Preliminary evaluation of 1997-98 -ISM (N.) courses

Conducted by Dr. Lisa Petrides
Department of Organization & Leadership
Columbia University's Teachers College
November 1998

I have been the independent evaluator for the Curricula and Faculty Development Project for this past academic year 1997-98. I developed a pre survey for students that was administered in the early fall, and a post survey at the end of the spring semester. Aditionally, I conducted a series of student and faculty interviews and classroom field visits throughout the year. Although I am still in the process of analyzing data for the final end-of-year (post) surveys, I would like to share with you some of my observations of the Curricula and Faculty Development Project.

Most unique findings

  1. Increased sensitivity and heightened awareness of diversity issues
  2. Bridging the gap between personal and social identities
  3. Impact of using video versus written forms of communication in dealing with issues of diversity and self-identity
  4. How use of video-making and media enabled students to develop critical thinking skills

1. Increased sensitivity and heightened awareness of diversity issues

Results from the pre and post surveys suggest that students who participated in the -ISM (N.) program experienced a heightened awareness of racial issues on their campuses. For example, the pre-survey indicated that 48 percent of the students described the racial climate on their campus as good or very good as compared to only 27 percent in the post survey. Those describing the climate as fair increased from 38 percent to 57 percent, suggesting that students had an increased level of awareness about issues of race that existed on their campus (10 percent described the racial climate as bad or extremely bad in the pre-survey, and 16 percent in the post). Notable is that there seemed to be very little difference over the year with respect to changing their personal practices. For example, students did not significantly change the groups with whom they socialized.

After participating in the -ISM (N.) Project, students were more likely to disagree with the statement: I am free of prejudice. Twenty-five percent of the pre-survey responses strongly agreed or agreed that they were free of prejudice as compared to only 11 percent of the post-survey responses. Fifty-seven percent of the pre-survey and 78 percent of the post-survey responses said that they disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement (17 percent or pre and 12 percent of post had no opinion). This suggests not that students became more prejudiced as a result of the class, but rather they became more aware of their prejudices.

Additionally, there was a significant change in the ways in which students perceived issues of racial discrimination. For example, in response to the statement: Racial discrimination is the main reason why minorities cannot get ahead these days, the pre-survey response indicated that 46 percent of the students strongly agreed or agreed, as compared to the post-survey response of 63 percent who strongly agreed or agreed. In the pre-survey another 34 percent disagreed or strongly disagreed as compared to 24 percent in the post-survey. Nineteen percent of the pre-survey and 13 percent of the post-survey respondents had no opinion. There was also a significant increase in agreement (from 31 to 42 percent) with the statement: I think it is okay if people who are historically disadvantaged received preferential treatment. It is interesting to note that both of these variables reflect societal guilt for historical discrimination -- that the discrimination has disadvantaged some, and that we need societal remedies for this problem. This is the most common message that we see in media, entertainment, etc., and is a fairly mainstream sentiment. These statements were quite different from many of the others on the survey, which suggested that some groups should receive "special" rights (e.g., same-sex marriages, gays in the military).

In terms of becoming more aware various kinds of discrimination that students might have noticed (e.g., race, gender), the only variable that demonstrated a significant change was gender. When asked how often they noticed acts of gender discrimination or injustice against others, 9 percent of the students from the pre-survey said "all the time" as compared to 22 percent in the post survey. Also interesting to note is that 23 percent of students in the pre-survey said that they had rarely or never noticed acts of gender discrimination or injustice as compared to only 9 percent of in the post-survey. While this finding indicates an increased awareness of gender discrimination it is interesting that discrimination by race, class, or sexual orientation showed no significant increase. Perhaps it is because this one category "gender" is more patently noticeable among people one doesn't know, whereas one can't always identify someone else's race, class, or sexual orientation.

Students were also much more likely after participating in the -ISM (N.) Project to confront friends who made derogatory comments based on gender, race, or ethnicity. This is interesting, given that there was no significant change reported in speaking out against policies that might exclude others in social events, or getting to know individuals of different backgrounds. It suggests that change is being made within the interactions between students and their current/past social groups, but that they are not necessarily changing their current social groupings, perhaps suggesting that they are attempting to have an effect on the interactions between their friends as opposed to attempting to effect large-scale change.

Finally, perhaps most telling of the long term impact of the -ISM (N.) program, students reported a significant increase in rating the importance of working in a culturally diverse environment when they finished college. Fifty-eight percent of the students in the pre-survey said that it was important, as compared to 70 percent in the post-survey. Student also reported an increase in the importance of living in a diverse neighborhood, and a decrease in the importance of making a lot of money when they graduate from college. This pattern seems consistent, that is students have become more sensitive and aware of diversity issues and are willing to work for idealistic goals, and therefore, that they are less concerned about locating themselves in homogeneous settings and making money.

2. Bridging the gap between personal and social identities

The -ISM (N.) Project demonstrated that it is possible for students to bring together personal and social identities, not necessarily simultaneously, but interactively. While students in the first semester began by making personal video diaries, and later moved into group documentaries in the second semester, the process of making the video diaries was distinctly tied into social identity whether it was through intercultural communication or representations of self-identity. Additionally, students came to understand that while their videos were their own personal self reflections, they were also part of a larger (national) platform during which time that these identities would be revealed to a wider audience than just themselves. This tension between the public and private self was used to generate discussion about how the self was intricately connected to a social environment. In this way students learned how individualism connects to the larger society.

Students' self-reports on their self-identity were quite interesting. It became increasingly important for them to think of themselves with respect to their race, sexual orientation, and disability status. This suggests that the -ISM (N.) Project has heightened their sense of self in a multicultural world.

3. Impact of using video versus written forms of communication in dealing with issues of diversity and self-identity

The current generation of college students are self-identified as the video generation. They are self-described visual learners. While 20 years ago issues of diversity were more readily discussed and debated in essays, poetry, and plays, this generation of students were more likely to have been raised with video as their primary source of not only entertainment, but also education, socialization, and enculturation. Therefore, the use of video as a tool to interpret and communicate about issues of diversity served as a highly personalized form of dialogue and exchange for students who participated in the -ISM (N.) Project. Students explained that the use of video was a much more powerful way for them to explore their own identities as well as to observe the complexity of other students' lives as seen through a camera lens. Several students explained that while the written word was also a powerful medium for change, the visual image was much more difficult to forget. For example, one student said:

I think our culture and people of our age identify a lot with the media. If they can watch a movie, see something on video, sometimes they can relate to it better than if they read a book or if they read an essay. I don't really think that an essay, if I wrote an essay, would get that much exposure anyway. I think that people are more interested in popping a video in and listening to people speak. It's sort of an intimate thing that I'm giving to somebody about myself and you can watch it and kind of think that maybe I'm talking to you. And you can hear my voice. I'm real.
Additional quotes about the use of video as a tool to interpret and communicate about issues of diversity:
  • Books are to videos as school is to work
  • It created different and specific point of views on different cultures and ethnicities. Reading a book was just generalizing, the video was specific.
  • A visual sense goes hand in hand with an understanding of an issue as a whole.
  • I think that video is more powerful than words in the case of diversity, because you not only learn about other cultures but you get to also witness them.
  • It puts the power of creating video into the hands that have been silenced. Representation is a key to making diversity visible and understood.

Additionally, several students reported that they brought home their video diaries at the mid-year break in December in order to share their videos with their families and friends, often at considerable emotional risk. These encounters were reported to have a significant positive effect on family dynamics and provided a great deal of understanding about the self-identity of the student that would not have occurred if the video diaries had not just been completed.

Faculty also observed that their students took to video making in a way that students never did before with written assignments. They felt that the video diaries gave students an experiential and compelling way to articulate their stories, enabling them to probe and explore more in depth than with an essay. This is particularly salient since several of the faculty have taught the class previously, but without the use of video and media components. Additionally, students who had difficulties in more traditional classrooms also thrived in the -ISM (N.) course.

4. How use of video-making and media enabled students to develop critical thinking skills

While some argue that the media and video culture is the worst part of consumerism and apathy, students in the -ISM (N.) Project came to understand that they did not need to be anti-media in order to change perceptions of diversity. They came to understand the potential of the media through the use of hands-on video work, learned how to critically make decisions about what to portray, and developed a first-hand understanding that any depiction is partial and subjective. The more effective -ISM (N.) classes were extremely successful in this regard. Through heightened media awareness, students were able to deconstruct images and representations of racism, sexism, etc. However, instead of being passive consumers of media, they learned through video-making the power of constructing images and how they could be used to promote understanding and tolerance. So while students learned that media could be used to manipulate and perpetuate stereotypes, they learned how to use the media in order to promote diverse perspectives.

However, with that understanding came an increased sense of distrust of the media. For example, when asked if they believed that the nightly news reported the most important events of the day, 13 percent of the pre-survey responses said that they strongly agreed or agreed as compared to 3 percent of the post-survey responses. An additional 70 percent of pre-survey responses said that they strongly disagreed or disagreed as compared to 85 percent of the post-survey responses. Students were less likely to agree with the statement that documentaries always tell the truth about a particular topic, with 16 percent of students on the pre-survey indicating that they strongly agreed or agreed as compared to only 5 percent of the post-survey responses. This indicates that students have become either increasingly cynical or perhaps more likely, critical consumers of such work.

 
SPONSORS -ISM (N.) Home Page IPMA
 
© 1998 Institute for Public Media Arts
115 Market Street
Durham, NC 27701
919/688-0332