfth International Conference on e-Learning & Innovative Pedagogies

Abstract

A key purpose of social justice education is to create teaching and learning environments that promote engagement, criticality and agency among students. Although course content can be designed to meet these aims, a fundamental challenge is to ensure that these principles are applied to the design of assessment. Such an endeavour can prove challenging, since assessment is inextricably linked to institutional power and confers privilege on students from dominant groups, while disadvantaging those from non-traditional backgrounds. Despite these drawbacks, student engagement in assessment can be encouraged by providing an opportunity for examination of topics of personal interest from a range of cultural perspectives, promoting intercultural learning, and engendering ownership and emotional interest in the assessment. This paper discusses an assessment designed for a final year undergraduate degree unit focused on social inequalities perpetuated in and through the media, through the lens of race, ethnicity and culture. A key aim of the assessment is to promote cultural competence. Students may choose from five essay-type questions, each linked to a topical issue, but instead of an essay, they are required to deliver a 10-minute oral presentation via video. Two cohorts of students were surveyed over a two-year period, on completion of the unit. The findings reveal student perceptions of greater cultural competence after completing the course (92% and 100%). This points to the efficacy of digital technology coupled with culturally responsive pedagogy, to enhance social justice education and promote deep engagement in the assessment process.