Discussion: View Thread

Diversity is very important in the IS thinking.  Good design and implementation hinges on how users and technology was conceptualised in the first place and the narrative that surrounds it.  We have decades of research showing the importance of context.  As we move online, it is vital that we think of ways of continuing with inclusion and entertaining different perspectives. 

Here are some ways I used and how I tweaked them to suit the online teaching:

Case Studies

Finding diverse case studies are hard.  Most case studies are created in Western context.  So I encourage students to create their counter case study!  This makes the class more interactive as they reflect on different groups, cultures and ways of doing business.  In general, case studies work well online.  I tried some tweaks. For example, using breakout rooms, I divided the class into groups and asked each group to report their findings to the class at the end of the session.  This works even better if you ask each group to prepare one slide and one student (group member) shows the slide from their own screen while another presents and the third monitors the chat. It creates useful team dynamics in the class.

Creating Videos

I find videos to be useful if students are creating it with a particular user or group of users in mind.  This makes the video more targetted to a purpose.  It is not always one way transmission as it also tests students' understanding of the software, the business problem and the users.  Students who watch also learn what makes a good business case and demonstration.  I think peer formative assessment is much more inclusive than summative.  My observation is that peer summative assessment tends to value more the popular student, the funny, the extrovert and markdown the least popular, introvert, shy and hesitant English speakers who tend to be sided by their peers.  Personally I prefer, peer formative assessment for this reason and discuss it in class so students know that they are responsible for their voting.  Videos and voting worked well i the move to online teaching.  However the last online session on the formative feedback tended to be more linear than usual. So perhaps a plan for managing the discussion could help allowing all students to participate (and not leaving the quiet one behind).  

Thinking Context 

In Database Design classes, I encourage students to reflect on their own culture throughout the design.  For example, when thinking of fields.  This has resulted in:
1- some students increased the name field to 40 characters to suit traditions in their country.
2- some students changed relationships to allow one man to marry many women to suit the tradition and legal system in their country. 
3- few students created a field for Tribe to make the system more local and meaningful in particular settings.
4- some students added alternative Address fields to include Near By Land Mark, Close By Shop, How to Go to suit places in the world where there is lack of postcode and formal door number.   

The Database classes tend to be fun as we all learn about design issues and the importance of context.  With Covid-19's online/offline teaching, as part of the class will move online, I will continue my focus on context.


All of these activities for inclusion and diversity are based on students' participation and depends on students feeling comfortable in the class which lecturers invest a lot in creating in physical classes.  When we moved to online teaching last semester, I built on the social capital the group had from all the offline classes during the semester up to the lockdown point.  Next semester, I am thinking, is it possible to create the same ease for 1st year students who did not have much offline interactions?

------------------------------
Amany Elbanna
Reader (Associate Professor)
Royal Holloway, University of London
Egham
------------------------------

Thanks for this very informative post. Although IS does well on racial and gender diversity compared to other STEM fields in terms of percentages of graduates, we don't see that same breakdown when it comes to senior positions in either business or academia. I suspect your suggestions of how to help students discover and design differences can only help.

------------------------------
Munir Mandviwalla
Temple University
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 07-14-2020 06:17:52 AM
From: Amany Elbanna
Subject: Learning Action: How to maintain diversity and inclusion online?

Diversity is very important in the IS thinking.  Good design and implementation hinges on how users and technology was conceptualised in the first place and the narrative that surrounds it.  We have decades of research showing the importance of context.  As we move online, it is vital that we think of ways of continuing with inclusion and entertaining different perspectives.

Here are some ways I used and how I tweaked to the online teaching:

Case Studies

Finding diverse case studies are hard.  Most case studies are created in Western context.  So I encourage students to create their counter case study!  This makes the class more interactive as they reflect on different groups, cultures and ways of doing business.  Case studies works well in online.  For example, using breakout rooms and ask groups to report their findings to the class at the end of the session.  This works even better if you ask the group to prepare one slide and one student show the slide from their own screen while another present and the third monitor the chat. It creates useful team dynamics in the class.

Creating Videos

I find videos to be useful if students are creating it with a particular user or group of users in mind.  This makes the video more targetted to a purpose.  It is not always one way transmission as it also tests students' understanding of the software, the business problem and the users.  Students who watch also learn what makes a good business case and demonstration.  I think peer formative assessment is much more inclusive than summative.  My observation is that peer summative assessment tends to value more the popular student, the funny, the extrovert and markdown the least popular, introvert, shy and hesitant English speakers who tend to be sided by their peers.  Personally I prefer, peer formative assessment for this reason and discuss it in class so students know that they are responsible for their voting.  Videos and voting worked well i the move to online teaching.  However the last online session on the formative feedback tended to be more linear than usual. So perhaps a plan for managing the discussion could help allowing all students to participate (and leaving the quiet one behind).

Thinking Context

In Database Design classes, I encourage students to reflect on their own culture throughout the design.  For example, when thinking of fields.  This has resulted in:
1- some students increased the name field to 40 characters to suit traditions in their country.
2- some students changed relationships to allow one man to marry many women to suit their tradition and legal system in their country.
3- few students created a field for Tribe to make the system more local and meaningful in particular settings.
4- some students added alternative Address fields to include Near By Land Mark, Close By Shop, How to Go to suit places in the world where there is lack of postcode and formal door number.

The Database classes tend to be fun as we all learn about design issues and the importance of context.  With Covid-19 online/offline teaching, while part of the class will move online, I will continue my focus on context.


All of these activities for inclusion and diversity are based on students' participation and depends on students feeling comfortable in the class which lecturers invest a lot in creating in physical classes.  When we moved to online teaching last semester, I built on the social capital the group had from all the offline classes during the semester up to the lockdown point.  Next semester, I am thinking is it possible to create same ease for 1st year students who did not have much offline interactions?

------------------------------
Amany Elbanna
Reader (Associate Professor)
Royal Holloway, University of London
Egham
------------------------------

This is a very important point you raise Munir.  I agree senior positions in both business and academia can be more representative.  There is still some glass ceilings that need to be broken. At the end of the day, students look for diverse members of staff for inspiration and tacitly learn that differences are part of being human.

------------------------------
Amany Elbanna
Reader (Associate Professor)
Royal Holloway, University of London
Egham
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 07-14-2020 06:17:52 AM
From: Amany Elbanna
Subject: Learning Action: How to maintain diversity and inclusion online?

Diversity is very important in the IS thinking.  Good design and implementation hinges on how users and technology was conceptualised in the first place and the narrative that surrounds it.  We have decades of research showing the importance of context.  As we move online, it is vital that we think of ways of continuing with inclusion and entertaining different perspectives.

Here are some ways I used and how I tweaked them to suit the online teaching:

Case Studies

Finding diverse case studies are hard.  Most case studies are created in Western context.  So I encourage students to create their counter case study!  This makes the class more interactive as they reflect on different groups, cultures and ways of doing business.  In general, case studies work well online.  I tried some tweaks. For example, using breakout rooms, I divided the class into groups and asked each group to report their findings to the class at the end of the session.  This works even better if you ask each group to prepare one slide and one student (group member) shows the slide from their own screen while another presents and the third monitors the chat. It creates useful team dynamics in the class.

Creating Videos

I find videos to be useful if students are creating it with a particular user or group of users in mind.  This makes the video more targetted to a purpose.  It is not always one way transmission as it also tests students' understanding of the software, the business problem and the users.  Students who watch also learn what makes a good business case and demonstration.  I think peer formative assessment is much more inclusive than summative.  My observation is that peer summative assessment tends to value more the popular student, the funny, the extrovert and markdown the least popular, introvert, shy and hesitant English speakers who tend to be sided by their peers.  Personally I prefer, peer formative assessment for this reason and discuss it in class so students know that they are responsible for their voting.  Videos and voting worked well i the move to online teaching.  However the last online session on the formative feedback tended to be more linear than usual. So perhaps a plan for managing the discussion could help allowing all students to participate (and not leaving the quiet one behind).

Thinking Context

In Database Design classes, I encourage students to reflect on their own culture throughout the design.  For example, when thinking of fields.  This has resulted in:
1- some students increased the name field to 40 characters to suit traditions in their country.
2- some students changed relationships to allow one man to marry many women to suit the tradition and legal system in their country.
3- few students created a field for Tribe to make the system more local and meaningful in particular settings.
4- some students added alternative Address fields to include Near By Land Mark, Close By Shop, How to Go to suit places in the world where there is lack of postcode and formal door number.

The Database classes tend to be fun as we all learn about design issues and the importance of context.  With Covid-19's online/offline teaching, as part of the class will move online, I will continue my focus on context.


All of these activities for inclusion and diversity are based on students' participation and depends on students feeling comfortable in the class which lecturers invest a lot in creating in physical classes.  When we moved to online teaching last semester, I built on the social capital the group had from all the offline classes during the semester up to the lockdown point.  Next semester, I am thinking, is it possible to create the same ease for 1st year students who did not have much offline interactions?

------------------------------
Amany Elbanna
Reader (Associate Professor)
Royal Holloway, University of London
Egham
------------------------------

In my data management book, I also use marriage as an example of the need to model reality and not a legal or political perspective on marriage.

------------------------------
Richard Watson
University of Georgia
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 07-14-2020 06:17:52 AM
From: Amany Elbanna
Subject: Learning Action: How to maintain diversity and inclusion online?

Diversity is very important in the IS thinking.  Good design and implementation hinges on how users and technology was conceptualised in the first place and the narrative that surrounds it.  We have decades of research showing the importance of context.  As we move online, it is vital that we think of ways of continuing with inclusion and entertaining different perspectives.

Here are some ways I used and how I tweaked them to suit the online teaching:

Case Studies

Finding diverse case studies are hard.  Most case studies are created in Western context.  So I encourage students to create their counter case study!  This makes the class more interactive as they reflect on different groups, cultures and ways of doing business.  In general, case studies work well online.  I tried some tweaks. For example, using breakout rooms, I divided the class into groups and asked each group to report their findings to the class at the end of the session.  This works even better if you ask each group to prepare one slide and one student (group member) shows the slide from their own screen while another presents and the third monitors the chat. It creates useful team dynamics in the class.

Creating Videos

I find videos to be useful if students are creating it with a particular user or group of users in mind.  This makes the video more targetted to a purpose.  It is not always one way transmission as it also tests students' understanding of the software, the business problem and the users.  Students who watch also learn what makes a good business case and demonstration.  I think peer formative assessment is much more inclusive than summative.  My observation is that peer summative assessment tends to value more the popular student, the funny, the extrovert and markdown the least popular, introvert, shy and hesitant English speakers who tend to be sided by their peers.  Personally I prefer, peer formative assessment for this reason and discuss it in class so students know that they are responsible for their voting.  Videos and voting worked well i the move to online teaching.  However the last online session on the formative feedback tended to be more linear than usual. So perhaps a plan for managing the discussion could help allowing all students to participate (and not leaving the quiet one behind).

Thinking Context

In Database Design classes, I encourage students to reflect on their own culture throughout the design.  For example, when thinking of fields.  This has resulted in:
1- some students increased the name field to 40 characters to suit traditions in their country.
2- some students changed relationships to allow one man to marry many women to suit the tradition and legal system in their country.
3- few students created a field for Tribe to make the system more local and meaningful in particular settings.
4- some students added alternative Address fields to include Near By Land Mark, Close By Shop, How to Go to suit places in the world where there is lack of postcode and formal door number.

The Database classes tend to be fun as we all learn about design issues and the importance of context.  With Covid-19's online/offline teaching, as part of the class will move online, I will continue my focus on context.


All of these activities for inclusion and diversity are based on students' participation and depends on students feeling comfortable in the class which lecturers invest a lot in creating in physical classes.  When we moved to online teaching last semester, I built on the social capital the group had from all the offline classes during the semester up to the lockdown point.  Next semester, I am thinking, is it possible to create the same ease for 1st year students who did not have much offline interactions?

------------------------------
Amany Elbanna
Reader (Associate Professor)
Royal Holloway, University of London
Egham
------------------------------

This makes me think if we can collectively collaborate to put diversity in the centre of the curriculum.  It is worth trying to consider and imagine what an inclusive curriculum might look like, what are the techniques we can use, what resources are currently available and what resurces we need (intellectual resources).  This will also help us identify what sort of research is missing from our research agenda and give us a direction for the future.  

Don't you think that our disciplines is in a best position to lead on this. After all, we all agree that successful systems should be capable of entertaining different perspectives and points of view.  We just need to go a step further to collectively reimagine our diverse and inclusive curriculum.  

------------------------------
Amany Elbanna
Reader (Associate Professor)
Royal Holloway, University of London
Egham
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 07-18-2020 10:59:04 AM
From: Richard Watson
Subject: Learning Action: How to maintain diversity and inclusion online?

In my data management book, I also use marriage as an example of the need to model reality and not a legal or political perspective on marriage.

------------------------------
Richard Watson
University of Georgia

Original Message:
Sent: 07-14-2020 06:17:52 AM
From: Amany Elbanna
Subject: Learning Action: How to maintain diversity and inclusion online?

Diversity is very important in the IS thinking.  Good design and implementation hinges on how users and technology was conceptualised in the first place and the narrative that surrounds it.  We have decades of research showing the importance of context.  As we move online, it is vital that we think of ways of continuing with inclusion and entertaining different perspectives.

Here are some ways I used and how I tweaked them to suit the online teaching:

Case Studies

Finding diverse case studies are hard.  Most case studies are created in Western context.  So I encourage students to create their counter case study!  This makes the class more interactive as they reflect on different groups, cultures and ways of doing business.  In general, case studies work well online.  I tried some tweaks. For example, using breakout rooms, I divided the class into groups and asked each group to report their findings to the class at the end of the session.  This works even better if you ask each group to prepare one slide and one student (group member) shows the slide from their own screen while another presents and the third monitors the chat. It creates useful team dynamics in the class.

Creating Videos

I find videos to be useful if students are creating it with a particular user or group of users in mind.  This makes the video more targetted to a purpose.  It is not always one way transmission as it also tests students' understanding of the software, the business problem and the users.  Students who watch also learn what makes a good business case and demonstration.  I think peer formative assessment is much more inclusive than summative.  My observation is that peer summative assessment tends to value more the popular student, the funny, the extrovert and markdown the least popular, introvert, shy and hesitant English speakers who tend to be sided by their peers.  Personally I prefer, peer formative assessment for this reason and discuss it in class so students know that they are responsible for their voting.  Videos and voting worked well i the move to online teaching.  However the last online session on the formative feedback tended to be more linear than usual. So perhaps a plan for managing the discussion could help allowing all students to participate (and not leaving the quiet one behind).

Thinking Context

In Database Design classes, I encourage students to reflect on their own culture throughout the design.  For example, when thinking of fields.  This has resulted in:
1- some students increased the name field to 40 characters to suit traditions in their country.
2- some students changed relationships to allow one man to marry many women to suit the tradition and legal system in their country.
3- few students created a field for Tribe to make the system more local and meaningful in particular settings.
4- some students added alternative Address fields to include Near By Land Mark, Close By Shop, How to Go to suit places in the world where there is lack of postcode and formal door number.

The Database classes tend to be fun as we all learn about design issues and the importance of context.  With Covid-19's online/offline teaching, as part of the class will move online, I will continue my focus on context.


All of these activities for inclusion and diversity are based on students' participation and depends on students feeling comfortable in the class which lecturers invest a lot in creating in physical classes.  When we moved to online teaching last semester, I built on the social capital the group had from all the offline classes during the semester up to the lockdown point.  Next semester, I am thinking, is it possible to create the same ease for 1st year students who did not have much offline interactions?

------------------------------
Amany Elbanna
Reader (Associate Professor)
Royal Holloway, University of London
Egham
------------------------------