Guest blog: Reflections on Social Justice Jam
In June, a team of researchers from across Leeds and Pretoria created a platform for conversations between Seacroft in Leeds, and Mamelodi in Pretoria, to share social justice challenges experienced by those communities. Here, students Rishabh Bezbaruah and Annalisa Mack share their reflections of working on this collaborative project, and the subsequent open-access materials developed.
Our three-day event, The Social Justice Jam: Spaces for Change 2024, was a collaborative effort by the University of Leeds, and the University of Pretoria, in partnership with LS14 Trust and Mothong African Heritage.
Funded by the Horizons Institute, the Jam is part of the Discovery Delivery Group’s efforts towards curriculum broadening under the Curriculum Redefined initiative, at University of Leeds, in support of creating scaffolded co- and extra-curricular learning approaches for the new Student-Organised, Unbounded Learning (SOUL) modules currently under development.
This collaborative effort not only bridged geographical divides, but also brought together staff, students, and community members on the same platform to tackle real-world challenges.
Opening up educational resources
As part of the Jam, and the broader Curriculum Redefined Initiative, Open Educational Resources (OERs) were created to enhance educational accessibility.
OERs play a vital role in advancing the SDG 4 (Quality Education for All). Defined by UNESCO as “learning, teaching and research materials in any format and medium that reside in the public domain or are under copyright that have been released under an open license” (UNESCO, 2019), OERs have been playing a crucial role in democratising education by providing free, accessible and learning materials to anyone, regardless of their economic or geographical circumstances.
Furthermore, OERs empower educators to customise and improve the content, while reducing costs. These resources contribute significantly to promoting an inclusive and equitable quality education for all, as they break down financial barriers to learning materials, support lifelong learning opportunities, and enable easy access to knowledge for diverse global communities.
In the co-creation of these OERs through the Jam, participants from diverse disciplines converged to develop sustainable solutions for challenges to community space access, use, and management experienced in Seacroft in Leeds, UK, and Mamelodi in Pretoria, South Africa.
The OER materials, available under open license, guided the discussions with capacity-building sessions led by seasoned experts.
These resources were structured around the FISh (Focus, Investigate, Share) model, designed to support problem-based learning in an open, cross-institutional professional environment.
This innovative approach encourages collaborative problem-solving and knowledge sharing across diverse contexts. Importantly, these OERs are designed for versatility and adaptability. Any institution, organisation, or individual can utilise and adapt these resources to fit their specific learning situations and contexts, further extending the reach and impact of the Social Justice Jam’s outcomes.
Prior to this Jam, we often accessed and used OERs in our learning journey without fully understanding the development process behind them. Being new to the creation of OERs, the Social Justice Jam 2024 provided us with a unique opportunity to learn about the democratic process involved in developing these resources. The project’s impact also extends beyond education, contributing to SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) through its focus on addressing the challenges faced by urban communities. Furthermore, by fostering global partnerships between the universities and local communities in Leeds and Pretoria, the Jam addresses SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).
Learning and localising
As co-hosts of the Social Justice Jam 2024, we gained invaluable insights into applying creative approaches to community challenges. Before the Jam started, we contributed to its promotion on social media sites, reaching out to staff, students and interested community members alike in spreading the word.
Our position during the event allowed us to engage closely with guest speakers, participate in activities, and work alongside experienced educators. This experience broadened our perspectives and deepened our appreciation for the complexities of addressing social and environmental issues. Attending the group training for facilitators of the Jam further enhanced our understanding of effective facilitation techniques and group dynamics.
We were also actively involved in sessions led by guest speakers and participated in various activities.
On the third day we served on the panel, reviewing group presentations on mitigating community challenges, allowing us to understand how diverse groups of people can be effective in drawing up innovative solutions to these challenges.
The Jam was particularly enlightening in demonstrating the critical importance of localising the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We came to fully appreciate that, while these goals are global in scope, their successful implementation depends on understanding and addressing the diverse needs and priorities of local communities. This realisation underscored the nuanced approach required to make global goals a reality at the local level.
The inclusive nature of the Jam, bringing together staff, students, and community members, highlighted the strength that emerges when varied viewpoints converge on shared challenges.
We saw how different working groups proposed varied and creative approaches to tackle issues in Seacroft and Mamelodi, demonstrating the power of cross-cultural and global collaboration in generating innovative solutions for complex social issues, locally and globally.
The power of participation
Participants highlighted how valuable this experience was for them. In a group discussion, a participant said that the Jam had given them a unique opportunity to learn and gain experience of working in sustainability. They were considering pursuing sustainability in their future career, and so these skills were going to be beneficial. This was brilliant to hear, as hopefully the Jam was able to get more people interested in the areas of sustainability and social justice!
Although we experienced some challenges with the digital platform we used for the Jam, it was thanks to these networked technologies that we managed to achieve our aims. We bought together two communities and engaged participants and facilitators in collaborative problem-solving based on real challenges that these two communities were facing.
The event successfully fostered connections and idea exchanges between Seacroft and Mamelodi, reinforcing the importance of interdisciplinary approaches in addressing real-world problems, and the value of diverse perspectives and collaborative problem-solving in tackling community challenges across borders and boundaries.
About the authors
Rishabh Bezbaruah is currently pursuing MSc Data Science and Analytics from the University of Leeds as a Chevening-Adani AI Scholar from India. Presently engaged as a Student Sustainability Architect under the Sustainability Service at the University of Leeds, he has been working towards analysing the barriers towards Community-University Partnerships in the realm of Sustainability.
Annalisa Mack is currently studying MSc Biodiversity and Conservation at the University of Leeds, having graduated from Psychology BSc at Leeds in 2022. As a student sustainability architect, her main focus is working on the sustainable curriculum principle of the university’s climate, primarily through encouraging student engagement and developing resources for staff members to support them in embedding more sustainable learning opportunities into curricular and extra-curricular activities.
References
UNESCO, 2019, Recommendation on Open Educational Resources (OER) [Online] [Accessed 23 July 2024]. Available from https://www.unesco.org/en/legal- affairs/recommendation-open-educational-resources-oer
