57 Appendix 1: Social Justice Jam: Spaces for Change, June 2024

Overview

This online Jam focused on social justice and took place in from 10-12 June 2024. It consisted of a three-day open programme facilitated by educators and students at Institution 1 and Institution 2.

Local community organisations provided contributions, while students and staff from both institutions learned together, identifying and exploring local community challenges.

During this event, scenarios served as learning triggers. These used challenge-based learning to enable participants to collectively brainstorm, discuss and propose solutions.

The aim of the Jam was to engage a diverse range of participants in cross-cultural, cross-boundary and cross-disciplinary online learning and problem-solving activities that can benefit communities. The learning outcomes were as follows:

• Connect across disciplines and boundaries to discuss the community interest areas identified in personal, local and/or global contexts.
• Collaborate to identify emerging ideas and ways of thinking in the identified areas and the opportunities these provide.
• Contribute solutions to local and global challenges.

This event provided an alternative, creative and inclusive way to co-create, co-learn and co-facilitate an educational programme across levels, boundaries and roles. It brought staff and students together in non-hierarchical ways to inspire new and different ways for them to interact and design novel learning experiences.

The Jam was aligned with the strategic priorities of Institution 1 and was underpinned by the UN Sustainable Development Goals. It served as a prototype on which future Jams with a focus on diverse community themes will be built.

The event also aligned with the sustainable curriculum principle of Institution 1’s Climate Plan and commitment to generate positive impact for local and global communities.

The draft programme outline is shown below.

During a Jam, participants and facilitators developed outputs in a format that meets the scenario requirements and addresses the specific challenges identified. You may choose to publish these outputs as Open Educational Resources (OERs) to help you reach wider audiences.

OERs may be in the form of:

• short stories,
• poems and songs,
• vlogs,
• blog posts, etc.

You can use these methods of communication to raise awareness of the areas explored during your Jam. They can also be used in other learning contexts, for example, within a module, a particular session or other event you are organising.

The Social Justice Jam: Spaces for Change event that took place in June 2024 received partial funding from the Horizons Institute. Some of this funding was allocated to partners to facilitate their engagement and contributions.

Some of the funding covered the cost of engagement for each community and a symbolic contribution was made to the community involved. The engagement of the partner for your event will include the following:

• Feeding into the development of the scenario so that it includes the challenges they face, and providing feedback on the final scenario.
• Making themselves available for a filmed interview by Institution 1 on a date that is mutually convenient for both parties, well in advance of the Jam.
• Presenting on Day 1 of the Jam and answering potential questions from participants in a 1-hour session.
• Attending the Jam’s final session, providing feedback to the solutions presented on Day 3, and identifying a potential solution that aligns well with their challenge.

We would be grateful if you could respond to the following questions so we can build the scenario for the challenges the participants will be solving during the Jam, and consider how this opportunity could develop further to a sustainable partnership.

• Tell us about your community (please provide background information and share photos).
• Add your brief (What is your context? What challenge are you facing? What you have tried? What you are hoping to achieve?)
• How do you envisage that you would benefit from a collaboration with Institution 1, specifically the Jam?
• Would you be interested in a collaboration with Institution 1 beyond the Jam?
• If you responded ‘yes’ to the previous question, what type of collaboration would be useful for your community in the future?

Thank you for considering our proposition. We look forward to collaborating with you. Please let us know if you would be interested.