Episode 16: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Global Education Inequities feat. Rhianna C. Rogers, Ph.D., RPA, Associate Professor, Interdisciplinary Studies
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic revealed a striking facet of social inequity in the United States: access to reliable technology. In 2020, we learned more about existing socioeconomic and racial inequities on a national scale. These problems existed before, but the unique combination of circumstances in 2020 has forced us to reckon with the fact that these issues are no longer sustainable if we hope to move forward as a society.
In this episode of Illuminate Higher Education, our guest Dr. Rhianna C. Rogers explores how issues of social justice overlap with unequal access to technologies in the higher education sphere. Rogers is an expert on cultural and ethnic studies, intercultural competencies, diversity education, cultural mediation, and virtual exchange programmatic development and implementation. Currently, she is an Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies and the Coordinator of the Global Indigenous Knowledge certificate program at SUNY Empire State College.
Explore the highlights of this conversation in this brief Q&A, then listen to the full episode for more.
Q. You taught your first online class in 2009. What was that like?
When I first got online, I wanted to find a way to convey my interactive personality. I thought I was going to lose something with my students when I went online. Online learning was still in its infancy; in 2009 and 2010, many people were still posting a PowerPoint online and allowing the content to “teach” itself. I did not want to do that.
In the SUNY system, I was one of the first adopters of OERs, or open educational resources. I created videos to show myself and my personality to my students. I also created a course called US History through Ethnology. Ethnology focuses on the human and collecting information about people. I asked students to pay attention to social media presences and interactions. We explored digital vs. physical selves. The curriculum blended online experiences with in-person ones; assignments included students conducting physical interviews with strangers about their online experiences. It’s still my most popular class.
This was my initial break into bringing the human element out of technology, and it is a passion that has grown into many projects I’ve been involved with at SUNY and beyond.
Q. One of your key accomplishments is your involvement in the creation of the Global Indigenous Knowledge certificate program at ESC. What is that program, and why is it important?
This program is the first of its kind in the United States to recognize global indigenous knowledge without any of the colonizing mindsets on top of it. The unfortunate legacy of oppression of indigeneity is that certain elements of knowledge are not included in what is generalized as “college-level” learning.
Cultures are lost around the world through colonization. It is critical for any culture to retain its longevity by having people who are experts in that culture. For example, the National Science Foundation is undertaking millions of dollars in grants solely to prevent the loss of indigenous languages. This certificate helps students address global responsibilities, responds to the current climate in the US, and meets the need for more BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) curricular programming at the college.
Q. Equitable access to education is a popular topic on this podcast. What are some of the barriers to this access have you experienced?
I was recently part of a New York Department of Education summit to talk about the digital divide. Prior to COVID-19, we assumed that everyone had equitable access to technology. Media biases promote the ideas that everyone has a computer or smartphone. We had to face the reality that many people do not have equitable access, whether it be related to socioeconomic status, race, redlining, or other historical exclusionary practices that do not equitably provide technologies (such as unreliable or nonexistent broadband in rural areas).
The NY Department of Education surveyed residents to learn more and discovered that almost 80% of the state did not have access to technologies—no broadband, no smartphones, no computers in the home, or only one digital device in the home. Educational institutions were pumping out all the information people needed to “do” class or work at home but were actually establishing inequities from the beginning as only 20% would be able to get started.
Listen to the full podcast for more information on these topics and more.
Connect with Dr. Rhianna C. Rogers on LinkedIn. Learn more about her background, research, and publications by visiting her faculty website.
Books:
¡El Yunque se levanta! Interdisciplinarity and activism at the La Mina petroglyph site (2021)
From Ichcanzihoo to Mérida: Documenting Cultural Transition through Contact Archaeology in Tíhoo, Mérida, Yucatán (2011)
Visit ESC.edu to explore SUNY Empire State College.
—
This episode is brought to you by N2N’s Illuminate App, the iPaaS for Higher Education.
About N2N Services
Founded in 2010, N2N is committed to serving educational institutions and helping them figure out how to serve their students, faculty, and staff using the most innovative technologies and solutions available in the marketplace. Over the last decade, N2N has served over 300 academic institutions and enabled their student success journeys.
N2N Services Inc. is a leader in enterprise application integration and strategic advisory services for higher education, At N2N, we are committed to providing the highest quality solutions and collaboratively building student-centric solutions.
Learn more at https://illuminateapp.com/web/higher-education/.
Subscribe and listen to more episodes at IlluminateHigherEducation.com.